Help l333 not eating

alvil

Member
Aug 30, 2014
9
1
1
belfield NSW
Hi
Need help with my l333 grow out tank
Been breedin these for 2years now without any problems.
They have stopped eating for about 2 weeks now first time i noticed food wasn't eaten and was mouldy next day. Vacumed mouldy food and done a water change. Not fed again until the next day. Same thing happened went like this for about a week.
Water paremeters are very good no nitrates nitrate 6.8 ph no amonia kh good.
Done tests myself and also local shop Labyrinth Aquarium.
Done Metronidazole treatment for 4days now.
No change
Checked for worms before metro treatment, under strong light and magnifier with no signs of any worms in the vent area or redness in about 15 fish.
Tank is a standard 2 footer 2 sponge filters small piece of driftwood and some scallops shells. Feeding same foods as all ways, good quality flake granules new era pleco blood worms and zucchini.
About 30 fish 3/4cm in affected tank
Breeding colony and baby's are fine
Any ideas or help please
Alex
 

Aiden

New Member
May 13, 2016
4
0
1
Perth
Maybe cause they prefer live foods...L333 like to come out at night and don't really eat algae wafers as they are carnivorous


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Bigjohnnofish

Global Moderators
Staff member
Apr 15, 2010
1,399
2
36
Perth, Western Australia
im not overly convinced with your water parameters/quality and test results...

333's are pretty bullet proof so you have to be doing something wrong for them to stop eating... few possibilities come to mind....

you have had an ammonia spike and damaged their gills and as a result they arent eating and will end up dying...

you have had nitrate creepage up to a high level and fish stop eating....
with high nitrates the fish will absorb more nitrogen into their blood and if you suddenly lower these nitrates too quickly you can cause the nitrogen in the fishes bloodstream to turn into nitrogen gas in the form of bubbles which can cause death also...

the fish have some sort of parasite... but this is my last guess...

problem with some ammonia spikes you may not know you have had them as your beneficial bacteria has multiplied enough to catch up with the biological needs of your filtration before you test for it... if you have been continually doing this over a period of time your fry may have accumulated gill damage and again wont eat...

if you have been feeding the foods you have said for a long time and it has been working you can prob eliminate that from the problem... although none of those foods are my choice to feed 333 fry....

what nitrate reading are you getting ? are you shaking the test bottles for at least 30 seconds before use ?
 

alvil

Member
Aug 30, 2014
9
1
1
belfield NSW
Thanks for the response, much appreciated
Food wise, have been feeding same food as well, hikari carnivoous for ever
What would you sugest?
Re water, don't think is a water problem test my self as well as my local shop.
I'm very anal with water changes, have been keeping and successfully breedin delicate and rare tanganykans for over 25 years.
Had 2 fish die about 2 weeks ago and 2 more late last week.
Done more water changes to get rid of metro and dosed tank with avatril plus, salt and teaspoon of buffer to raise kh.
No dead fish yet, not sure if they are eating
Agree with you about being bullet proof one of the easiest to keep happy and breeding.
Cheers Alex
 

Bigjohnnofish

Global Moderators
Staff member
Apr 15, 2010
1,399
2
36
Perth, Western Australia
what nitrate reading are you getting ? are you shaking the test bottles for at least 30 seconds before use ?

im thinking you might be getting nitrate creepage over time....

a nitrate reading will eliminate a couple things for me and perhaps find a reason....

bombarding those fish with multiple treatments without knowing what your treating is prob just making the frys survival less likely i must say...

has anything new entered this tank over last couple months ?
 

alvil

Member
Aug 30, 2014
9
1
1
belfield NSW
Nitrate test result just completed 5/10 ppm
Some good news, no more dead, and fed small amount after work looks like they ate as i cant see any food. Bare tank
Tank was set up about 18 months, has never had anything else then the fry from breeding tank, and haven't stripped breeding tank for about 3 months, so no new fry in sick tank since then.
Alex
 

Bigjohnnofish

Global Moderators
Staff member
Apr 15, 2010
1,399
2
36
Perth, Western Australia
very unlikely you have introduced any sort of parasite then....

must of had some sort of spike in ammonia i'd guess....

having such a low nitrate reading is unusual... most people are always over 20ppm and go up from there... makes me think the ammonia spiking is a much more likely cause....

another thing came to mind was DOCS - dissolved organic compounds have gotten high in your filter and have irritated the fry and stopped them eating...
 

alvil

Member
Aug 30, 2014
9
1
1
belfield NSW
I don't know how or what caused the problem but it has been fixed now.
Don't know if the metro or the avitrol plus or both fixed the problem I only noticed improvement after the avitrol dose