Bristlenose Catfish dying

[Billy]

hi all,

Recently i bought 10 small bn (2-3 cm) and i put them in my discus tanks.

i got a a few bn dying maybe killed by my discus!!

Will discus kill bn ?? or maybe the bn is too small for them ??

My water temp is around 30C is it too high for them ??

[weird]

I have about 10 small bristlenose (about 2 cm) living with 6 adult discus and 8 (3 cm) living with 6 juvenile discus. I lost one or 2 before but I think it due to decapitation from me gravel syphoning ... I have become more careful as a result ... I move the places first then shoo them away.

They can easily survive at 30 degrees temp ... the 8 with my baby discus are monsters in size compared to the rest of my batch and they have been in that tank for over a month.

One thing I do notice that they love is plenty of hiding places ... well more like "cover". I have 3 huge pieces of driftwood and a large ceramic cave ... they spend most of their time under them or a safe distant from them.

They occasionally get brave enough to start on the walls.

In my baby bristlenose tank I was losing a few ever day until I started using my 24 hour earlier prepared discus water and I uped the temp to 29-30 degrees ... so it is not the temp.

Maybe it is your discus having a more than curious look ? Do you have driftwood as it seems necessary for helping them digest and pass food ... and to hide also ?

[DiscusMan]

I would be checking the PH value of the tank. Perhaps the PH change was to large for the Bn's to handle from teh ph in the shop to the PH in your tank.

We have found here that bn's seem to be tolerant to a wide range of ph's, my discus tank today was measured at 4.9, yes i have raised it now, but hte bn is going fine in there.

Wayne

[ozarowana]

IME they are quite sensitive to moving to a new tank until at least 3cm.

[chris]

I had so BN in my tank, they all died, infact all bottom fedders did.
I put it down to, having to many Discus. I think my discus fish out grew the tank, and there was to much fish waste on the bottom, maybe the BN and corys were breathing in all the toxins, I needed to do more water changes.
Maybe your situation is similar......

[Billy]

maybe i dont have enough hiding space for them !!

my ph is always stable, only the bn in my discus tank is dying.

Their bodies looks like they have been eaten by the discus.

I also have cories in there but never have problems !!

i think my discus thought they are food !! poor bn

[kalebjarrod]

i just moved 150 baby BN by syphoning them into there new tank

no losses, hardy little buggers

then again i can't keep any more than 3 alive in my discus tank

must be the competition :?

[DiscusMan]

maybe i dont have enough hiding space for them !!

my ph is always stable, only the bn in my discus tank is dying.

Their bodies looks like they have been eaten by the discus.

I also have cories in there but never have problems !!

i think my discus thought they are food !! poor bn

Billy,

Do you know what the PH was in the bag when you bought them and what process did you undertake to climatise them to yoru new tank.

I was not saying your PH was not stable in any way. I was suggesting that the PH in the shop compared to the PH at your house might have been large. I have seen that moving Bn's between large PH values to quickly leads to there death. Yes i killed some of my own adults doing this.

It always helps to know what the PH is where you buy your new fish from and the PH of your tank at the time of new fish insertion so you can make a good estimation of climatising it when you get it home.

I forget which way it is but going one way ie Acid to Alkaline, but from memory one requires longer than going the other way. Not sure which is which thou.

Most fish are canibals and will eat the other dead fish lying around in the tank if you dont find them quick enough.

Only some mean bugger will kill for a feed. My clown loaches did this to all my neons. HEHEHEH oh well no more neons.

Wayne

[Billy]

Its almost 3 wks since i got them home so i dont think the ph is the problem. 4/10 was probably killed by the discus!!

i have a closer look at the bn remaining in there !! This is what i observed:

1. ripped fins
2. scales/skin missing
3. i can actually see the flesh of the bn

Therefore i conclude that discus will eat small bn!!

[DiscusMan]

Mate its jsut your initial post siad i just got some Bn's and there dieing. Now that you say its been three weeks i can see what your saying.

It pays to be a bit more specific at the start hey.

Wayne

[Billy]

Sorry i should have said that at the beginning!! :(

They only start dying last week, so i just wondering why ??

my apologies

[DiscusMan]

So billy do you have a piece of drift wood in your tank and if not do you feed the fish a pellet food that contains wood.

I wonder if they even starved to death by being used to a food at the store and not wanting to eat what you were putting in the tank?

Were you putting a mixture of foods in like zuccini or other veg or did you observe them eating and leaving huge long fishy droppings behind them?

Apart from that yep your discus are eating them :)

I havent had a problem here with that thou. I have bn's in all my discus tank of varying sizes. I even bred my first lot of bn's in a fairly well stock discus tank and the babies all did very well. The discus would go for the small ones but they were always to fast for them to catch.

If the bn's are sick perhaps the discus got them then, so maybe the discus attack is like a secondary thing.

Hope you do sort it out anyways.

Wayne

[Majesticaquatic]

Soft wood is important to diet and digestion as are algaes... the average Discus tank does not provide much in algaes, supplementing will aid.
Hiding places and subdued light also beneficial as most are nocturnal by nature.
Discus (unless spawning) are seldom vicious toward other fishes, they will snipe tetras and other smaller fishes, more so I believe because they find them "pesky" (quick motions make them nerveous)..
You might also look at your Dh...
Discus do best at 6.0/6.5Ph and 0-60ppm Dh... temps best at 84dF (to 90), albeit best to maintain 84/86dF I believe. This will of course increase metabolic rate of other specimens kept with Discus and in fact create higher need for specific dietary items (like algaes and other fiber/roughages)... My opinions of course are based on my own experiences... Best regards. Bruce