Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Check the water regularly using your chemical test kit. Test separately for nitrites, ammonia, nitrates and pH. If you do not have a chemical test kit and you notice your cichlids scraping their heads and bodies on rocks in the tank, you will need to take drastic measures to reduce nitrites quickly. This behavior indicates high levels of nitrites that will cause burning of the gills and difficulty breathing.
Add baking soda at a rate of one teaspoon per five gallons of water if your pH is below 7.2. Cichlids prefer a pH of 7.2 to 8.5. More important than a perfect pH, however, is a stable pH. Make changes to pH slowly so you do not stress the fish. Proper pH can help keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels within normal range.
Add crushed coral or limestone to the tank or to the filter system to raise a low pH. Prepared driftwood can also raise pH levels. Cichlids enjoy hiding places, so driftwood can help in two ways. Unprepared driftwood, however, may release tannins into the water, coloring it and negatively changing the environment.
Reduce high ammonia levels using a product such as Ammo Lock, Prime, or Amquel. Follow package directions for the size of your aquarium.
Vacuum the gravel in the aquarium lightly. Do not stir up the lower levels of the gravel. Set up your aquarium siphon hose and bucket. This hose is made for cleaning fish tanks and has a large end and a small end. Completely submerge the hose and place your thumb over the small end. Lift the small end of the hose from the water and keep your thumb in place until the hose end is lower than the tank and is centered over the bucket. Remove your thumb.
Submerge the large end of the siphon hose lightly in the gravel. An assistant can be very helpful in keeping the draining end of the hose over the bucket while you move the vacuum end around. The assistant can also cap the hose with a thumb before the bucket gets too full.
Lift the top layers of gravel and allow the siphon to suck out the fish excrement from the gravel. The weight of the gravel will allow it to sink back to the bottom of the tank. Resist the urge to clean all the way to the bottom of the tank. You need to leave that very bottom layer of muck because of the helpful bacteria it contains. Stop vacuuming when you remove 20 percent of the water, even if the gravel is not completely clean.
Siphon out 20 percent of your aquarium water as an emergency measure to remove nitrites. Siphoning more than 20 percent can be detrimental to your stabilization efforts. Siphoning can be done when you are vacuuming the rock in the bottom. Replace the water with clean chlorine-free water that has a pH close to that of your aquarium.
Add live plants with roots going into the gravel. Plants have beneficial bacteria that can help with the nitrogen cycle. Crinum natans (African Onion Plant), Java Fern and Anubias barteri "Coffeefolia" do well in cichlid tanks. These plants are less tasty than some. Vegetarian cichlids are voracious eaters of live plants, but may be happy with lettuce or spinach leaves that have been thoroughly cleaned. You may need to replace a light bulb with a full spectrum "grow light" to help the plants. This light change will not hurt the cichlids.
Tie plants in place with fishing line to rock or driftwood, or use small clay pots tightly packed with sphagnum moss and gravel. Wrap the pots in mesh secured with rubber bands if your cichlids insist on uprooting them. Wedge the pots firmly between large rocks to prevent the cichlids from digging them up.
Add filtration media from a healthy aquarium to your filter system to enhance bacterial growth and reduction of nitrites. Sponge, rock, floss or other filter media will work. Just check that the aquarium supplying the media is stable, has not had any added fish for over 30 days, and has UV filtration if possible.