Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / May 2005

It could be chemicals in the water (copper in particular), or the stirring
up of all the gunk in the tank and the change in ph which can quickly
escalate the amount of ammonia in the tank.  Either way, a Polyfilter could
help dramaticly.  You can buy them from most aquarium shops (even- I hate to
say it-Pets At Home) and they cost about £12.00. They are then cut to size
to fit your filter.   They are then inserted into your main filter and will
even change colour to indicate what has been removed.  It saved the whole
tankful once after a 40% water change knocked them for six.  If you have an
ammonia water test kit, then I strongly suggest you start with that to
establish if that is a major factor or not.
Let me know how you get on, keeping Malawi's can be very rewarding but is
not always easy and often extremely stressful IMHO, but worth it  :-)
Rosie

To quickly correct any gaseous imbalance from water changes (or
disturbing the substrate), increase the circulation by using an airstone
ASAP.  If this does not correct the problem, it will at least not cause
any problems itself, and will make respiration a bit easier for the fish
by slightly increasing the O2 levels while they deal with the real
stressor (which would likely be something noxious being introduced with
the water change).

All seems well now.  Still don't know exactly what was wrong.   That morning
I directed my pump return towards the surface to create more "air exchange"
and dosed the tank with some ammonia remover.  When I got home from work
everyone was happy .