BrookeLea
Fish Addict
I'm new to cichlids, but I have been reading a lot and did a lot of research and planning before I went out and bought my first fish. Our plan is (was?) to add one species at a time, starting with the least aggressive and working our way up, until our 55 gallon is stocked.
This is our stock list:
3 Aceis
3 Yellow Labs
3 Kenyiis
3 Red Zebras
On Saturday night, my husband and I went out and bought three Aceis. This may have been when I made my first mistake... I wanted to try to get one male and two females. I know it's hard to sex them when they are so small, but I watched their behavior closely and looked for white on the fins. I read that males are more aggressive, have wider bodies from top to bottom, tend to be darker in color and sometimes have white egg spots on their fins. There was one fish that was darker than the others, had white egg spots and was the most aggressive in the tank so I chose him and two of the more docile ones that I hoped would turn out to be female. The one that I thought to be male also had other white spots. One near his lips, one near his tail, one or two on his side, a couple on his dorsal fin and a cluster of them on his pectoral fin. The spots didn't look raised or textured, so I thought maybe he just got some odd coloring somewhere along the line. I asked the person working at the pet store if it might be fungus or something or if it was just his coloring, but she said it was just his coloring and I took her word for it.
Before we left for the fish store, we made sure to check that the water temperature was at 82 degrees, I used perfect pH 8.2 to get the pH right. And of course I had used water conditioner when originally setting up the tank. We got them home and let them float in the bag in the aquarium to get acclimated before releasing them. They swam around happily checking out their new home, all the hidey holes and rock formations that we made for them. Later that night we fed them and they ate normally. We went to bed happy.
Sunday morning I got up, fed the fish and watched them for a while. They were still looking great and all seemed to claim their own space. A little while later I went to watch them again and noticed that the one with the white spots had pop eye! One of his eyes was bubbled out and I started to worry. I went straight away and started reading as much about pop eye as I could. The next time I went and checked on him I noticed that his other eye had also started to pop. By the time I was able to find any answers as far as what to do to help him, the fish store was already closed and it was late so I just went to bed hoping that he might be looking better in the morning.
Yesterday morning (Monday) I was happy to find that the pop eye was getting better! The other two fish looked completely normal and happy. I fed them all a small breakfast and went back to reading about pop eye. I was waiting for my husband to get home from work so that we could go to the pet store and get some Maracyn for the pop eye. (He had the only debit card that we have at work with him and I had no cash on hand). He ended up having to work late and didn't get home in time to make it to the pet store, but I thought (after reading that it might) that the pop eye might go away on its own since it was getting better so I wasn't too worried. I sat watching the fish for a while and noticed that the white spots on his fins DID look a little raised and I started to worry. I wasn't sure if they really were raised or if it was just my imagination. I had resolved to buy some medication to treat him for those white spots, just in case.
Later that night, I noticed the pop eye fish was upside down and being tossed about the tank by the filter! My heart dropped! I quickly set up a 10 gallon hospital tank with water from the main aquarium, an air stone and heater. My husband grabbed the fish and put him in the hospital tank where we watched him swim around erratically, upside down.
I thought he was going to die, so I let him be for a little while. When I went back to check on him about an hour later, he was right side up and swimming better.
We decided to do a water change on the main tank to keep the other two fish safe. I removed an additional 5 gallons (on top of the 10 that had gone into the hospital tank), then refilled the aquarium 5 gallons at a time. Here is where I think I may have done something wrong. Please read my steps! My husband filled the 5 gallon bucket with tap water. I put 5mL of the water conditioner (because you are supposed to add 10mL for every 10 gallons) straight into the bucket. Then I added half a scoop of perfect pH 8.2 (whole scoop for every 10 gallons), dissolved in a smaller container of water from the bucket first, into the bucket, waited a minute or so and added the water to the tank. We did this a total of three times, adding the water conditioner and perfect pH each time.
About half an hour later when I went to check on them, the two fish in the main aquarium were laying on their sides at the bottom of the tank! We plopped both of those into the hospital tank and I went to bed very upset. I got up this morning to find the original sick fish swimming around just fine, one of the others passed, and the other barely breathing and very pale. Just now I went to check again, and the fish that was swimming around perfectly fine is now laying no his side barely breathing (after looking perfectly fine an hour ago!) and the other is still the same...
What has happened here? This makes me want to just give up. Did I do something wrong? Were the fish just sick? I really would like to have the cichlid aquarium that I've been wanting for years now, but I'm feeling so discouraged now. I have no idea what went wrong...
What should I do with the 55 gallon aquarium now? Should I treat it somehow? Should I just drain the whole thing and treat all the rocks, silk plants, and other fixtures with bleach? What about the sand that's in there? Dump it out and start over with new sand? Is the aquarium infected? Will it kill any other fish I put in there in the future? I'm so lost and upset...
I've you've made it through this whole post, thank you for taking the time to read it. I hope someone can provide me with some answers.
This is our stock list:
3 Aceis
3 Yellow Labs
3 Kenyiis
3 Red Zebras
On Saturday night, my husband and I went out and bought three Aceis. This may have been when I made my first mistake... I wanted to try to get one male and two females. I know it's hard to sex them when they are so small, but I watched their behavior closely and looked for white on the fins. I read that males are more aggressive, have wider bodies from top to bottom, tend to be darker in color and sometimes have white egg spots on their fins. There was one fish that was darker than the others, had white egg spots and was the most aggressive in the tank so I chose him and two of the more docile ones that I hoped would turn out to be female. The one that I thought to be male also had other white spots. One near his lips, one near his tail, one or two on his side, a couple on his dorsal fin and a cluster of them on his pectoral fin. The spots didn't look raised or textured, so I thought maybe he just got some odd coloring somewhere along the line. I asked the person working at the pet store if it might be fungus or something or if it was just his coloring, but she said it was just his coloring and I took her word for it.
Before we left for the fish store, we made sure to check that the water temperature was at 82 degrees, I used perfect pH 8.2 to get the pH right. And of course I had used water conditioner when originally setting up the tank. We got them home and let them float in the bag in the aquarium to get acclimated before releasing them. They swam around happily checking out their new home, all the hidey holes and rock formations that we made for them. Later that night we fed them and they ate normally. We went to bed happy.
Sunday morning I got up, fed the fish and watched them for a while. They were still looking great and all seemed to claim their own space. A little while later I went to watch them again and noticed that the one with the white spots had pop eye! One of his eyes was bubbled out and I started to worry. I went straight away and started reading as much about pop eye as I could. The next time I went and checked on him I noticed that his other eye had also started to pop. By the time I was able to find any answers as far as what to do to help him, the fish store was already closed and it was late so I just went to bed hoping that he might be looking better in the morning.
Yesterday morning (Monday) I was happy to find that the pop eye was getting better! The other two fish looked completely normal and happy. I fed them all a small breakfast and went back to reading about pop eye. I was waiting for my husband to get home from work so that we could go to the pet store and get some Maracyn for the pop eye. (He had the only debit card that we have at work with him and I had no cash on hand). He ended up having to work late and didn't get home in time to make it to the pet store, but I thought (after reading that it might) that the pop eye might go away on its own since it was getting better so I wasn't too worried. I sat watching the fish for a while and noticed that the white spots on his fins DID look a little raised and I started to worry. I wasn't sure if they really were raised or if it was just my imagination. I had resolved to buy some medication to treat him for those white spots, just in case.
Later that night, I noticed the pop eye fish was upside down and being tossed about the tank by the filter! My heart dropped! I quickly set up a 10 gallon hospital tank with water from the main aquarium, an air stone and heater. My husband grabbed the fish and put him in the hospital tank where we watched him swim around erratically, upside down.
I thought he was going to die, so I let him be for a little while. When I went back to check on him about an hour later, he was right side up and swimming better.We decided to do a water change on the main tank to keep the other two fish safe. I removed an additional 5 gallons (on top of the 10 that had gone into the hospital tank), then refilled the aquarium 5 gallons at a time. Here is where I think I may have done something wrong. Please read my steps! My husband filled the 5 gallon bucket with tap water. I put 5mL of the water conditioner (because you are supposed to add 10mL for every 10 gallons) straight into the bucket. Then I added half a scoop of perfect pH 8.2 (whole scoop for every 10 gallons), dissolved in a smaller container of water from the bucket first, into the bucket, waited a minute or so and added the water to the tank. We did this a total of three times, adding the water conditioner and perfect pH each time.
About half an hour later when I went to check on them, the two fish in the main aquarium were laying on their sides at the bottom of the tank!
We plopped both of those into the hospital tank and I went to bed very upset. I got up this morning to find the original sick fish swimming around just fine, one of the others passed, and the other barely breathing and very pale. Just now I went to check again, and the fish that was swimming around perfectly fine is now laying no his side barely breathing (after looking perfectly fine an hour ago!) and the other is still the same...What has happened here? This makes me want to just give up.
Did I do something wrong? Were the fish just sick? I really would like to have the cichlid aquarium that I've been wanting for years now, but I'm feeling so discouraged now. I have no idea what went wrong...What should I do with the 55 gallon aquarium now? Should I treat it somehow? Should I just drain the whole thing and treat all the rocks, silk plants, and other fixtures with bleach? What about the sand that's in there? Dump it out and start over with new sand? Is the aquarium infected? Will it kill any other fish I put in there in the future? I'm so lost and upset...
I've you've made it through this whole post, thank you for taking the time to read it. I hope someone can provide me with some answers.
