Recent Fish Death Help

[Repeat]

I found my new peacock cichlid dead this morning, and i dont want anymore of my fish to die. I was wondering what good water test kits there are in usa, and if i do have a problem should i leave my other fish in the tank? They have been fine for about 6 months.
Thanks

 

[tom_os]

a good test kit as API freshwater master test kit. you can get it on ebay for about £15, not sure about the usa tho, have a look on ebay

 

[foley69]

api master kits are the best they cost about £25-30 but worth it to ensure your fishes home is safe

 

[Colin_T]

Can’t help you with test kits because I don't live in the states, but get a liquid test kit rather than a paper strip one.

Rift lake cichlids live in alkaline water and it doesn't take much to create an ammonia problem. Then the ammonia becomes really toxic in the alkaline water and fish start to die. The best thing to do if you lose a fish is a water change and gravel clean. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine and has a similar temperature and PH to the tank.
A water change will often dilute any water quality problems and buy you some time until you figure out what killed the fish. Quite often it will even fix the problem, especially if you do partial water changes each day for a week.

Can you describe what the fish looked like when it died, ie: was it really fat or skinny, etc?

 

[Repeat]

The fish looked quite normal, and i actually did a 50% water change 4 days ago, and put in some new gravel. Everything else in the tank is a lot happier

 

[Colin_T]

Unfortunately it could have been anything that killed it. It might have had a heart attack or stroke, or there was a small ammonia spike that killed it and has since cleared up. Sometimes fish just up and die and the only real way to find out what killed them is to do an autopsy. But that costs a bit of money so most people just accept the loss. However, it would be a good idea to monitor the rest of the fish over the next few months and keep records of any that die, including what they looked like and water quality. Also keep photos of the dead fish. Then if you start losing fish on a regular basis (every months or so, and they have similar symptoms, you can try to work out what is killing them from the history.