Cichlids, 2 Dead.....confused

[ballyclover]

Hi
 
Am new to cichlids.
 
i have 180 lts tank, external flitration. I bought 16 baby cichlids, a mixture of jalo and saulousi.
 
They were very young and are only now about 3/4-1" long. In the last 2 days i have lost two.They just fall to the bottom of the tank and lull on thier sides. These were smaller than the rest but still a little concerning.
 
My water tests reveal the follwing
 
Ammonia-0.25ppm
 
Nitrite -0ppm
 
PH-7.6
 
ph high- around 7.4
 
Nitrate=0ppm
 
temp 78
 
 
Strangly tap water is around 7.2....I did a 15% water change earlier in the week (Tuesday) which is why maybe the tank is PH is a bit low.
 
I have coral sand and ocean rock in the tank.
 
I beleive recommend PH for saulosi is 7.8-8.2 and jalo 7.5-9.
 
i was aiming for around 8, so not too far away
 
Apart from the th low PH, i dont think the tests are that bad and can see no obvious cause for the death. I would welcome any suggestions?

 

[Tuxyu3]

Ammonia levels like that would be more than enough to finish off a young fish, especially at a higher end pH. You should perform a large water change as soon as possible. I'm guessing this tank is not cycled?

 

[ballyclover]

tank is fully cycled.   Did a straight swop from my tropical tank

 

[KevM]

Are you running both of your externals? It's odd that you've got a reading for ammonia but 0 Nitrate. Seems like you're in cycle to me, based on the information we have so far.

 

[ballyclover]

no, just the one for now....thought i would see how it went.
 
 
I dont understand why it would be cycling. The filter came straight from the "normal" tropial one to the cichlid one, so all the good stuff should have been alive and well.
 
I guess i must be cycling, as the evidence points to this. Looks like a big water change is the only option

 

[KevM]

The bacteria could have died off if the filter wasn't running/being fed for any length of time. The details are too vague for me to say more than that, really.