Fish Dying Off

[Tazzz08]

Hello,
I recently started a new tank with the thought of having african cichlids in it.
34 gallon tank
Fluval 306 filter
150 heater kept at 78-79 degrees
Substrate is pea gravel, looks like small all river rock
Using water from tap that has been softened
Tap water stats:
Ph 8.2 to 8.4 (using API master kit, tough to call)
Zero Amm, Nitrites and Nitrates

I setup the tank, and let run for a week, while adding fluval bio boost at the recommended doses. I got this advice from lfs.
During this time, ammonia was .25ppm, nitrites were .25 to .5ppm, and 0 nitrates.
After talking with the lfs, they advised me it would be ok to continue to add the bio boost everyday and stock the tank. So I did.
I put in 7 cichlids, most peacocks, and 2 labs, all males, and all 2 to 3 inch range. My thought was to overstock the tank to curb the aggression, which was advice I got from several sources. And I planned on moving them to a larger tank in the future.

Everyone was fine for the first 3 days. I kept an eye on the tests for spikes in Amm or nitrites, and I saw none.
On day 4, a few of them seemed off...not wanting to eat, staying in the back of the tank in the darker areas, acting lethargic ( fins held tight, with a lot of heavy breathing though gills and mouth, but never at the top of the tank.)

On day 5 I noticed all of them stopped wanting to eat, so I stop feedings. And then I noticed very erratic, fast darting swimming. Sometimes I saw one of them flashing on a rock, but it wasn't a regular occurance.
I performed a partial water change of 50%, used seachem prime to treat water, but saw no noticeable change.
Consulted with lfs to have water tested, and they were getting the same readings I was... ( .25 amm/ .5 nitrites/ .10 nitrates)
They told me to continue using prime everyday for 5 more days with no water changes.
Well, it's been 5 days and I've lost all but 2 fish.
Tested water again (.25 amm/ .25 nitrites / .20 nirates)
The 2 that are left are still a little lethargic, they do spread fins out once in a while, and do show signs of dominance towards one another, but still are skittish when someone walks by tank, and dart very fast away. Still not eating.
I thought the softened water might be an issue, so I tested the tap in the garage (it's bypassed from the softener) and I get identical readings as to the softened water...Ph 8.2 to 8.4, all other readings are zero.
Is this New Tank Syndrome? I think I may have gotten some bad advice, but I want to save these 2 guys and I hope it's not too late. Please help.
Also, no visible signs of disease, and believe me, I've looked hard for something.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Hello and welcome.
 
I am sorry you have been through a bit of an ordeal and a steep learning curve is to come.
This is a tale, that unfotunately happens and in part of the cause of all this is the poor advice the LFS had given you.
 
You must research all the information that is given to you when it comes to fishkeeping, as you've found out, its nto as simple as the LFS advice given. Generally LFS staff are not really the best folks to give advice as a lot of them just want to sell their products. SO take their advice with a pinch of salt, and do your research to be sure.
 
First of all, your tank is not cycled, simply put, the ank and the filter do not have the relevant numbers of bacterias that you need in order to process the ammonia that is produced by the firsh themselves, ammonia is toxic, then that ammonaic is proceessed into nitrite by bacterias, nitrite is also toxic to fish and finally that nitrite is processed into nitrate, again toxic but the least toxic of the three and nitrate is controlled by the fishkeeper changing usually 50% of tank water and dechlorinated water once weekly.
 
That is a very brief basic description of what happen in a tank.
 
To begin with, i'd suggest you read this article carefully and hopefully you will begin to undersatnd how a tank and filter works in maintaining a balance in the tank that helps keep you tank stockign alive and thriving. -
 
Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!
 
The 2 guys in your tank, well, its not looking too promising but you can perhaps save them by rehoming them to a tank thats already cycled or back to the LFS. Or you could start doing what we call a fish in cycle, this is not usually recommended as this adds to the stress to the fish and may cause further issues with their health after being exposed to ammonia and nitrite. As well as the fact its harder to do a fish in cycle as lots of water changes and water testing is required.
 
Have a read of these two articles and then you can make amore informed choice -
 
Rescuing A Fish In Cycle Gone Wild - Part I
 
Rescuing A Fish In Cycle Gone Wild - Part Il
 
Am aware this may be a lot of informatiomn to take on but it is for the best and hopefully you have learned a few things already, albeit the hard way.
 
Do continue to ask questions and query things as you go along, we will try to advise the best we can.

 

[Tazzz08]

Thank you for the fast response.

I called the LFS and they won't house them for me or take them back. So, I guess I'm going to go the fish in cycle.

I don't have anyone I know close by to get any established media or substrate from, wish I did.

I just check the levels for all readings...
Ph 8.2
Amm 0.0 ppm
Nitrites .5ppm
Nitrates 10ppm

Glad to see amm @ 0.

Fish are more active then yesterday, but not back to normal by any means. I added another dose of prime to lock up the nitrite, and another shot of bio boost, about 4 hrs time in between.

Thanks for the articles, and hind sight is always 20/20. I will be more diligent in the future.

 

[Essjay]

Re the water softener - have you tested the hardness of the bypass water and the softened water? You can get samples tested for GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) at a shop if you don't want the expense of a test kit. Just because the pH is the same from the two sources it doesn't necessarily mean the hardness is the same.
Just in case, I would do water changes using just the bypass water as these cichlids like their water hard.

 

[Tazzz08]

No, I haven't gotten a hardness kit yet, but I will today.

I did do a 50% wc today with the bypass water. (Also added prime to the water, and a dose of bio boost to the canister filter) No real change in behavior yet, they don't seem to be as timid as they were yesterday, swimming around a little more, with periods of lethargic moments.

It's been 7 days since these two have eaten. I tried a few pellets and flakes today, they both came out of hiding to look at it, but didn't eat. How long can they go without eating?

Thank you again for the help!

 

[Tazzz08]

Ok, I got a test kit for GH and KH.

I testep both the tap (softened) and the bypass water.

Here are the results:

Tap softened
GH....0.0
KH....300
PH....8.4

Bypass water
GH....300
KH....300
PH....8.4

And both have 0.0 chlorine.

Any suggestions?
Sorry, I forgot to say the test kit is tetra easy strips. I looked for the api liquids, but nobody local had them.

 

[Essjay]

If those readings are anything like accurate, you need to use the bypass tap. Rift Lake cichlids need hard water, and the 300 (I assume that's ppm or mg/litre) should be hard enough for them. But the softened water, with a GH of zero, is bad for this type of cichlid.
 
The lack of hardness alone shouldn't have killed your fish very quickly but it would add to any stress from other factors such as ammonia and nitrite in the water. You can remove the low-hardness stress by using bypass water at every water change from now on. The first few water changes will increase the hardness till it reaches the same level as bypass water, then it will maintain it at that level.
 
But you still need to monitor for ammonia and nitrite as they will kill fish if they get too high. You'll find more details in the two links that Ch4rlie gave you.

 

[Tazzz08]

Ok, I've used the bypass water and changed about 30%. I also added aqaurium salt according to the directions ( I read it helps with their breathing)

Only 1 fish has survived all of this, he's a peacock, not sure what type. He had a blue face and a yellow body with dark vertical bars down his body.

When all of this starting going bad, he lost his yellowish color and his bars turned black and was the dominant color.
After today's WC his color is coming back to the original yellow. He still acts a little skiddish, but is swimming around the tank more. I'm hopeful that he makes a recovery.

I've waited for about 2 hrs after WC to take a reading of the water:

Ph 8.4
GH 200 ppm
KH 300 ppm
Amm 0 ppm
Nitrites .25ppm last 2 days was .5 to 1.0 ppm
Nitrates 10ppm
Temp 78.3

I used seachem prime to dechlorinate the water.