Hello! I have cichlids from my local lakes, my aquarium is 4 feet by 2 feet. There bellies are getting less and less as there are lots of nitrates in my water as it is newly cycling. Will my cichlds will survive and is there any way i can treat my fishes,
Tech Support AN
11-22-2010, 11:28
I'm sorry to hear about your cichlids.
Cichlids can generally tolerate a higher amount of nitrates, as they are quite a bit hardier than most fish. When you say that you have high nitrates, how high are we talking about?
You said this is a newly cycling tank, do you know what the ammonia and nitrite levels are?
During this time, it is very important to add a bacterial supplement such as Stability and to have a good media in which they can colonize onto such as Matrix. This will help your cycle to go much more smoothly. Stability and Matrix work hand in hand with one another. In addition, you can add Prime every 24-48 hours in order to keep your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates detoxified and your fish safe from toxicity.
Things that you can do to keep your nitrates lowered are more frequent water changes, only feeding as much as your fish can eat in several minutes, and boosting your biological filter with Stability mentioned above. If you would like to read more about the mentioned products please follow the links below:
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Stability.html
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Prime.html
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Matrix.html
Furthermore, if your fish are eating, but seem to be losing weight, then you may be dealing with an internal parasite. Have you noticed any white stringy feces from the fish? If this is the case, then you may want to treat them with our Metronidazole, Focus, and Garlicguard. You will want to add 1-2 scoops of the Metronidazole and 1-2 scoops of the Focus (binding agent adheres the mediation to the food) mix with high quality pellets or frozen food and soak in Garlicguard (flavor enhancer that contains antimicrobial properties while boosting the immune system) for 10-15 mins. You can feed this daily for a minimum of three weeks. If you would like to read more about these products follow the links below:
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Metronidazole.html
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Focus.html
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/GarlicGuard.html
I hope this helps! :-)
juliarobert
12-28-2012, 23:30
Interesting information. I like your topic. Thanks for sharing it.