Dead Fish!

[McFluffrichromis]

I have had my new 110 filled for a week now and I have put a few fish in it so I can try to get is cycled up a little quicker than letting it sit for weeks empty. I took my Fluval 303 off of an established tank and put it on this one to also help things along. I put 5 young fish a few peacocks and a catfish on monday. All the conditions have been stable every day since ie. Ammonia, PH, and Nitrites. I have a floating catfish this morning, not all the way dead but will be by the time I get home from work. The place I bought the fish from has a fish guarantee so I will bring it back with my water sample tonight.

Today I test the water and everything is good. There may be a tiny tiny bit of Ammonia level but the test is hard to read. When I say little it looks between 0 ppm and 0.25 ppm.

My question is, What steps should I take to make sure things do not get all out of whack? I do not know what has killed the catfish. The catfish is only .75 inches, so he is a little guy. All the other fish in the tank looked happy go lucky this morning.

These are all Africans by the way.

Looking for any recommendations of what you seasoned fish tank athletes have to offer.

 

[F8LBITE]

Is the catfish all nipped up? was it getting chased by your other fish?

 

[McFluffrichromis]

He doesn't appear to be. I also have lots of rocks for little guys to hide under for that protection. He has not really been bothered by any of the others since they were out in the tank.

 

[cyradis4]

With small or young fish, sometimes you will never know why they die, or every figure out why. Sometimes its just a little too much stress from the move..........

Sorry about your loss,
Amanda.

 

[McFluffrichromis]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cyradis4 @ Sep 5 2008, 01:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

With small or young fish, sometimes you will never know why they die, or every figure out why. Sometimes its just a little too much stress from the move..........

Sorry about your loss,
Amanda.[/b]

The LFS that I got him from said that exact thing and tested my water and it is perfect. So they replaced the fish and the new guy is acting a whole lot better and has adapted well.

 

[McFluffrichromis]

OK, I have lost that one too. Every catfish and Pleco I have ever had in my cichlid tanks has died. What am I doing wrong. All the specs of the tank are correct and all fish are good. But, all catfish dead.

 

[animicrazy]

What about diet? I am no expert on catfish or plecos but I have quite a variety - and, at least as of this writing, very hard to kill.

Also: "perfect water" - by what standards?? The fish might have been more interested in a parameter that wasn't tested for.

Consider: When you transferred a cycled filter from another tank - what else transferred with it?

As stated in another response: The transfer stress on fish should not be understated - some take it well and some do not. The fact that the fish came from a LFS is a clue as well. Many stores have central filtration systems and (IMO) short quarantine times - therefore the fish might have been destined for death in a short while anyway.

Just sucks that it happened in your tank.

Best regards,

TMS

 

[mscichlid]

Patrick,
Why do you have plecos African cichlids?

Are the other catfish corydoras?

What is the pH and the KH of your water?

Is your water source treated with chlorimines?

Do you use Prime?

Is the gravel new or used?

What kind of gravel is it?

How deep is the gravel?

Is your ammonia kit new or old?

 

[lonlangione]

Small catfish may not do well in a 110 because of the shear depth of the tank. I would try some larger catfish. Also, how are you acclimating the catfish to your water. Are you floating the bag in the tank and mixing water every couple of minutes? If so, the next one don't do this. Just open the bag, drain the fish in a net and put it in the tank. This may seem crazy to some, but sometimes the fish does not get enough oxygen in a bag during acclimation. That is how I acclimate most of my fish. If the pH is OK. Dump them in. But my bet is the fish is just to small to handle the depth.

 

[McFluffrichromis]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mscichlid @ Sep 9 2008, 06:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Patrick,
Why do you have plecos African cichlids?

Are the other catfish corydoras?

What is the pH and the KH of your water?

Is your water source treated with chlorimines?

Do you use Prime?

Is the gravel new or used?

What kind of gravel is it?

How deep is the gravel?

Is your ammonia kit new or old?[/b]

Well I had Plecos when I first started with Africans and even kept plecos when I had oscars. I even Have friends with Plecos and Africans but I have no success after the big one I had died years ago. The Catfish I had been trying are corys and they are pretty small. They last for a couple of days look good and act fine then die. This is in my old established tank and my new 110. When I acclimate the fish to the tank I float bag and Net them into the water, always have. My ph is 8.2 and I do not know what KH is. The tank has been set up for over a month now and the bottom has three inches of crushed coral and sand they are new. The ammonia kit is newer. When I do water changes I use Nova-Aqua and AmQuel+.

 

[cyradis4]

Plecos and Corrys are South American fish. I would not keep Corys with Africans, for a variety of reasons. Those reasons are water chemistry, aggression, and enviromnemt (corrys do best in planted tanks, preferably heavily and Africans do better with mostly rockwork). If you want a scavenger for you tank, I suggest a Synodontis type catfish. There are Synodontis Multipuntatus, Synodontis Petricola, Synodontis Eurpterus, and a bunch more. If you want a small one, the Petricolas are really good and stay small, 2" or so (I have some which I might be willing to part with). If your looking for a bit larger fish, the Multipuntatus get 4" or so, I think? (someone check me on that). The Eupterus gets VERY large, but he is a VERY cool cat. I have one that is at least 6" long, 3" wide, and 5" tall (to top of the dorsal fin).

Later!
Amanda.

 

[longstocking]

Multipunctatus at 6 or so inches

Petricola at 4 inches ( most likely lucipinnis not petricola ) The true Petricola gets to 5+inches.

Corys do not go well with Africans.... for the most part. There are some tang exceptions. But, wild corys do not go well with them. Tank raised can sometimes work out. Malawi do not do well with them.

 

[cyradis4]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (longstocking @ Sep 22 2008, 10:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Multipunctatus at 6 or so inches

Petricola at 4 inches ( most likely lucipinnis not petricola ) The true Petricola gets to 5+inches.

Corys do not go well with Africans.... for the most part. There are some tang exceptions. But, wild corys do not go well with them. Tank raised can sometimes work out. Malawi do not do well with them.[/b]

I'll have to look closely at mine. The two seem very close in color, and my cats are about about 2" now. They were sold as Petricola, but I just liked the look of them. I'll try to get pics up one of these days for a positive ID.

Amanda.

 

[mscichlid]

I'm thinking the crushed coral has your KH jacked up. Corys do better in an environmet that has soft sand. The crushed coral will were off their barbels in no time.

I've never used anything but Prime, so I'm unfamiliar with Nova-Aqua and AmQuel+. Do you have to use both of them?

Keep us posted!

 

[McFluffrichromis]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mscichlid @ Sep 22 2008, 10:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I'm thinking the crushed coral has your KH jacked up. Corys do better in an environmet that has soft sand. The crushed coral will were off their barbels in no time.

I've never used anything but Prime, so I'm unfamiliar with Nova-Aqua and AmQuel+. Do you have to use both of them?

Keep us posted![/b]

What is KH?

I generally do not use the chemicals together, from my experience one is better when adding water and the other is better for stabilizing any Nitrate and Ammonia fluctuations.

 

[George]

Look Patrick, these people are trying to tell you that keeping Plecos and corys with Africans is not smart. It might even not work. You may have proven that. Stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are way too nice to say it is stupid so I won't either.

George

 

[SubMariner]

 

[animicrazy]

WARNING

<div align='center'>The Following comments reflect the opinion and experience of the commentator ONLY</div>

** I keep SA fish with West Africans - low to mid range PH, low GH.

** I will mix Victorians, Tangs, and Malawi fish when needed (to keep the vics from killing each other) - use Malawi water.

**No chemical is a substitute for a properly cycled tank.

**See my "water Rant" posts elsewhere on the forum - then Do something.

**If you want a water lecture find my number in the "members only - what Do You Want" thread and call me - have alcohol available - for you, not the fish.

**George is an "%^%$##^)& (*^**(^^&$&$% )(&%&^% ; and that's when sober (so the scuttle but has it) (but he is one of my favorite persons) (and he is probably right - if not terribly diplomatic)

P.S Read The Warning - If You Read This Far; your bad!!

TMS

 

[mscichlid]

Patrick, there will be times on any forum where individuals will decide to express an opinion that is inappropriate. Please don't react to those folks who do not stick to the topic at hand. Especially, those that do not contain revelant information. Please don't be discouraged. Keep asking your questions.

KH refers to the buffering capacity of your water. The term alkalinity is sometimes used to express KH. In other words...how hard is your water? Alkalinity is a parameter that is measured on a few different scales, much like temperature can be expressed on different scales (Fahrenheit, celcius, Kelvins). The two most common scales used to measure alkalinity are degrees of carbonate hardness (dKH) and milliequivalents per liter (meq/l). Some test kits will give alkalinity values in dKH and others will give values in meq/l. To convert between the two, 1 meq/l = 2.8 dKH. For example, 7 dKH = 2.5 meq/l; 11.2 dKH = 4.0 meq/l

Basically, when setting up a tank or tanks, an aquarist should know their water parameters. Proper controls of your aquatic environment is undenialbly the most important thing you could ever do in order to responsibly keep fish. There are a few places online that I trust will give you good informatiion to start. The Krib is one and the other is the Skeptical Aquarist. A book that explains the nitrogen cycle is priceless.


Francine

 

[McFluffrichromis]

Yeh some people don't remember what it is like to want to learn things. Its people like GJR2 that ruin the learning experience for others. He must be a dumb @ss if he thinks I couldn't see what people were saying about how it doesn't work. He sounds like a grumpy old @ss hole. I am a member amongst several different varieties of forums and in a forum for fish of all things you get people that act like this.

To the others aiding my quest for information it is much appreciated.

My advice to the administrators is to screen for negative post like the one from GJR2 and remove them, there is no reason for that crap to stay in a thread like this. This is how you lose people that are interested in what it is that everyone else is. Removing posts like that will create an environment that people will not be afraid to ask questions and therefore increase the traffic of the site bettering the popularity of the organization.

Thank you mscichlid for the information that you so gratefully share.