changing tanks for my cichlids

[EpiC]

I changed my texas, oscar, cuban and ghost knife today into my other already established tank yesterday and since then they have not been happy.

its been 24 hours and they still are all hiding and breathing very rapidly. when i mean hiding they have not swum around at all with the exception of my oscar which has been floating around a little..

Nitrite is 0 nitrate 0 ammonia 0.25 ph 6.8
... i did a 20 percent water change anyway but im fairly concerned as none of my fish have shown these kind of signs before when moved to a new tank.
what could be wrong? or could it just be the stress of being moved?

 

[driftwood]

When u say established tank, how long has it been set up? They might just be freaked out from the move. Did you move them into a bigger tank or a smaller one? I would check the water quality first and go from there.

 

[japes]

Keep a close eye on your parameters by testing daily or every second day. Don't worry about Nitrate, just do Ammonia/Nitrite. If they spike (looks like they might with the 0.25 Ammonia readout as you are going through a mini cycle) just do ~30% water changes.

If everything was washed and cleaned properly before introducing the fish and the filter/sump is already embedded with some bacteria then they should come around soon.

Good chance they're just having a bit of a sulk. Remember the heavy breathing could just be from them remaining still/hiding, as they need to fluctuate their gills to breathe when not swimming.

 

[nutty]

Like japes said ammomia should be 0. Ammonia converts into nitrates, so for everything to be cycling right you should at least have some nitrate in there. I would seed the filter with a bottle of nutrafin cycle, and keep up the water changes.

 

[evilxyardxgnome]

What is the temp like? Hopefully its similar or else it could be a temp shock...

 

[EpiC]

The tank is bigger then the previous one longer but narrower and its been set up for about a year. It had my arowana and others in it b4 but I swapped both tanks completely because the tank was getting too narrow for the aro to turn around in.
The temp is sitting around 26 degrees.
thanks for the replys! its been another day and they are still sulking.