Sick cichlids

Question
I have a 55-gallon cichlid tank. I have 7 cichlids in it. All just african. Lately they've been acting sluggish and hanging around the top of the tank where the filters are. One of them has white stuff all down the side of him which i believe is ich. so i've been treating the tank for ich. but in the process one of my fish died. and now another is on the bottom of the tank only able to move its side fins. Any ideas?

Answer
Hi Zachary:  sounds like you have a couple of issues going on.  First... you probably need to clean the tank really good including the gravel.  Because the fish seem like they are not getting enough oxygen which is a possible indicater that your ammonia and nitrate levels are high.  This condition will also lead to sick fish... so what you need to do is clean the tank, gravel etc while doing a 25% water change.  You need to raise the tank temperature to about 82-86 degrees while adding aquarium salt to the water and ;you may also need to add oxygen since warm water holds less oxygen then cold water does.  I would also begin treating the tank with General Cure or Triple Sulfate... please keep me posted... dave