sorry to see that!!! when-ever you do 40 to 50% water change you are taking big time risk,,,your tank ran out of oxygen,your cichlid's simply suffocated(spell check) you know why your pleco's did not die? they can go up an get air....they dont need air as much as the cichlids.... trust me same thing happen to me long time ago....3 times...that is how i find out.....sorry bro if you need help to replace them,let me know i will hook you up big-time..good luck..SCZ28;3370298; said:I did a water change in my african tank this morning as usual(about 40%) and everything was normal for like 15 mins then the fish all started acting weird. All the african in there are now dead which is about 20 of them but my pleco is still alive. I have no clue what would cause this and never seen anything like this in all my years of keeping fish. I am totally bummedAny ideas?
bikim420_2005;3381489; said:i also do 60 75 % water changes all the time and i know if i just add water back they all act bad go to top gulping etc but all i do is put in AQUA SAFE its in a yellow bottle i go by the directins as soon as i add it withing 1 min they all go down n swim naturally. and never have any die before i tried this some would die and other looked almost dead but every time i use it they are fine amost instantly
CichlidsRool;3380033; said:sorry to see that!!! when-ever you do 40 to 50% water change you are taking big time risk,,,your tank ran out of oxygen,your cichlid's simply suffocated(spell check) you know why your pleco's did not die? they can go up an get air....they dont need air as much as the cichlids.... trust me same thing happen to me long time ago....3 times...that is how i find out.....sorry bro if you need help to replace them,let me know i will hook you up big-time..good luck..
i have 46 tanks and i always do 50 75 % or more water changes and have for 2 years and every tme ( expecially my africans) as soon as i fill the tank bck up they gasp and go to top and contnue this until ...i add aqua safe but just as soon as i add aqua safe in the yellow bottle they are fine almost immediatly every time .1974Pantera;3394680;3394680 said:I find it very hard to believe that the fish died from oxygen depravation? I do WC's @ 50% at least weekly on all my tanks and have been for over 20yrs. Whether you use a Python or add the water via buckets, you are getting tremendous surface aggitation and thus oxygen transfer in the tank, not to mention while filling the buckets by adding water. You would also see rapid gill movement and the fish would go to the surface.
My guess is that the water was not fully treated before adding to the tank. Most Africans are pretty hearty, so in less you were adding extremely hot or cold water, that would not have killed your fish. As stated in this thread, use Prime when doing WC's, it's expensive but worth it!
bikim420_2005;3394982; said:i have 46 tanks and i always do 50 75 % or more water changes and have for 2 years and every tme ( expecially my africans) as soon as i fill the tank bck up they gasp and go to top and contnue this until ...i add aqua safe but just as soon as i add aqua safe in the yellow bottle they are fine almost immediatly every time .