Compete Disaster 20 dead cichlids

I don't know how to put this but I had a complete disaster this morning I am gutted sick and angry with myself. Yesterday I was to go to Galway and collect fish for myself and a few friends this ended straight away from electrical problems with the car, after a hour I got the car going again at this stage it was to late for Galway so I stopped at a Lfs and delighted they had a adult cichlid that I was after. Cut a long story short I went home did all the usual things turned off the lights on the tank got the cichlid placed some water from the tank in the bag then left it for 20 min put him in and all was great. Got up at 9am and went to the tank for the feed and to see how my cichlid was doing with fry. over 20 adult cichlids were dead and one of my catfish and the fish that was holding were all dead only a few were swimming. got as many out straight away and the fry it ended up only two cichlids lived and two jewel cichlids my bristle nose pleco and few catfish. I cant believe over 20 died and the only thing I can think is I should have placed the cichlid in a quarantine tank first. It didn't end here one of the catfish jumped into the breeder net and had 10 fry for dinner then tonight I taught I had everything sorted and the same catfish jumped into a guppy tank don't think he got any of the fry. I think I might take a short break and sell up the last of my tropical fish between work and everything else its been stress instead of being fun. Its a pity things were going so good and I was selling plenty of small cichlids and some money was coming in for new fish.My girlfriend wants me to buy new stock of cichlids and start all over straight away don't know if I can after this I am truly gutted.

the new cichlid was perfect I am only getting to do things now and this is why I am angry I thing its something to do with the water. I setup the tank a few weeks ago and only did two water changes I test the water now and see what the results are. The water was perfect last test a week ago.

Hey man ,
I feel ur pain , that's an unfortunate disaster , I had a similar lost , abt 26 Malawi cichlids died on me in a 260 litre tank I stripped down the tank & it was back up and running in a few weeks , I wud'nt give up on cichlids , cichlids are like wine they get better with age ,
Chin up & get Bak on the horse

I only been in looking at the tank and testing the water one of the things I did last night was turn off a new led light with a air curtain I think this stirred up food and the water was not moving as much
I think all the cichlids got over feed could this have something to do with all the cichlids dying I am kicking myself because I have read so much and taught I was doing most things right and now this. John the 350L was been used right up till I got the tank and when I got it I moved everything from my 190L and topped it up then I did two water changes maybe you are right this is a hard lesson to be learnt by myself all the cichlids were over 5 inches with two holding cichlids that's really the killer they have been making me a few pound every week for the last few weeks.

really sorry to hear about your losses man. but don't let it take you out of the hobby. on a long enough timescale, everyone ends up having some kind of disaster. the fact that it bothers you so much just means that you actually gave a $#!t about your fish. this forum is all about sharing information, experiences, resources or even just time and it's clear reading your posts that you're more than generous sharing all of those things with other fishkeepers. as such, it'd be a shame to lose you from the hobby.

I don't often get to say this, but if I were you, i'd listen to the Missus

I have lost a few fish in the filter and few that were eaten when I first started fish keeping a year ago
even the last big spend on cichlids the water was terrible and again I travelled 30 miles there was 6 dead this time its all my adult cichlids and two breeding pairs I think this is the reason why its going so hard on me. I think I should have been doing more water changes with all the activity I really have no one to blame only myself thanks Lemmonjelly I wouldn't be saying that to often.
Thanks to all for your support it feels like I been at this for years instead of one year next month.

Sory to read bout your fish lose, its a real sickner looking at a tank of dead fish, I know I lost all my rainbows 2 yrs ago. But I got back into fish. Dont give up man. Just a thought, you switched of an air curtain, maybe its oxygen starvation that killed your fish.

paulv wrote:

Sory to read bout your fish lose, its a real sickner looking at a tank of dead fish, I know I lost all my rainbows 2 yrs ago. But I got back into fish. Dont give up man. Just a thought, you switched of an air curtain, maybe its oxygen starvation that killed your fish.

think your right about the oxygen paulv
had a big stocked tank myself before and nearly lost alot of fish after a feed due to lack of oxygen
now i have a big koi air pump on my tank which sorted it out
sorry about the disaster mate,i lost a big group of clown loaches a while back and its sick,it took me a while to get back into it but you will

What a disaster, when it rains it pours , I'd strip the tank and start over. Sure what else are you gonna do with your time? at least you got the OH on side isn't that half the battle.

Stuart.

Hey mate :

Sorry to hear about your loss I had same issues long ago but it was due to water chemistry - I used buffers and had a bad result ... my bad for not understanding how to use it ... felt the same as you do now.
I got water chemistry stable and got some more fish and lesson learned. I have not lost any fish since that incident

Hope you get some more cichlids

Cheers

Santiagoi

if you do get back into breeding and selling them I will be interested in buying some from you

good luck

My worst nightmare come true James lad

If i can do anything, let me know

Gutted for you mate.....Not nice at all..

Stephen M.

Thanks for all the comments hopefully when I get home tonight I can do further tests
I am doing one with the air on and one without I am still concidering on what to do but over the next few days I selling up fish and thanks and then I think I will do a complete restart

Very sorry to hear about your losses.

Unfortunately I think most fishkeepers that have been at it for a while will have experienced the same.
It’s one of the downsides of the hobby and you reaction of wanting to get out is probably very common in these situations. I have certainly felt something similar on two separate occasions.

You have to look back on the good stuff and look how far you have gotten in the hobby in just a year!

Good luck whatever you decide but I think you will regret it if you sell up completely.

Andreas

Melander wrote:

Very sorry to hear about your losses.

Unfortunately I think most fishkeepers that have been at it for a while will have experienced the same.
It’s one of the downsides of the hobby and you reaction of wanting to get out is probably very common in these situations. I have certainly felt something similar on two separate occasions.

You have to look back on the good stuff and look how far you have gotten in the hobby in just a year!

Good luck whatever you decide but I think you will regret it if you sell up completely.

Andreas

I think u hit it on the nail I started with a 35L for the kid and got hooked myself went from strength to strength and took advice from here and moved fish into bigger tanks and placed them into the correct places ,I am going to start from fresh and hopefully get a few breeding pairs for now then maybe at Xmas I get a full new stock of African cichlids

I laugh at this now and no one could tell me right from wrong I have learnt a lot and hopefully people wont make the same mistake as myself My other good news My girlfriend is having our 3rd baby and the due date is same day as my birthday 24th April

here is my first video near 1 year ago for anyone starting don't copy this just take your time ask lots of questions and no matter if there stupid they will still get a answer and hopefully be of some help

Hey james,
Sorry to hear about your probs, if you fancy some south american cichlids just let me know lad?
jim

Good on you james you got the positive attitude and not given up. Your first tank looks great. As old chinese lad once said, the man that never made a mistake never made anything

Paulv: Never a truer word spoken......
If ya dont try ya cant make a mistake!!! But if ya dont make a mistake, how will ya learn?

James, As said above, If ya want to go SA, I have a couple of lads here you can have for the cost of the collection / delivery
You looked after me, Ill return the favour

I have just found the reason my cichlids died back a few months ago i bought the cichlids from a lad in Portlaoise again i got home 5 fish died from poor water quality, i also bought a aps external filter off him and i was told the media was new and the filter was only 4 months old. I took his word for this when i did the last setup on my 190L i added two 6 inch air stones and the external filter and fish into a 190L tank, the air stones helped keep oxygen levels high. When i moved to the bigger tank the filter was not able to handle the extra water and food because of poor maintains the media was never changed and the filter was older than i was told. When i was working on the 350L i put in a new air Curtin and turned off the stone over night and the air curtain this caused high spike of nitrite and nitrate and starved most of the cichlids of oxygen only the ones that went to the top of the tank got enough air to keep them alive till i moved then to another tank. some things i noticed from on the 190L even with water changes every week there was a foul smell coming from the tank i taught this was from the heat and food but i stand to be corrected on this but i think it was from poor filtration and the fact the media needed changing. Lesson to be learnt from all of this use a twin air filter on a African cichlid tank for extra oxygen and if you get a smell check or clean your filter or maybe change the media if it is old.
I am only 1 year and have learnt the hard way hopefully this wont happen to any one else from here its truly terrible experience to see nearly all your fish dead. I know from now on i am going to start from scratch and do another tank with cichlids i will also make more time for maintance and making sure nothing like this ever happens again. I know i deserve a kick up the hole for doing things wrong but we all learn from our mistakes

JohnH wrote:

" I know i deserve a kick up the hole for doing things wright"

Is that 'wrong' - or 'right' or a clever combination?

Sorry - trying to add an amusing edge to the disaster.

Consider yourself well and truly kicked in the hole.

Now - tank-renewal beckons...

John

now edited yes it was wrong maybe i am going forward to quick and need to stand back and think about things before i do them. I dont think i am going to look for a 6ft tank now for xmas lol i might leave it till my birthday next April

James Sorry to hear about your disaster.
I have a few mbuna in the shop with are yours if you want them,
might help you get back up and running again
Pete

When fitting a pre-used filter to a tank it is wise to dump or sterilise old filter media and start fresh.
If you fitted the active filter within a few hours of removing from running tank it should be ok, but otherwise the filter bacteria dies and will be flushed into the tank when turned on. In a properly filtered tank the air curtain should be a nice luxury and there should be enough oxygen even without it.
hope this helps

CrustyCrab wrote:

James Sorry to hear about your disaster.
I have a few mbuna in the shop with are yours if you want them,
might help you get back up and running again
Pete

Thanks a million that will be a great help
i am going through a hard spell at the minute so all help is great
thanks
Pete

derek wrote:

When fitting a pre-used filter to a tank it is wise to dump or sterilise old filter media and start fresh.
If you fitted the active filter within a few hours of removing from running tank it should be ok, but otherwise the filter bacteria dies and will be flushed into the tank when turned on. In a properly filtered tank the air curtain should be a nice luxury and there should be enough oxygen even without it.
hope this helps

Yes that is a great help its only now i fully understand these things, pity i didn't know this when i got the external filter like they say you learn something new everyday.

Today was the first time that i built up the courage to go back into the room and do a few small bits with the tank. after the disaster i emptyed all the water out and the very last drop of water was mixed through the sand with a few small puddles to my amazment i seen some movment in one or two puddles and when i took a better look there was about 5 tiny baby fry how these stayed alive is beyond me. They are now all back in the guppy tank and doing great. this cheered me up even though its such a small thing looking forward to getting the tank back up and runnig over the next few weeks.

Sometimes all you need is a little victory to make the disaster not quite so bad and make it easier to start again. Delighted to hear that the fry are doing well...

J.