# Fish slowly dying



## dalewebb (Jul 4, 2018)

I have a well-conditioned. planted, 75-gallon tank that has been set up for more than a year. If anything, it is over filtered. It has a bunch of guppies (I thought the other fish would eat the babies, but they are thriving), 8 or so neons, a couple of SAEs, two farlowellas (or whatever they are calling them now), a couple Rams, and some Otocinclus cats. I have been trying to keep dwarf cichlids, but I get several and they die slowly, one at a time, over a few weeks. Is there some trick to keeping them that I don't know? Any ideas.
Dale Webb


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## fishexpert (Jun 24, 2020)

The temp in your tank must be 80-86 degrees for them to thrive your other fish won't survive that, so unless you remove all your other tropical fish the Cichlids aren't going to make it in the 76-78 degree tropical fish tank.


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## dalewebb (Jul 4, 2018)

The tank is about 82 degrees


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## steelhawaii43 (Jul 12, 2020)

Question please? I am doing a fish in cycle of a new 20 gallon aquarium using a Penguin pro series 175 HOB filter. I have 4 very small guppies in tank that has been running for 2 weeks now with guppies in it for a week. I also used seeded bio rings from an established filter and tank and placed in new 175 filter. And also been periodically putting in bacteria from a bottle. Question is do you think my tank has cycled already or any predictions or time frame to cycle. My plan is to slowly put approximately 15 tetras in this aquarium. Any opinions will be appreciated. Thx u


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## fishexpert (Jun 24, 2020)

Ok, not this is quite strange. I am not quite sure how your tropical fish are making it in the extreme water heat. Your fish must be very hardy because most tropical fish will literally cook in that water. I actually recommend turning the temp back to 78 and not putting dwarf Cichlids in your tank. You should just do an all tropical fish tank because cichlids need high temps, your other fish will die quickly in the hot water, and nearly all types of common dwarf Cichlids you can buy are aggressive and will hurt your peaceful community fish. Not to mention how some are extremely large and produce more waste! The waste of cichlids can cause major diseases for the little fish. A minor disease a cliched has can easlity kill a small fish due to the fact the immmune system of a small fish is much weaker because of its size.


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## fishexpert (Jun 24, 2020)

steelhawaii43 said:


> Question please? I am doing a fish in cycle of a new 20 gallon aquarium using a Penguin pro series 175 HOB filter. I have 4 very small guppies in tank that has been running for 2 weeks now with guppies in it for a week. I also used seeded bio rings from an established filter and tank and placed in new 175 filter. And also been periodically putting in bacteria from a bottle. Question is do you think my tank has cycled already or any predictions or time frame to cycle. My plan is to slowly put approximately 15 tetras in this aquarium. Any opinions will be appreciated. Thx u


The tank probably won't finish for another 2 weeks. You can add some beneficial bacteria from your local petstore and you will only have to wait 1 week.


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## steelhawaii43 (Jul 12, 2020)

20yearfishexpert said:


> The tank probably won't finish for another 2 weeks. You can add some beneficial bacteria from your local petstore and you will only have to wait 1 week.


20years yes I have been putting in beneficial bacteria peridically for 2 weeks now.


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## fishexpert (Jun 24, 2020)

Alright, I would wait another week just to be sure. Remember to buy water testing strips from your local pet store to test ph. levels nitrates, and a few other things.


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## Akeath (May 12, 2009)

What species of Cichlids are you trying? And what are your pH and hardness levels?


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## steelhawaii43 (Jul 12, 2020)

20yearfishexpert said:


> Alright, I would wait another week just to be sure. Remember to buy water testing strips from your local pet store to test ph. levels nitrates, and a few other things.


Thx 20years appreciate the advice.


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## fishexpert (Jun 24, 2020)

No problem! Glad I could help!


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## MoreThanAFish (Nov 16, 2020)

steelhawaii43 said:


> Thx 20years appreciate the advice.


If you are cycling your tank with fish, usually this should take 4-6, mostly 6, weeks to cycle. I do not recommend pet store bacteria as this is quite a useless thing. My tank never got cycled even when I’ve put in 5 bottles of Tetra Safe Start.


dalewebb said:


> The tank is about 82 degrees


Temperature is too high for the fish you already have. Regular rams should do fine at that temperature, but for your other fish bolivian rams should do lower temperatures.

Seriouslyfish.com is a great site to look up fish *requirements.*


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## fishexpert (Jun 24, 2020)

Seriouslyfish.com actually has a lot of wrong information! Beneficial bacteria can speed up the cycling process!


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## MoreThanAFish (Nov 16, 2020)

20yearfishexpert said:


> Seriouslyfish.com actually has a lot of wrong information! Beneficial bacteria can speed up the cycling process!


Nahh. They have pretty good info. Unlike you.. ;( Pet store bacteria don’t help in my experience. Re-read my post.


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## fishexpert (Jun 24, 2020)

Well, your tank won't ever be cycled if you don't add ammonia pellets or have a few shrimp/ snails in it. The benifitial bacteria will die off. There are different brands too.


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## WaterChange (Feb 8, 2021)

steelhawaii43 said:


> Question please? I am doing a fish in cycle of a new 20 gallon aquarium using a Penguin pro series 175 HOB filter. I have 4 very small guppies in tank that has been running for 2 weeks now with guppies in it for a week. I also used seeded bio rings from an established filter and tank and placed in new 175 filter. And also been periodically putting in bacteria from a bottle. Question is do you think my tank has cycled already or any predictions or time frame to cycle. My plan is to slowly put approximately 15 tetras in this aquarium. Any opinions will be appreciated. Thx u


If you used a reasonable amount of seeded media you have an "instant cycle" and you can slowly stock your tank straight away. As you said you have 4 guppies in there for a couple of weeks, you can start adding your tetra's too. This is the best way to cycle a tank in my opinion. Shop bought bacteria will give your tank a small kick start, but not much more. 
Old thread I know but I hope all went well.


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