thanks again everyone my water tests show that my ph is 7.6 which isnt to bad but ive added some crushed coral shel to my tank to raise it a bit. but also i found out my nitrates are quite high which is probily from dropping frozen food straight in the tank. im doing a large water change and defrosting foods before i drop them in now to try are cure this do you think my nitrates could be the cause of my color loss in my fish? thanks

Hi Bolam,

Nitrates are the final stage of the nitrogen cycle. Usually you should aim to keep these under 40ppm, or even better 20. Usually frozen food introduces phosphates?

ah right. i was tod my phosfates are ok but nitrates are high.. what would cause my nitrates to be high? is there a good way of lowering them? thanks for help

Nitrates will rise from your beneficial bacteria eating the bad stuff, water changes lower it but it could also be your tap water, do you know what your tap water nitrates are?

Ok thanks I dont know about my tap water I have ordered a test kit im just waiting for it to come but could nitrates be the reason my fish has lost color. The fish still act exactly the same and eat the same they have just lost the color thanks again

Ammonia is the start of the cycle, which is toxic to fish. This is broken down to Nitrite by bacteria, which again is toxic. From nitrite it becomes nitrate which is nearly harmless to fish unless in very large quantities (i think about 120ppm is where it starts to get dangerous) .. it could be that high nitrates are stressing the fish.

120ppm would be dangerous quite rapidly, however long term exposure at levels much lower than that can adversely affect fish health. The general recommendation is to keep nitrates as low as possible and to aim for a level in the tank below 40ppm. Some species are particularly intolerant of nitrates in the water and those from the Rift Lakes are part of this group. They need excellent water quality with low nitrates to thrive.

Well everyone ive done everything I can.. Got the ph up to just under 8 probs about 7.8 ish got my nitrate down to 40 ppm got my hardness tested but apparently it's never going to be a problem in area im in so thats fine im feeding cichlid excel and frozen vedge but still most of my blue cichlids that where bright when I got them are dull and browny purple so I guess I just have to take it as some fish just lose color maybe their bottom of the pecking order .. any more suggestions ? Thanks xx

Your nitrates are still too high for Malawis - 20ppm is the maximum for good health and that should be the most it gets to right before your water change; generally it needs to be lower. How often do you currently do a partial change and how much each time? What is the exact pH - can you test and let us know? 7.8 is the absolute bottom of their acceptable range so getting it up over 8 may help.

Other factors that may be influencing the colour include the species kept, male to female ratios, availability of caves/hiding places and overall stock density.

Which species' do you have? How many of each species? How many males and how many females of each?

i do a 35/40% water change every week ive been doing it twice a week lately though to get my nitrates down which are now right down to 10 maybe less as for male to female ratio i dnt know because i havent had them that long and wasnt told when i bought them. my ph is stuck at about 7.8 and ive been adding hand fulls of crushed corol shels which havent seemed to do much is there anything else i can add?