Help with Dying Cichla

[pwmin]

Check your filters thoroughly for organic waste build up.

maybe a little in the Penguin, none in the 110's, but I need to check the FX5 yet

 

[squint]

Lift all the media baskets out and directly observe the bottom of the canister.

 

[pwmin]

planning on doing a water change after work and cleaning the FX5.

Looking worse today, so I'm sure it's past the point of no return

 

[pwmin]

Sorry for the bad pictures, just wanted to post a few tank shots.

Also, I was wondering about the fish in the 3rd picture. What do you think it is? It has 4 bars and I believe was sold as an ocel.

 

[jimmie1974]

I think from all of your water changes. With ammonia present, you've stripped alot of your nitrifying bacteria. Ive lost intermedia in the past. There a s.o.b when small. My 3 now with 2 rio negro orinos are doing great at 6". But ive lost 5 in a day IME at 2-3". Their tough to ship. Stress easily. More prone to ich than any other cichla ive owned. My pbass get fd krill once a day. No need to power feed. Their gonna go through growth spurts anyways then just stop. But id cut down on your meds b4 you make the water toxic. And add live nitrifying bacteria.

 

[pwmin]

Well, did another water change and ammonia is down to 0.25 and nitrate is reading 0. Cleaned the Penguin and FX6 and they weren't too dirty, not really any sludge. I didn't clean any of the bio media. Think I'm going to move the largest one into the 240 and see how it does when I have some time at home as I'm going away for the weekend tomorrow.

I think from all of your water changes. With ammonia present, you've stripped alot of your nitrifying bacteria. Ive lost intermedia in the past. There a s.o.b when small. My 3 now with 2 rio negro orinos are doing great at 6". But ive lost 5 in a day IME at 2-3". Their tough to ship. Stress easily. More prone to ich than any other cichla ive owned. My pbass get fd krill once a day. No need to power feed. Their gonna go through growth spurts anyways then just stop. But id cut down on your meds b4 you make the water toxic. And add live nitrifying bacteria.

I only do 1 50% change a week (except this week), which is what I always do. I will try adding some BB solution, but this tank has been set up for a while now and I haven't added much of anything and what I did add, they killed off a couple weeks ago. BB are not really in the water column. I don't pull out any decor and clean it.

The intermedia is about 6"; I've had them since they were about 2". Lost one a month ago or so and now this one from the 3 I started with. I haven't used any meds in the 150. I did put some in with the intermedia today, but it was past saving at that point. I am on the waiting list for more intermedia from Aqua Imports.

 

[TheWolfman]

Ammonia and nitrate in the tank means not enough media or inadequate filtration. Since your tank is bare bottom you don’t have much surface area for BB to live on inside the tank. That means your filters need to be extra efficient to make up for it. Your bio load doesn’t seem to large at this time as your fish are still small, but I would probably bet that you don’t have enough media or not enough turnover of the tank per hour. Your water change schedule of 50 percent per week should be fine at the size of your fish currently are. The goal should be to keep nitrate under 20ppm and judging from the 5 ppm reading your doing good in that regard. Lighten up on the food your putting into the aquarium and add more media to your filters until the ammonia is gone. You can use a double dose of prime every other day to detoxify the ammonia that is in your water until the filters can catchup to your bio load. Be sure to test your parameters daily until your out of the woods on this one. The four bar fish looks like Cichla pleizona.

 

[pwmin]

Ammonia and nitrate in the tank means not enough media or inadequate filtration. Since your tank is bare bottom you don’t have much surface area for BB to live on inside the tank. That means your filters need to be extra efficient to make up for it. Your bio load doesn’t seem to large at this time as your fish are still small, but I would probably bet that you don’t have enough media or not enough turnover of the tank per hour. Your water change schedule of 50 percent per week should be fine at the size of your fish currently are. The goal should be to keep nitrate under 20ppm and judging from the 5 ppm reading your doing good in that regard. Lighten up on the food your putting into the aquarium and add more media to your filters until the ammonia is gone. You can use a double dose of prime every other day to detoxify the ammonia that is in your water until the filters can catchup to your bio load. Be sure to test your parameters daily until your out of the woods on this one. The four bar fish looks like Cichla pleizona. View attachment 1395156

I left it bare bottom so it would be easier to clean being a growout tank, but that is certainly the trade-off. I will probably put some in when I move the tank here this week sometime. I am also going to move the biggest one into the 240. I have some room in one of the AC110's, so I will put more bio-media in there. I could probably switch some of the foam out for bio in the Penguin, too.

I was wondering if it might be C. pleiozona. I will try and get some better pictures.

 

[pwmin]

Added a container of Top Fin quartz U-Media to one of the 110's. They were supposed to have some Eheim Pro in stock, but they didn't, so this was the best I could find. Looks like decent media.

 

[pwmin]

Some pictures in the new tank