sick Demasoni african cichlid

[malawi master]

One of my africans is sick i think. I have six small africans in a 55 gallon and one is swimming vertical with her head pointed toward the bottom of the tank beside the aquarium intake. Usually they all go crazy when i feed them but she has not eaten for a day. She looks like she is struggling when she is swimming. This tank has only been running for a week and i have been using cycle to help speed up the process. the ammonia reading is 1.5 . I have been doing small water changes to help.

 

[rockhoe14er]

i think the big problem is that the tank is not cycled. You really need to bring the ammonia down a lot.


What's the pH at? what are your nitrites at? what's the temp?

 

[Cerianthus]

With an assumption that pH is close to 8.0 and one week old with fish, your tank is going thru cycling process.
I would not bother using CYCLE since I never found it to be effective. I would not use any products on the shelves to fasten the cycle.

As pointed out above, What is present NO2 if any and pH?

At pH level close to 8, your NH3 level may be the reason for odd behavior.

Small and frequent wc as needed should assist in dilution of any toxic waste products.

 

[Haydn24]

Please cycle a tank before adding decent fish like demasoni, it's kind of a waste. I hope yours make it...

 

[7itanium]

Yes your tank is definately not cycled.. ammonia is WAY to high-- you need to do MASSIVE water changes with prime.. not "small" ones.

I wish your fish the best.. but TBH even if it pulls through it could randomly drop dead in a month of ammonia poisoning... levels that high can cause permanent gill damage

if you need help cycling let me know I can give you a step by step on how to do it properly for next time

 

[Jannika]

If you have Prime or similar product, it can detoxify the ammonia for a day or so without hurting your cycle.

On the Cycle bottle it says immediately makes your tank safe for fish, but obviously this isn't true. It took me a full month to cycle my tank, and you'll have high nitrites and many water changes to look forward to. Hopefully your fish will make it through okay.

 

[malawi master]

Okay thanks, i have been doing water changes but only small ones about three gallons every 2 days so i'll continue to do them.

 

[jasonG75]

This tank has only been running for a week and i have been using cycle to help speed up the process. the ammonia reading is 1.5 . I have been doing small water changes to help.

:headshake2::headshake2::headshake2:



Demasoni are such beautiful fish, why put them through this

 

[malawi master]

Give me a break buddy, you think i wanted this to happen? I didn't think that the ammonia would spike like this in a 55 gallon and africans are generally a tough fish.

 

[blue2fyre]

Mbuna are tough but they don't make good cycling fish. They are sensitive to ammonia. You need to do larger water changes, 2-3 gallons is not enough for a tank that size. When I cycled my 55 gallon I was changing 40% daily during the ammonia and nitrite spikes. It was a lot of work making sure the fish survived.