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Help?! I dont know much about my fish...

I have 13 Convict cichlids (zebra cichlid) and they’re about 11 months. I went on a trip (I had 23 cichlids) and when I came back my friend told me 10 of them died.She didn’t know why, but she still saved the 13. So when I got home I cleaned their tank again,but I noticed the water started to get cloudy in less than 3 hours. So then I moved them to another tank, but then the next day the water was cloudy again. Whats going on? the fish have suddenly gotten over protective over the rocks , and lately the fish have been swimming in circles at the top of the water.

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Answer #1

The tank is not cycled, your friends fish are dying from nitrite poisoning. You need to get a bottle of live culture nitrogen cycle bacteria, something like Hagen Cycle or OrganicAqua to replace lost bacteria. Whenever you clean your filter, make sure you don’t wash the media with tap water, always use clear water from your tank to rinse teh bio-balls or cermaic rings or whatever you’re using. I would add some salt as well, 1 cup for every 5 gallons and 1 teaspoon baking soda/ 5 gallons to add some hardness and alkalinity to the water. African cichlids are very territorial and extremely aggressive, which you are suddenly discovering. They are known to fight to the death over territory. Try shifting the rocks around as this will reset their territories. Hope this helps…

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