Urgent help needed please

My Gold Nugget seem's pretty much on deaths bed. He's been fine until today when I done a water change. All other fish are still fine with no problems - including another Nugget.

He's really discoloured and not moving or swimming. I can put my hand in the tank and pick him up no problems. His mouth is still moving but it looks like he's having trouble breathing. There's a strong filter in the tank as well as an air pump so there's no short supply of oxygen.

Nitrite, Nitrite and Ammonia are 0. Tanks been set up for over a year.

Any suggestions please?

Nipped out to a shop quickly and by the time I came back he'd gone . Had a quick checkover on him, body was in fine condition, fin's were all good, had a nice sized stomach. Everything seemed fine, I just don't get it :s

I'm gutted for you mate! Did you change water with water of the same temp and PH?

Sorry to hear that Paul. I have had a few GN,s in my time and never managed to keep any of them alive. I believe they need a very well established tank and lots of oxygen rich water.

Hopefully someone here will be able to shed some light on what happened

Cheers

thegeeman

GN's are one of the more sensitive sp, and unfortunately, a lot of people lose them for no apparent reason.
sorry for your loss Paul

Yeh I'd had him for months. Shame because he's the only plec that just wasn't shy lol. He'd just sit out the front in the open no matter what was around.

The water change was done with same temp water, same ph etc. All the same as normal. My other Nugget who's also in the tank is fine.

Bit gutted about it. I have an excuse to go plec hunting yet again tomorrow for something semi big ish that looks cool hah.

He was fine before the water change though?

Sorry ya lost him

From what I could tell. He was hiding before the change in his cave then came out after, had a little swim around then just seemed to collapse. When I picked him up to see if he was still alive he was breathing slowly but his mouth was still moving, so I put a little food in, he ate it. Few hours later he was gone

Paul said:

Nitrite, Nitrite and Ammonia are 0. Tanks been set up for over a year.

Click to expand...

Did you mean one to be nitrates? If so, are you sure nitrates are 0? Quite difficult, near impossible, to get 0 nitrates in a fish tank.

How often do you change water?
Did you use a water conditioner?
How do you prepare the make-up water prior to placing it in the tank?

Yes sorry I didn't realize I posted nitrite's twice. My nitrate level is about 20. Possibly slightly less. I use the API Master Test kit.

I change 25% water once a week.
I use Tetra AquaSafe conditioner, always have done.
I use this guide for my water changes. Sorry if I can't post it.

so sorry,
keep an eye on other fish and be ready with pimafix or something if it looks like it was catching
i expect it was just natural causes.

So sorry for your loss.