Why do I always lose my African's? HELP!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Thank you...When I switched from CA's to African's I really did not change water or anything like that, I just switched the substrate from gravel to sand, and only small amounts at a time as to not disturb the biological environment. I also monitored all levels to make sure there was not a ammonia spike or anything like that. The tank did not go for more than a few days without fish in it to keep the bio levels in tact.

I will try to bring the temp down. I will have to add a fan blowing across the top.
 
Curious, what are you feeding your africans? I lost a lot of mine until I switched to a high veggie diet. Mine never had bloat symtoms either. They ate and then they'd be dead.
 
I feed the fish NLS cichlid and tetra spirulina enhanced flake 3 times a day. Enough that they are finished eating in around 20 seconds. I have not given them any frozen mysis or brine shrimp yet.
 
THIS IS WHAT I WOUND DO

LOSE THE ROCK AND GET YOUR SELF SOME LACE ROCK IT WILL HELP WITH KEEPING THE PH UP ALSO ADD WAY MORE CRUSHED CORAL NOT JUST 10 POUNDS OF IT ONCE YOU DO THAT DO A 50% WATER CHANGE
 
sledge760;1033161; said:
Fish list:
1 Orange Zebra (M. estherae)
1 Red Shoulder Peacock (A. stuartgranti)
1 Nimbochromis Fuscotaeniatus
4x Red Zebra (M. estherae)
Click to expand...

My question ... are the three latest casualties the last three fish introduced into the tank? I had a similar problem and I had two of the fish on your list ... M. estherae. Both were Orange ... one male and one female. I introduced two Afrrican cichlids to my tank and one was dead within 24-hours while the other had major fin loss, but survived. I added another a week later and it was dead within 24-hours as well. Another addition and it ended up with fin loss. All these fish were the same size or slightly smaller than my Orange Zebras. The male in particular was VERY agressive. I had 13 fish in my 60-gallon and all but two hide from the male zebra, I rarely saw the others. He doesn't mess with the big ones because they are much bigger.

On another forum I brought this up and the huge concensus was to get the two Orange Zebras out of the tank immediately. One of the moderators even said they felt lfs shouldn't sell this species of fish. At my local lfs someone just brought back a red zebra this week because it killed every thing in his tank.

I finally caught both fish and you would not believe the difference in my tank. My other fish came out of hiding and swim around the tank like they are in heaven! I added two new fish to get my number back up to 13 and both are happy as can be ... as well as me!

I have been told that M. estherae can be VERY agressive (too late) and you have 6 in your tank. I would not rule out this possibility.

Rod
 
wow, something is wrong, but nothing jumps out at me.
pH. I know that a quick pH change can be fatal. maybe.
aggression. always a possibility with cichlids.
bad fish. From 3 different stores? Not.
new rocks. always a possibility.
Food. Not such a quick killer to only curtain fish. Bad food would be all fish.
good luck.... African cichlids are awesome fish. I will be keeping a eye on this post.
 
Added on 7/17:
1 lge. Orange Zebra- M. estherae
1 medium A. stuartgranti. died 7/18. LFS replaced it with a new one that is doing fine.
1 lge. Cobalt Blue- M. estherae. Died 7/31.

Added 7/24:
1 medium N. Fuscotaeniatus
4x medium Red Zebra M. estherae

Added 7/28:
1 lge. M. johannii (died 7/29)

I wish I had the money to add a decent amount of fish at once but, you know how it is.
 
mabye the parameters at the lfs even though they were at 3 diffrent stores are far diffrent than yours this could also be a possibility .And if these fish were new to the store or they had internal parasites this could be an issue too.A lot of stores get their fish from the same distributors. Do the lfs still have these fish avalible??
 
I also think that it could be a cycling issue. You are feeding 3x a day in tank that is not very old and has a pH of 8.0. That means that a lot of waste is being produced. Remember, ammonia is much more toxic at 8.0 than it is at 7.0.

I would chill out on the feeding and keep up with your water changes. I'd try running some carbon in your filters as well for a few day to remove any toxins or chemicals that may or may not have come with your "mystery rock" - just to be on the safe side. Some stress coat might not be a bad idea either.
 
For a start Fusco's and Aulonocara are fish that will get hammered by mbuna. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER add a single fish at a time and NEVER, NEVER,NEVER put Aulonocara in with mbuna. This cobination spells tragedy unless the mbuna are all very small.
Your fish that have died all died from stress and possibly the rocks. As suggested get rid of them and put in something that works.
I would also suggest you feed only once a day as bloat happens very quickly and if not treated quickly leads to tragedy.:naughty: :ROFL: :headbang2 :nilly:
 
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