Mbunas dying 1 by 1 everyday? Any ideas?

[Galactik]

So I have this 60 gallon tank thats been running for years and recently setup as an mbuna tank.

Its a species only tank with about 15 mbunas (now down to like 9). The first couple weeks went by great. Everyone was doing really good, out an about and eating well (feeding NLS only), even got them a set of cichlid stones so they could hide and what not.

Then all of a sudden I lost the first one. No stress marks, torn fins or anything. Checked all water parameters, did a water change after and everything looked fine. Now its been about a week and I keep finding dead fish every day, with no obvious reason in sight.

I have noticed the fish are now extremely skiddish but still eating normally. Some of them are hiding and breathing heavily.

As for parameters, the tank is set to a temp of 79F.
Ammonia=0
Nitrite=0
Nitrate=10
Ph=7.8

 

[Deadeye]

How recently have you added the new rocks? New fish? The timetable points to some sort of infection or like there is aggression. Mine didn’t always show injuries when being killed.

 

[Galactik]

How recently have you added the new rocks? New fish? The timetable points to some sort of infection or like there is aggression. Mine didn’t always show injuries when being killed.

The fish and rocks were introduced around the same time. Its been about a month or a little over.

Tank has been running for years with no issues tho. I'm thinking I guess the new fish could have brought something but its hard to tell as they've been doing well until this last week. Whatever it is is hitting them hard and fast.

I thought about adding some salt and bumping the temperature to see if it helps but then again I fear I might stress then out even more.


EDIT:

As I was typing this, I lost another one. He was swimming kind of funny, almost like drunk when I came home. Then sat down in the bottom and started convulsing pretty violently...

I've honestly never seen anything like this. I'm at a total loss

 

[Galactik]

The fish and rocks were introduced around the same time. Its been about a month or a little over.

Tank has been running for years with no issues tho. I'm thinking I guess the new fish could have brought something but its hard to tell as they've been doing well until this last week. Whatever it is is hitting them hard and fast.

I thought about adding some salt and bumping the temperature to see if it helps but then again I fear I might stress then out even more.


EDIT:

As I was typing this, I lost another one. He was swimming kind of funny, almost like drunk when I came home. Then sat down in the bottom and started convulsing pretty violently...

I've honestly never seen anything like this. I'm at a total loss

Was actually this same one in the picture I posted earlier.

 

[Deadeye]

I lost my mbunas one by one to what I assume was an intestinal parasite. They looked completely fine. Nothing had been added for a bit. They started getting lazy, breathing fast, and laying at the bottom. Near death they started having violent seizure like behaviors.
I would try feeding hex shield.
kno4te A201 Milingu any ideas?

 

[deeda]

Well 1st off, that is not a species only tank but it is a Lake Malawi cichlid tank. You have a number of species that are aggressive and by your description of fish hiding, I can almost bet that some fish are being harassed which can lead to illness and death. You won't always see injuries to the fish.

Are you treating the new water you add to the tank with the correct dechlorinator for either chlorine or chloramine depending on your source water?

Just curious what you are feeding, how much and how often as a couple of the fish appear to have slightly concave bellies?

Are you or have you added any other water treatment product to this tank such as buffers, algaecide, etc.?

 

[kno4te]

Some questions need to be answered for sure. Seems like a pathogen was introduced from what’s being described.

 

[Galactik]

Well 1st off, that is not a species only tank but it is a Lake Malawi cichlid tank. You have a number of species that are aggressive and by your description of fish hiding, I can almost bet that some fish are being harassed which can lead to illness and death. You won't always see injuries to the fish.

Are you treating the new water you add to the tank with the correct dechlorinator for either chlorine or chloramine depending on your source water?

Just curious what you are feeding, how much and how often as a couple of the fish appear to have slightly concave bellies?

Are you or have you added any other water treatment product to this tank such as buffers, algaecide, etc.?

I haven't seen any bullying in the tank (thats not to say it isn't happening)

As far as treatments or buffers, I dont add anything. I live in Fl so the water is naturally pretty hard to begin with so I dont chase parameters. For dechlorinator I've always used seachem safe for all my tanks without any issues.

Might try feeding some hex as suggested earlier or looking into something else to treat potential parasites I guess.

For food I'm currently using nls, twice a day and 1 day fasting. But I also keep some duckweed in there and I've seen them go at it as well

 

[Galactik]

I lost my mbunas one by one to what I assume was an intestinal parasite. They looked completely fine. Nothing had been added for a bit. They started getting lazy, breathing fast, and laying at the bottom. Near death they started having violent seizure like behaviors.
I would try feeding hex shield.
kno4te A201 Milingu any ideas?

Geez, that sounds exactly like what I'm seeing.
Sorry to hear that.

Did you manage to save some in the end of did the whole community succumb to it?

 

[..puSkar..]

Geez, that sounds exactly like what I'm seeing.
Sorry to hear that.

Did you manage to save some in the end of did the whole community succumb to it?

The ones that eat the food can be saved but the ones that don't won't stay long , cause without food they get weaker and the ones that get better will start harassing the weak ones. I would suggest you try your best at treatment. Keep up with consistent water changes, consistent temp , medicate the feed and dose the tank. Keeps light off for less stress. I always try to keep the tank as dark as possible while treating. .
Good luck