cause of Chiclid death

Question
Hi Ron and thank you for the response. Yes, it was the yellow with black stripe. The tank was not very dirty at all, I was actually surprised he was cleaning it. Was there anything we could have done to save him? Also, when a fish just lies there, hardly breathing, do you just let him alone or can you do something to put him out of his misery?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Good evening. I've never had fish, but my boyfriend had a pretty yellow Chiclid for about 2.5 to 3 years. He cleaned it's tank yesterday and it stayed at the bottom hiding behind a plant and seemed to be moving his fins and breathing slowly. Now he's cleaned the tank several times before and said he did nothing different. This morning the fish was totally on it's side and breathing very slowly. We went out for awhile, came back and it was dead. I felt very bad. First of all, any ideas what might have killed it? Secondly, can anything be done to help them when this happens, I felt totally helpless. Do they suffer when in this state? I would truly appreciate an answer as I feel terrible about this. Thank you.
-----Answer-----
Hi Tamara,
  Sorry to hear about the death.  There are a couple of possibilities.  First, the fish may have just been getting old. If it is the kind I am thinking it is, namely an electric yellow (yellow body with a black strip along the top of the dorsal fin -- the fin on top), then 3 years is a pretty good lifespan.

  The other possibility was that the tank was VERY dirty and when he cleaned it, it stirred up a lot of decaying material that radically changed the pH and nitrogen in the water.  The only solution to that is not to let the tank get that dirty.  To keep a tank happy and healthy, you really should change about 20% of the water once a week, EVERY week.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


Answer
Hi Tamara,
 There really isn't anything you can do to save it.  I am not a big fan of putting fish "out of their misery"  I prefer to let them try to live -- sometimes they surprise us.   It sounds like your fish was just getting quite old and there isn't anything we can about that. Sorry.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>