# Mbuna dieing help!



## terelol (Jul 7, 2011)

Hey everyone I am in need of ideas ASAP! Over the last few days I have lost 2 Red Top Zebras and am currently watching a third acting the same way as they were before they died.

They seem to just sit at the bottom of the tank breathing very heavily, and then die. There are no other signs the fish are showing... One day they are fine, the next they lay down and die.

I have tested my water and the PH is steady at 8.0, no amonia, no nitrites, low nitrates under 10ppm. Does anyone have any suggestions? Could they be getting bullied at night?

Help!


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

how many females do you per male? is ti the males or females dying? i have had it happen to me where the dominent males/ female just run the other to exhaustion.


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## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

Hospital tank ASAP, WITH A AIRSTONE GOING in it, use the water from the main tank, Add 1/4tspto 1/2 tsp of epsom salt to the hospital tank,
Also how old are your Nitrate, Nitrite, ammonia testing equipment??check the expiry date just in case..PH don't worry about, when was the last time you did a water change and how much?if the zebra is a female is there enough hiding palces for her? how many males in the tank?,what other fish are in there and how are they?


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## cichlid (Jul 30, 2010)

Yea exactly! If they are female they could be taking heat for not recieving the males attraction! It may not be that a male is beating on her, he might just wear her down! I had a pair of adult livingston and an adult female yellow lab, and the male beat them both up, and killed them. ( i have learned cichlid tanks are like a southern trailer park)


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## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

One thing, Cichlids don't die!!!!




They kill each other!!!!!!!!!!!


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## terelol (Jul 7, 2011)

Thanks for the replies.. I have checked the test set and it is not expired. The fish have plenty of hiding spaces in the tank lots of rocks and caves to hide in. Last time I did a water change was on Tuesday and it was 50%. As for the fish that have died I believe they were all female.

In the tank I have about 5 zebras remaining, 4 petricolas, a bnp and 2 haps. Im leaning more towards my m/f ratio is off and the one dominant one is beating up the others.


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## skrick (Apr 25, 2010)

your males are picking on the females and they are dying from being stressed out In my opinion


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