Help Unexplained Deaths

[cichlidcrazy]

Hi there hope someone can help i have no idea what is happening to my fish but they are dieing off at an astounding rate.
I have several tanks but the deaths seem to be in my main tank 6ft which has been up and running about 4/5 years so is well established my water parimeters are fine
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nirtate between 40/80
The tank is stocked with malawi cichlids not sure how many but it is not over stocked . I have 2 ehiem 2028 filtering it and a uv runing on it .I have had the odd fish die over the years which is to be expected , but over the last month or so i have lost about 15 fish . There are no symptoms fish are swimming around fine one day dead the next .The only change was about 2 months ago we added some fish from a friend who was shutting his tank down the fish were very thin but showed no signs of diesese .There was a beautiful red emperess which lost all its colourwhen we added it to our 6ft so we moved it to our 5ft malawi tank and i have also had a few fish die in this tank too,could i have infected my tanks by adding these fish? My fish are dieing off one by one each day i find another one dead i have no idea how to treat them as there is no phisical symptoms.
Any advice would be gratefuly recieved

 

[-germ-]

Whats your PH?
Just stating the ovious really but you may have missed it.
If your tap water has a high PH and therefore you don't use any buffers i'd have put my money on old tank syndrome....
Then again it'd be really bad luck if its taking place in two tanks at the same time..
Probably wrong but worth a shot.
If not colourloss, emaciation and sudden death is often connected with TB.

 

[rdd1952]

I'm definitely not very knowledgeable on diseases and stuff but is there any chance it is strictly age? I don't know how long cichlids live but I went through something similar with amano shrimp. I had bought 5 and when they reached a litle over 2 years old (at least that's how long I had them), they started to die I lost all 5 in amatter of 2 to 3 months. I'm sure it was strictly age as there were no other problems in the tank.

 

[cichlidcrazy]

my ph is 7.2 and i dont use any buffers

 

[-germ-]

Sorry is that your PH from a recent test, or your tapwater PH?
Just trying to help...

 

[cichlidcrazy]

hi there they are both the same

 

[*Fishkies*]

Possible old age for some of the fish as mentioned above. Also your nitrates seem a bit high, so that could contribute some.

Do you see your fish flicking around at all? I would say also possible internal parasites especially if you say the fish are a bit skinny from your friend you got them from.

 

[-germ-]

Oh... stuck then.
I'll have a research and post back tonight but as i'm sure you've found it'll probably be impossible to work out with the lack of symptoms.
You could check for white nodules (2-3mm) in the internal organs as part of a post mortem the next time one dies, but i doubt thats very reasuring...
Has there been any mild deformities in the body shape of any of the dead? Anything you may have thought was unrelated.
Could also be cichlid specific, i don't know a thing about cichlids....

 

[cichlidcrazy]

I'm definitely not very knowledgeable on diseases and stuff but is there any chance it is strictly age? I don't know how long cichlids live but I went through something similar with amano shrimp. I had bought 5 and when they reached a litle over 2 years old (at least that's how long I had them), they started to die I lost all 5 in amatter of 2 to 3 months. I'm sure it was strictly age as there were no other problems in the tank.

Hi there i dont think it is age as far as im aware these fish can live for many years

Possible old age for some of the fish as mentioned above. Also your nitrates seem a bit high, so that could contribute some.

Do you see your fish flicking around at all?

Im sure its no old age and there is no flicking the nitrates have always been that level with no probs

 

[cichlidcrazy]

had another death today this time i cut the fish open to see if i could see any parasites , couldnt see anything there was a pink liver type sack. i cut this open and there was a small pairdrop shape thing red in colour made of small eggs' as you can tell i have no idea what i was looking for but i think it may be a internal parasites, as the fish that i got from my friend are stiil thin.
if it is parasites how do they spread to other fish? most of the fish i got from him have died along with several of mine, would it be possable that a fish can be a carrier and not die as i still have some of his fish which are still very thin and i have made sure that these fish have fed well.
This is a pic of the red emperess which i think maybe spreading the deasiese
any ideas please iam stumped

 

[DarkEntity]

40/80 Nitrate is a tad high, most would start to look when it hits 30, is it possible there is something in the tank spiking teh nitrates?

waste foods, rubbish, dead fish not found?

 

[cichlidcrazy]

im useing the pharmaceuticals test kit and it is difficult to tell between colours they look very simular it has always been around this reading and i have never experianced any probs.There is definatly something wrong i do regular water changes so i no there is no rotting food or fish.

 

[rdd1952]

That's not terribly high. Lots of people have 40ppm in their tap water. As long as isn't over 100 for an extended period, they shoudn't cause a problem.

 

[-germ-]

If your using prime as a dechlor that would give you odd readings....
Most parasites are spread fish to fish typically via a free living phase in your substrate.
Some can be spread via the eating of dead fish and others via eating faecal matter....
I think this is too in depth for me now, i'd find a direct parasitic treatment, one that can be added to food rather than added to water.
Sorry i couldn't be of more help.

 

[rdd1952]

You my want to PM Wilder. She is very knowledgeable on diseases and infections.