Discouraged. Maleri Dead Without a Clue!

[dcallen]

Hi,

Well my juvenile Maleri finally gave it up last night, he had not been eating for several days and wasn't very active and this morning I found him dead. I don't have a clue as to why he died, I could see no outward signs of illness and he wasn't being picked on. So my never ending saga of poor luck with fishkeeping continues. All water parameters are fine so I know poor water quality wasn't the culprit. Can anyone give me some ideas on what may have happened and what I can do from here to prevent further mortality? I have tried my very best to insure that everything is well taken care of in the tank and yet I still seem to have problems.


-Discouraged

Specs:

70 Gallon tank
Approx. 95lbs. of rock
Approx. 50 lbs. shell/rock Cichlid mixture substrate
1 300 watt heater
1 Emperor 400 HOB
1 Eheim 2213 Cannister
1 48" flourescent light

Water:

pH-8.0-8.2
Ammonia-0
Nitrites-0 at last check
Nitrates-unsure
Temp. 80-82 degrees

 

[andruboz]

just thought i'd go for some more info as i havent a clue based on the initial data.

where did you buy him? how long was he healthy before he started to decline? what were you feeding? did he have a cave to chill in? any other maleri in the tank? how are your other fish doing?

go spurs go!

 

[dcallen]

andruboz,

Thanks.. Of the four fish that I added he is the only Maleri in the tank. They have all been in the tank for just over 2 weeks, It seems like the first week he was fine and then in the second week I started to notice that he was much less active and he wasn't eating, at least not much. I have been feeding a high quality pellet food and some frozen mysis shrimp every other day or so. I have made plenty of caves for the fish to hide in as well. All the fish are juveniles he was the biggest in the tank. The other fish are active and eating and don't show any outward signs of illness or stress. The Tangerine Tiger is a bit aggressive and tends to chase the others around a bit especially my small Regal Cichlid. He does not bother the Yellow Lab.

One other thing.. I bought all four fish at the same LFS at the same time. I kinda wish I hadn't bought juveniles but they are a lot less money and I thought it would be cool to raise them from juveniles to adults.

Tank Inhabitants:

1.) 1- Yellow Lab(male)- He was added first and alone and rules the tank. The following 4 were added at the same time
2.) 1- Maleri- Deceased
3.) 1- Tangerine Tiger I believe to be a male
4.) 1- Red Empress- sex undetermined
5.) 1- Regal ( I think a Yellow Regal)- sex undetermined

Thanks again...