# albino White Cichlid crashing*** Help please



## marcincan (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey Everyone I need some help... I bought a albino white cichlid yesterday and put him in my quartenine tank, It's a 29 gallon PH 7.4 KH 5 drops api kit nitrates 3 ppm ammonia 0ppm 78c filter fluval 305 with zeocarb, purigen, phosguard, and bio media. There is a Large air stone providing lots of surface movement 

He's crashing falling to the bottom of the tank then getting up and swiming at the top he spends about 5to 10 mintues at the bottom rolling around then swims fine and it repeats 

If you have an idea how to help please let me know 


Thanks 


marc


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## marcincan (Apr 21, 2010)

oh ya it's a Pseudotropheus socolofi (Albino)


Thanks

Marc


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

marcincan said:


> Hey Everyone I need some help... I bought a albino white cichlid yesterday and put him in my quartenine tank, It's a 29 gallon PH 7.4 KH 5 drops api kit nitrates 3 ppm ammonia 0ppm 78c filter fluval 305 with zeocarb, purigen, phosguard, and bio media. There is a Large air stone providing lots of surface movement
> 
> He's crashing falling to the bottom of the tank then getting up and swiming at the top he spends about 5to 10 mintues at the bottom rolling around then swims fine and it repeats
> 
> ...


What is the GH? Your hardness and pH could be much higher. Africans prefer dKH of 10-12 and a similar GH. What is 3ppm, Nitrite or Nitrate? If it is Nitrite that means your bacteria have not been developed or have been disrupted somehow. I need more information.


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## marcincan (Apr 21, 2010)

ok so i broke the nutra fin chemistry set and Re-tested all the parameters 
gh 80
kh 50m/l 
no2 0.1 mg/l lowest result on sheet
no3 5.0 mg /l lowest result on sheet 
ph 7.4/7.6
nh3 0.00
I hope that helps... I just got him yesterday and the store's ph is 7.0


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Hi Marcincan,

From what Rastapus says, you need a gh that's quite a bit higher than what you have. With Nutrafin's test, a reading of 80 is about 4 dGH I think. And Rastapus suggested 10 to 12 dGh. (Mind you, I'm not a chemist!) I would try raising the gh and kh. I have some Seachem Equilibrium and some Seachem Replenish that you can borrow until you can get some.



marcincan said:


> ok so i broke the nutra fin chemistry set and Re-tested all the parameters
> gh 80
> kh 50m/l
> no2 0.1 mg/l lowest result on sheet
> ...


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## marcincan (Apr 21, 2010)

HI Morainy, I have added two more teaspoons of Alkaline Buffer so i will restest and post 
but i think its something other than water... when i got home the other new Pseudotropeus saulosi was chasing him then i saw the white one fall to the bottom of the tank looking like he was dead... right now the white one is in a breeding cage and is still falling to the bottom...


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## marcincan (Apr 21, 2010)

please correct me if i am wrong but isn't really hard on the fish to swing the PH to much. That's why i was raising the PH slowly as the other tank mates are upside down cats and a Hemichromis bimaculatus, Melanochromis auratus and they have a PH in their tank of 8.0 

I am still pretty new at this and new to cichlids


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## marcincan (Apr 21, 2010)

ok so i just re-tested i have the KH up to 80 mg/l and the GH is still at 80 how do i raise the GH ?


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## DeeB (May 12, 2010)

You can raise the GH by using Seachem Equilibrium.


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

If the cichlids came out of soft water where you got them and neutral pH it may be the cause. Africans are all raised in hard water. This is of course only one possibility but it is a big issue. It sounds as though the swim bladder has been effected in both fish, symptomatic of our water. Your NO2 test does not give you a 0 indicator? There should be no NO2 present, this will also affect the fish negatively.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Hope your fish pull through, Marcincan.


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## marcincan (Apr 21, 2010)

Ok so i went to the store and picked Seachem Equilibrium, Acid buffer and more alkaline buffer(i was almost out on the last one) and off the side of the alkaline buffer I used the formula for PH 8.0 one part acid buffer to 4 parts alkaline buffer and got the PH to 8.0 and the KH to 140 mg/l and the GH is at 120mg/l the little guy seems to be doing better... I will contunue to raise the GH/KH/PH slowly so i don't stress them out 


Thanks all for you help


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## marcincan (Apr 21, 2010)

HI last time i posted a super low no2 i got told i was testing wrong and it couldn't be that low... So even if there is a hint of pink I post as the lowest reading which would be 0.1...



Rastapus said:


> If the cichlids came out of soft water where you got them and neutral pH it may be the cause. Africans are all raised in hard water. This is of course only one possibility but it is a big issue. It sounds as though the swim bladder has been effected in both fish, symptomatic of our water. Your NO2 test does not give you a 0 indicator? There should be no NO2 present, this will also affect the fish negatively.


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