Mattzilla
Sun Jun 29, 2008, 11:28 PM
Hi everyone,
last thursday night after doing a w/c my female Rio Branco died and the male was dead within 36hrs too. To be honest i have no idea what killed them and i guess the best way to solve this mystery is to place all the details here and see what everyone thinks.
Starting with their tank/filtration etc
Tank: 4x18x18 (approx 250ltr)
Filtration: 1 x eheim 2226 canister, 1 x largest aqua clear hang on filter there is, 1 x large air driven sponge filter.
Heating: 1 x 300watt heater - temp 27degC
ph: taken at time of female death - 6.8
Other tank mates - 6 small (3cm) common bristle nose cats
Lighting: double globe 4ft light (can't remember the globes in there but that shouldn't matter)
Ok that's the tank specs, so here is what happened just before the female died. I did a 25-30% w/c with aged (24hrs), airated, treated (with aquastar - double the reccomended dose as usual) and heated (27degC) water to that tank and the tank below which hold several hundred fry ranging from 2-3 week old fry to about 6-8 week old fry and some common bn ranging from 4-9cm. This is a common w/c that i do about once a week.
At the time of the w/c i saw no reaction from the breeders or any other fish.
To the breeders tank i added a double dose (maybe sligthly more than double) of Flourish Excel to kill off some bushy algea on the plants. I added 60ml (to finish off the bottle, hence the little extra) while filling the tank.
About half an hour after doing the w/c my better half went in to feed the fish, as she loves to do, and called out to me saying the the female was sitting on the bottom of the tank with dark stress bars and breathing heavily. I investigated and wasn't overly worried but i thought i'd just watch her for a few minutes. She began to dart around a bit and was not swimming like she normally did. I knew then that something was very wrong. She would dart and smash into the tank and objects then just kind of float off for a while then do it again. she would dart into the gravel then dart to the top of the tank and almost jump out.
At this stage i thought there must be something bad in the water from the w/c so i started to drain about 25% of the water and filled it up with treated, but not heated or aged water (cause i'd only just refilled the water barrel). there was only a 1-2 deg dip in water temp after the w/c. there was no improvement in her condition. i quickly added a standard dose of aquastar to the tank incase i had forgotten to add it previously or if there was some extra toxins/chlorine etc in the water. also added a handful of rock salt
I had a divider in the tank seperating the two breeders because i was resting her after a recent spawn. i thought that maybe i should remove the divider to boost water flow throught the tank. so i did and the male began to strut his stuff for a few minutes (appearing to be in perfect health) before he then parked himself in the corner while the fmeale darted around.
At this stage the female was rappidly going down hill. she was losing balance and tipping over a lot.... laying on her side. Swimming sideways and upside down....drifting in the current a lot too.
Within the next ten mins she was completely dead! all this within 30 mins of finding her.
My jaw had hit the flaw and i was freaking out a little. i didn't want to lose the male too so i did another w/c. i figured there had to be a toxin or poison that i had accidently added when doing the original water change. it was another cold water w/c and the tank temp dropped another 2 degC but i thought i was doing the right thing by pumping in as much fresh clean water as possible.
At that stage the male was still parked in the corner sitting on the bottom. He was not dark or showing sress bars but was breathing heavily. He stayed that way that nigth and the next morning was pretty much the same. I did another w/c with heated, treated, airated water and monitored his progress all day. By the end of the day, just above his tail was starting to darken quiet a lot and his condition was worsening. another w/c... no change.
The next morning he was dead.
Which leave me stratching my head...becuase the little 3cm bristle nose cats are all fine and having a great time eating algea!
The tank below that recieved the same identical original w/c was fine...no casualties or any signs of ill health.
The only things i had done to the breeders tank that i did not do to the tank below was add 60ml of Flourish Excel and clean the hang on filter (which consisted of simply changing the filter wool and hosing out the sponge - my usual basic clean).
My ideas are:
I added the 3cm bn's about 1-1.5 weeks previously and maybe they had a disease? the geos didn't show any signs of ill health during this time except that the male was a little off his food the day before the female died and the female was little skittish the day before she died. Those behaviours on their own where nothing i worried about because all fish can be a little skittish or off their food at times.
When i added the flourish and finished the bottled i dunked the bottle in the tank water to fill it a little, shake and tip back in the tank. Maybe the bottle had something on the outside like a poison it had picked up somewhere. But if that was the case then why are the little 3cm bn's still alive??? they are very sensitive to chemicals or poisons....
Well that's about it...sorry for the rambling on but i kind of wanted to add all the details up front instead of answering a lit of questions. Sayig that though please do not hesitate to ask questions of there is some info i have not included that you think may be important.
I would love some healp solving this tragic tale or death, so please offer your thoughts and theories of what killed my breeders so suddenly and without warning.
thanks
matt
last thursday night after doing a w/c my female Rio Branco died and the male was dead within 36hrs too. To be honest i have no idea what killed them and i guess the best way to solve this mystery is to place all the details here and see what everyone thinks.
Starting with their tank/filtration etc
Tank: 4x18x18 (approx 250ltr)
Filtration: 1 x eheim 2226 canister, 1 x largest aqua clear hang on filter there is, 1 x large air driven sponge filter.
Heating: 1 x 300watt heater - temp 27degC
ph: taken at time of female death - 6.8
Other tank mates - 6 small (3cm) common bristle nose cats
Lighting: double globe 4ft light (can't remember the globes in there but that shouldn't matter)
Ok that's the tank specs, so here is what happened just before the female died. I did a 25-30% w/c with aged (24hrs), airated, treated (with aquastar - double the reccomended dose as usual) and heated (27degC) water to that tank and the tank below which hold several hundred fry ranging from 2-3 week old fry to about 6-8 week old fry and some common bn ranging from 4-9cm. This is a common w/c that i do about once a week.
At the time of the w/c i saw no reaction from the breeders or any other fish.
To the breeders tank i added a double dose (maybe sligthly more than double) of Flourish Excel to kill off some bushy algea on the plants. I added 60ml (to finish off the bottle, hence the little extra) while filling the tank.
About half an hour after doing the w/c my better half went in to feed the fish, as she loves to do, and called out to me saying the the female was sitting on the bottom of the tank with dark stress bars and breathing heavily. I investigated and wasn't overly worried but i thought i'd just watch her for a few minutes. She began to dart around a bit and was not swimming like she normally did. I knew then that something was very wrong. She would dart and smash into the tank and objects then just kind of float off for a while then do it again. she would dart into the gravel then dart to the top of the tank and almost jump out.
At this stage i thought there must be something bad in the water from the w/c so i started to drain about 25% of the water and filled it up with treated, but not heated or aged water (cause i'd only just refilled the water barrel). there was only a 1-2 deg dip in water temp after the w/c. there was no improvement in her condition. i quickly added a standard dose of aquastar to the tank incase i had forgotten to add it previously or if there was some extra toxins/chlorine etc in the water. also added a handful of rock salt
I had a divider in the tank seperating the two breeders because i was resting her after a recent spawn. i thought that maybe i should remove the divider to boost water flow throught the tank. so i did and the male began to strut his stuff for a few minutes (appearing to be in perfect health) before he then parked himself in the corner while the fmeale darted around.
At this stage the female was rappidly going down hill. she was losing balance and tipping over a lot.... laying on her side. Swimming sideways and upside down....drifting in the current a lot too.
Within the next ten mins she was completely dead! all this within 30 mins of finding her.
My jaw had hit the flaw and i was freaking out a little. i didn't want to lose the male too so i did another w/c. i figured there had to be a toxin or poison that i had accidently added when doing the original water change. it was another cold water w/c and the tank temp dropped another 2 degC but i thought i was doing the right thing by pumping in as much fresh clean water as possible.
At that stage the male was still parked in the corner sitting on the bottom. He was not dark or showing sress bars but was breathing heavily. He stayed that way that nigth and the next morning was pretty much the same. I did another w/c with heated, treated, airated water and monitored his progress all day. By the end of the day, just above his tail was starting to darken quiet a lot and his condition was worsening. another w/c... no change.
The next morning he was dead.
Which leave me stratching my head...becuase the little 3cm bristle nose cats are all fine and having a great time eating algea!
The tank below that recieved the same identical original w/c was fine...no casualties or any signs of ill health.
The only things i had done to the breeders tank that i did not do to the tank below was add 60ml of Flourish Excel and clean the hang on filter (which consisted of simply changing the filter wool and hosing out the sponge - my usual basic clean).
My ideas are:
I added the 3cm bn's about 1-1.5 weeks previously and maybe they had a disease? the geos didn't show any signs of ill health during this time except that the male was a little off his food the day before the female died and the female was little skittish the day before she died. Those behaviours on their own where nothing i worried about because all fish can be a little skittish or off their food at times.
When i added the flourish and finished the bottled i dunked the bottle in the tank water to fill it a little, shake and tip back in the tank. Maybe the bottle had something on the outside like a poison it had picked up somewhere. But if that was the case then why are the little 3cm bn's still alive??? they are very sensitive to chemicals or poisons....
Well that's about it...sorry for the rambling on but i kind of wanted to add all the details up front instead of answering a lit of questions. Sayig that though please do not hesitate to ask questions of there is some info i have not included that you think may be important.
I would love some healp solving this tragic tale or death, so please offer your thoughts and theories of what killed my breeders so suddenly and without warning.
thanks
matt