I have a tank with three African Cichlids. One of which I acquire after the ice storm in January. Anyway, I cleaned the tank a few days ago, and I've notice that one of my fish had been swimming near the top sticking it's mouth out of the water. I knew something must've been wrong, but decided to wait it out. Last night, upon heading to bed, I noticed that said fish was floating along the bottom of the tank nearly on it's side. It was still alive, but it didn't appear that he would survive much longer. It's not good for the other fish to have a diseased or dead fish in the water. It looked like it's side was bleeding from where the other fish were picking at it (Africans are very aggressive). I decided to put it out of its misery, so I scooped it out of the tank and held it there until it stopped moving. This was one of my original fish that I've had for a few years. Standing there, I actually started to cry a little as I watched it suffocate. That's right. I cried over a dying fish....lol. I'm such a chick!