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OK in my 120, the amaonia id 0 the nitrits are 0 and the nitrates are very low also, the ph is about 8.0. But like once a month i have a cichlid die, they are young cichlids, maybe 3-3.5 in long, but they all stop eating first then die a while later, first it was my gt then my texas, and now my red terror. Today when i pulled out my rt, he looked kinda bloated (dropsy maybe)or maybe an internal infection obviously cause there are never any outside symptoms, anyadvice guys? Thanks. I only have like 10 small fish in there otherwise.

how new are the fish which die? introduced recently? gills, how do they look? is there any agression where they might be being chased away from the food? tried to feed a variety to maybe get them a little more interested in feeding time? Tried dosing with cravex? It is an appetite stimulant for fish. This might seem silly, but how cold is the tank? When temps drop too low fish can die slow like that metabolisms slow down stop eating and then floating one day.

koi

can we get a list of tank mates/fish left?

Last edited by Koi Keeper at 17-May-2005 22:44

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

Well the fish that die, die after about a month and so far all three are from the same store, the water temp is about 81 degrees, all the other fish in the tank are non agresives like small tinfoil barbs, two convicts and giant dianos.

And also the rt yesterday had some red around one of his side fins, but i still think its an internal parasite, but none of my fish from any of the other 5 stores i go to have caught this in the past months, almost like they are all comming in with it and going out with it without spreading it.

Have all of the other fish been in there long term? and so only trying one agressive cichlid at a time?

Thought about trying a different store and maybe working with a medium sized fish. Tank size is certainly not an issue.

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

In a tank that size it would be possible to have a fish sick and not have the others catch it, but usually they would by pecking at the dead body, and eventually even internal parasites spread. but none of your long term tank occupants have died?

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

No the longer term fish are fine.

I would discount it to a bad source for your fish. Without looking at the dead fish I won't be able to tell you much. But to increase their chance for survival do buy a larger specimen next time and definately swap out to another store. Fish would typically die much, much sooner than that from a stress related death, etc. Just odd. The red on the fins bothers me but with your water parameters, tey should be fine barring any internal parasites or internal infection. I am just really glad it does not seen to have passed onto your remaining fish

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

Thanks for the info, i think im gona stop getting my fish from there, i bought a pleco from there the other day and im gona see how he does for a couple months....and that will make up my mind about that place.