[Russ3llk]

View attachment 1 View attachment 1 I properly cycled tank for 5 weeks using Tim's one and only. I had a week of 0/0/15 on my tests. I added 5 yellow labs, 5 Afra jalo reef, 5 Snow White, 5 ob zebra, 5 polit and 2 syno multi cats. All ratio was 1m/4f. I received fish from reputable online fish store and all arrived healthy. Since then 3 jalo, 2 yellow lab, 1 ob and 1 syno have died. Spread out over the last 10 days with the syno this morning with signs of bloat. No ich that I can see. I have done 25% water changes every 3 days and used prime. They are in a 90 gallon tank (48x24) with 15 gallon overflow sump. Tank readings as of writing this. Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10, ph 7.8-8 can't tell, kh 7 drops, temp 78f. I am using Carib sea cichlids and substrate. All this fish seem to be swimming well and the zebra was the only death I saw coming as he was not moving much and just sort of ran out of gas. This is my first cichlids tank and when I asked lfs they just said cichlids do that. Is this normal? What should I do? There are plenty of rocks as well and 2 pieces of driftwood.

 

[DJRansome]

It is not normal, but nothing pops out as a cause.

What are the dimensions of the tank?

 

[Russ3llk]

my tank is 48x18x24 90 gallon. Lost a Polit yesterday but no loss today as of now.

 

[DJRansome]

It's a lot of species for a 48x18 tank, but that should not cause deaths so quickly. Was it males or females or a mix that died? Unusual for a Synodontis to die.

 

[Russ3llk]

I think the Syno actually died from bloat. I think mixed. I know the yellow lab was male the other males look to still be present. However they are Juv and the supplier told which were which.

 

[DJRansome]

Unusual for a Syno to die from bloat or any other reason.

If females are dying you could start having problems from having too many males.

I would add rocks (they say to fill the tank to the waterline), at least on the substrate. Identify a species to remove and try to end up with at least 4 females per species.

 

[Russ3llk]

I am going to pull out the yellow labs as I am doing a yellow species tank with the other 90. The supplier is going to send me another syno; is it ok to put the syno in alone since the tank is relatively young?

 

[forkman]

Just my 2 cents, but could it be possible that the bio load was just too much for the existing bacteria to handle? There may have been a couple days of extreme ammonia and or nitrite spikes that did them in. My understanding is that a bacteria colony will gradually adjust to increased bio load. When I started my 125 gallon, I only added 4 fish at a time, waited a week and my bacteria reestablished to handle that load, then I added 4 more, waited another week then added my final 4. They were all juveniles. I hope you get it figured out, it sucks to lose fish.

 

[Russ3llk]

It seemed to have stopped til today but they may of been stress. I had to move all the rocks to get the yellow labs out for the other tank and today after work 1 of the ob was dead (I saw him hiding behind a rock on sand last night) where he was hiding after. I will keep you in the loop on how the newly dubbed "thunderdome tank" and the new cat and dogs tank fares. (Current Stocking Thunderdome Day 16: 5 Snow White/ 2 Afra Jalo Reef/ 3 OB Blueberry/ 4 Polit/ 2 Syno)(Current Stocking Cats and Dogs Day2: 6 Syno/ 12 Yellow Lab).

 

[DJRansome]

I would not add a single fish to an existing tank...especially if you are experiencing deaths. Wait for stability after 3 weeks and then add groups of 3 or more at a time.