NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

[Juan]

My brother in  law  has a 125 gallon african cichlid tank.He has majority peacocks the last couple of months he has been losing 2 fish like every two weeks! The PH,nitrates,nitrites,and amonia are good He has bought fish from just about everywere. I have heard that if you introduce a wild fish that sometimes they carry  parasites or diseases that tank raised fish have never been exposed to.His fish all have dieing of one by one if introducing a wild fish is true what can be done to  save the others if possible?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

How long has the tank been set up?
What are the exact readings you are getting?
Where were the fish bought from?
What filtration are you running?
How many fish exactly are in the tank?
What have they been eating?

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

Did he introduce a wild fish?

It is always important to QT fish especially if adding wild fish to tankraised fish.

[Juan]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

Well he has bought fish  from fish gallery,ultimate fish,tropical depot,tropical emporium,aqua zoo,aquarium world and also at the last HAS auction.He is running 2 fluval 305 on the tank his ph-8.0 ,amonia-0,nitrates he can't remember the tank was checked last week.He had about 50 fish in the tank now he is down to about 25 the fish are eating New  life spectrum. The tank has been running for about a year now.He has not added any  wild fish as far as he knows but he did buy 15 fish at ultimate fish once.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

I think that it might have been because there was too many fish in the tank, Too many fish introduced at one time, and possibly introducing ill fish.

Also with pellets you want to feed a bit less since it is a more compact nutrient packed food.

[rrocket2002]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

How are they dying?  What are the symptoms of the fish before they die?  Any obvious signs from a visual check?

Raul

[fishman76092]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

Your fish have bloat.  Are the fish listless and 'spitting' prior to their demise?  This is fairly common.  It used to happen fairly often when I added new fish and increased the stress level.  The 'random' constant death in cichlid tanks are almost always due to this.  

Get some clout quickly.  Your fish will lose their color, but it will return after a few weeks.  That should end it.  Continue treating until all of the fish are active and feeding.  It may take more than the required amt of days-probably 5-6 days of treatment.

[Juan]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

I think it might  be introducing ill fish but what I don't understand is  that all the fish look healthy they don't look ill and then the next day it's dead! I don't think that having 50 fish is a problem because at the moment I have about 80 fish in my 175 because I have my 105 tore down because I am remodeling the computer room and my fish are doing fine. Introducing too many fish I don't think is the problem neither because all the fish (30) that I bought at HAS auction were introduced to my tank and  my fish and also the fish that I bought are all still alive. He feeds his fish lightly twice a day like I do. If a disease or parasite is in the tank how do you get rid of it?

[Juan]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

That's the thing they are doing fine during the day and it seems that the next morning he turs on the light a fish is dead.

[rrocket2002]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

Again, what is the state of the fish when they die?  Do they look bloated, like they've been in a fight or normal?

Raul

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

If all the fish are eating try to get some of the Anti-Parasite Food made by Jungle.

In a 125 gallon, I would not put more than 40 fish with atleast 7-10X filtration turnover.  A Fluval 305 is only rated for a 70 gallon.

The combined flowrate of both canisters is 520 gph on clean media.  That is 4.2 to 1 turnover.  A Moderately stocked tank should have alteast 5 to 1  On dirty media, your probalby flowing about 450 gph.

You need more filtration for 50 peacocks in a tank this size.  Your now down to 25, which is still a large number.  At your original 50 Your overstocked, and way underfilterd.  Your O2 is too low, and the bio most likely not large enough.

You need to add a powerhead or some larger filter.  

The remaining fish would do re-couperate I think with more filtration or flow.  I would feed medicated fish food for a week.

Hope this helps..

Geoff

[Juan]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

I just talked to him and he said that the fish are half eaten by the time he sees them

[Juan]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

Yeah I have talked to him about adding a powerhead or two before Where would we get the medicated food from?

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

Its sold at Petsmart and Petco

Its called Anti-Parasite by Jungle

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4252999

maybe even Walmart may have it.

[Juan]

Re: NEED HELP FISH ARE NOT DOING WELL!!

Hope this works he has lost a couple hundred dollars worth of fish so far. I will also talk to him about the filtration and the bloat he is pretty upset about the loss of his fish.