# Chtenochromis dying



## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

Hi all.Ive lost 8 of my Chtenochromis already and the 9th is breathing heavy and sitting at the bottom. Not eating but looks fine. Colour is good and no nipped fins. Any ideas?Hes in my Petricola grow out and there is no stress for him in there. I thought that this was stress related and pulled him out of my 6' tank.


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

Anyone out there?


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

Is this site dead now or what?I haven't had one response.Seems as if this community is falling apart


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## smccleme (Aug 20, 2012)

I added 4 lamprologus cylindricus to a tank a while back and two of them died just as yours did. No one bugging them, no nipped fins etc. I moved the other two to a smaller, less busy tank where they were the largest fish and they were fine.... until one was aggressive towards the other so I moved him back to the original tank... he then died a week later. My only conclusion was that they were stressed, even though no one was bugging him.


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

Thanks for the response. It is an difficult thing to watch. I just found another dead Bemba tropheus and seems to be the same.I had separated the dominant male ,that's I thought was the cause,and still lost another sub adult.


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## smccleme (Aug 20, 2012)

Do you have any copper, brass or metal in your tank? I lost a lot of fish a few years ago because I was using a 1/4" copper line to fill my tank with. Again, the symptoms were the same as you described. Stop eating, look fine, breath heavy, die. Copper poisoning, which I eventually figured out, and confirmed with a copper test kit.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

Or was the fish medicated before adding in the tank? Could it be parasite? Some people might not familiar, some bugs might not affect your fish from one place but can affect new fish from a different source.


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

No metals and no parasites that are visible. I'm also losing my tropheus Bemba.This is a newer group and am losing one here and there. Don't know what the hell is going on. I've lost 10 Chtenochromis and about 8 tropheus. But none of the limnotilapia had issues.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

Anymore background inform? Which are the newly added fish?


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

Both dying fish are new.Ive added new trophs before without a problem. My buddy has the same fish that he put in his ilangi tank and no morts.Also has the Chtenochromis as well.Havent checked the water lately but should be fine. No major changes. I'm running 2 eheim 2075,FX5 and xp4 on my 125 gallon. Lots of bio media and purigen.


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

...................................


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

Vman said:


> Both dying fish are new.Ive added new trophs before without a problem. My buddy has the same fish that he put in his ilangi tank and no morts.Also has the Chtenochromis as well.Havent checked the water lately but should be fine. No major changes. I'm running 2 eheim 2075,FX5 and xp4 on my 125 gallon. Lots of bio media and purigen.


You say your water should be fine? personally I would be all over testing my water if I get one death in a tank, (that was not due to aggression) I test for everything and do large w/c, just because! You could have had a PH crash or high nitrates Ammonia nitrites etc. Test water post ALL readings and then more members may be able to help!
Good luck I feel for ya!!


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## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

Interesting you say the colour is good, intense colouration is a sign of heavy metal poisoning. I also lost MANY plecos a few years ago to copper, although the discus in the same systems seemed fine. Different fish have different sensitivities to metals. My source of copper as from used aragonite substrate, I got it from a salty, who was dosing copper as a med. the aragonite absorbed the copper and released it in my tanks, many years later. Only way to tell is to test.


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