Hello, and sorry for the long message, hope it can help identifying what may cause the death of my fish. I have done ALL the mistakes a beginner can do. I hate losing animals of any kind, so I spent countless hours on the web researching. I have learned a lot about my mistakes but am completely in the blur of why I suddenly lose a lot of fish when it seemed to be all right. I have lost 2 leopard sailfin plecos within the last 2 weeks, along with 1 panda cory, 3 lambchop rasboras and 2 guppies.
Here the full story.
Roughly 11 weeks ago I get my small 20L tank out (a jebo). Add 3 mollies, 3 phatom tetras, 5 neons. Didn’t test water (guy in LFS 1 said it was not necessary (!!!), just to change water regularly, which I did, daily 25%.
After 2 weeks I lose 2 mollies and am really upset. Partner feels sorry, goes to LFS 1 and returns with a pleco (gibbiceps) and what they told him was a pearl gourami and which looks much more like a dwarf kissing gourami. I didn’t know these fish, searched the web a lot and discovered how big they can grow ! But loved the pleco straight away and there was no way I was going to give it back. So, in emergency I buy the biggest tank I could afford, a AquaOne 620T,. 130L. Not ideal but I’m already saving for a 450L so that pleco has space. I used as much of the media I could from the small tank (gravel, ceramic noodles, sponge, decoration) and added it to the big tank, along with all the new stuff. I let it run fishless for 6 days (keeping up with water changes in small tank).
Then I added the pleco and gourami. Got a API kit and started testing water every second day. Initially Ammonia 0.5, nitrites 5, nitrates 0, ph 7. After 3 days ammonia went down to 0.25, nitrites 0, nitrates 0, ph 7.2. I added the 5 neons. Params the same for the next 4 days, so I add the 3 phantom tetras. Keep changing water daily, 25%. A few days later params unchanged, tank looked empty, so we get 5 lambchop rasboras. Same again, + 3 serpae tetras. And finally 3 guppies and 3 panda corys.
For 3 weeks things seemed to be all right, water tested every second day and changed 25% daily. Ammonia was remaining at 0.25 (sometimes less, not quite the yellow for 0 but not as green as the 0.25).
And then it started to turn ugly. Every day another casualty. In order: rasbora, rasbora, guppy, guppy, rasbora, pleco. The pleco had a really swollen belly and the last day he seemed to struggle with balance, pivoting around wherever he attached with his mouth. I noticed also, over his last week that he stopped pooping. I constantly tried to feed him blanched veggies (zucchini, lettuce, cucumber, beans, shelled peas) but he was only interested in the fish food or wafers. I believe he died of constipation and bloating.
I cried like a kid when pleco died. A couple of days later my partner gets another one (joselimaianus). He chose that one at the LFS 1 because it was the most active. We open the bag, sit it on top of tank water, drip tank water into it for 20 minutes and let him go in the tank. Hiding initially for a couple of days, then getting out but certainly not as active as he was at LFS 1. A week after we got him I find him dead in the morning, along with the smallest cory (which didn’t look very healthy when we got him). I have not seen him eating any food (wafers, veggies or fish food) AT ALL, and no poop. Unlike pleco 1, his belly was not big (not sunken either) but I noticed that he had blood coming from his anus and a slight protrusion (prolapse).
I learned that fish food is not best for plecos, it has too much protein, which in turn gets them constipated. I tried wafers and veggies, but only pleco 1 ate the wafers.
I am at a loss to what has caused all these losses Ammonia is still slightly under 0.25, ph has dropped to 6.6 (over a period of 3 weeks). Increasing daily water changes to 30% since. Double checked with another LFS (there is a knowledgeable guy there) and params are not perfect, but not dramatically bad either.
I have noticed yellow dots that formed on the silicone and am investigating if this could be the cause. See other post about this :http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?p=140255#post140255
I’m left with the gourami, 3 serpaes, 3 phantom and 5 neon tetras, 2 rasboras, 2 panda corys. Not going to add any fish for a while now. No more death sice pleco 2 died.
Can anyone help me?
Photos of the plecos on flickr (please click the title to get to the page)
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98952278@N02/9298557168/"]Pleco1_1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98952278@N02/9295780495/"]Pleco1_3 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98952278@N02/9295776319/"]Pleco1_4 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98952278@N02/9295774197/"]Pleco2_7 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98952278@N02/9298549344/"]Pleco2_9 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]
Here the full story.
Roughly 11 weeks ago I get my small 20L tank out (a jebo). Add 3 mollies, 3 phatom tetras, 5 neons. Didn’t test water (guy in LFS 1 said it was not necessary (!!!), just to change water regularly, which I did, daily 25%.
After 2 weeks I lose 2 mollies and am really upset. Partner feels sorry, goes to LFS 1 and returns with a pleco (gibbiceps) and what they told him was a pearl gourami and which looks much more like a dwarf kissing gourami. I didn’t know these fish, searched the web a lot and discovered how big they can grow ! But loved the pleco straight away and there was no way I was going to give it back. So, in emergency I buy the biggest tank I could afford, a AquaOne 620T,. 130L. Not ideal but I’m already saving for a 450L so that pleco has space. I used as much of the media I could from the small tank (gravel, ceramic noodles, sponge, decoration) and added it to the big tank, along with all the new stuff. I let it run fishless for 6 days (keeping up with water changes in small tank).
Then I added the pleco and gourami. Got a API kit and started testing water every second day. Initially Ammonia 0.5, nitrites 5, nitrates 0, ph 7. After 3 days ammonia went down to 0.25, nitrites 0, nitrates 0, ph 7.2. I added the 5 neons. Params the same for the next 4 days, so I add the 3 phantom tetras. Keep changing water daily, 25%. A few days later params unchanged, tank looked empty, so we get 5 lambchop rasboras. Same again, + 3 serpae tetras. And finally 3 guppies and 3 panda corys.
For 3 weeks things seemed to be all right, water tested every second day and changed 25% daily. Ammonia was remaining at 0.25 (sometimes less, not quite the yellow for 0 but not as green as the 0.25).
And then it started to turn ugly. Every day another casualty. In order: rasbora, rasbora, guppy, guppy, rasbora, pleco. The pleco had a really swollen belly and the last day he seemed to struggle with balance, pivoting around wherever he attached with his mouth. I noticed also, over his last week that he stopped pooping. I constantly tried to feed him blanched veggies (zucchini, lettuce, cucumber, beans, shelled peas) but he was only interested in the fish food or wafers. I believe he died of constipation and bloating.
I cried like a kid when pleco died. A couple of days later my partner gets another one (joselimaianus). He chose that one at the LFS 1 because it was the most active. We open the bag, sit it on top of tank water, drip tank water into it for 20 minutes and let him go in the tank. Hiding initially for a couple of days, then getting out but certainly not as active as he was at LFS 1. A week after we got him I find him dead in the morning, along with the smallest cory (which didn’t look very healthy when we got him). I have not seen him eating any food (wafers, veggies or fish food) AT ALL, and no poop. Unlike pleco 1, his belly was not big (not sunken either) but I noticed that he had blood coming from his anus and a slight protrusion (prolapse).
I learned that fish food is not best for plecos, it has too much protein, which in turn gets them constipated. I tried wafers and veggies, but only pleco 1 ate the wafers.
I am at a loss to what has caused all these losses Ammonia is still slightly under 0.25, ph has dropped to 6.6 (over a period of 3 weeks). Increasing daily water changes to 30% since. Double checked with another LFS (there is a knowledgeable guy there) and params are not perfect, but not dramatically bad either.
I have noticed yellow dots that formed on the silicone and am investigating if this could be the cause. See other post about this :http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?p=140255#post140255
I’m left with the gourami, 3 serpaes, 3 phantom and 5 neon tetras, 2 rasboras, 2 panda corys. Not going to add any fish for a while now. No more death sice pleco 2 died.
Can anyone help me?
Photos of the plecos on flickr (please click the title to get to the page)
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98952278@N02/9298557168/"]Pleco1_1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98952278@N02/9295780495/"]Pleco1_3 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98952278@N02/9295776319/"]Pleco1_4 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98952278@N02/9295774197/"]Pleco2_7 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98952278@N02/9298549344/"]Pleco2_9 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]