2 Galaxy Pleco Deaths

[LiQuiD]

So I bought a really nice galaxy (vampire?) pleco from my LFS. He was pretty small, maybe 2 inches. After 3 days, I found him dead in my tank. No marks, or unhealthy spots. I took him back to the LFS since I spent $25 on him, and the guy told me that they have a 24 hour life policy on fish. I wasn't happy, but the guy offered me his last one for $12 so I bought it. It was very happy in the bag swimming around and seemed very active. Put it in the tank and kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn't being bullied. After about 6 hours in the tank, I noticed him swimming a little erratically, and breathing very very fast. An hour later, and he was dead. Took him back with a water sample to find out what the problem is. They said my water was perfect but ammonia was a little high, but the test they used barely was showing any green at all. Appeared less than 0.10 (my rough estimate). All my other fish are thriving, so not sure what happened. I felt they were pushing the ammonia thing to try and avoid a refund, but I stood my ground and asked for at least $15 bucks back after spending $37, which they finally agreed. Still confused on what happened though. I do 15-20% water change a week in my 55 gallon. tank, and feed once every other day. Any thoughts?

 

[Brookster123]

How'd you acclimate? Did they compare your ph values? How old is the tank? What's in it??

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[LiQuiD]

How'd you acclimate? Did they compare your ph values? How old is the tank? What's in it??

Let them both sit in the bag for over 15 minutes. Temp of tank is 80 F. Nitrates and Nitrites were 0. PH was 7. Tank is 2 months old. Cycled very fast from use of other tank media and filters.

Current Stock

2 Small Angels
3 Fancy Guppies
3 Rummy Nose Tetra
1 Yoyo Loach
5 Corydoras Sterbai
1 Pearl Gourami
1 Spotted Pleco
1 Mystery Snail

 

[Brookster123]

Can't be zero nitrates, with such small wc's you're surely registering nitrates? So you just float and dumped? No tank water in the bag?

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[LiQuiD]

Can't be zero nitrates, with such small wc's you're surely registering nitrates? So you just float and dumped? No tank water in the bag?

They are really low when they do register. Im using the API test strips. 0, 0.5, or 1 at the max. Yes I have always floated for 15-20 then I pour them in a small bowl, and net them into the new tank. I have never added my tank water to the bag, or vise versa, but I think that would be a good idea to help them acclimate. 50-50 mixture in a separate container for 15 min?

 

[Dogmom]

I turn the lights off, and do 20 minute float in the bag, then take out 1/2 cup of bag water, and add a 1/2 a cup of water from my tank every 10 minutes for an hour. Then I net the fish and ease it into my tank. Leave the lights off for about 2 hours.


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[Jmunroe]

Keep adding small amounts of your tank water to the bag or container the new fish are in. Keep doing this slowly. A small amount every 5 mins or so. Once the amount of water has doubled.... Take half the water back out and start again. Gives the fish a good chance to adjust to any differences in water parameters. Your water changes are not big enough. Your under filtered if your showing ammonia. Your using test strips which are as accurate as sticking your finger in the water and guessing. I would not blame the LFS.

 

[LiQuiD]

Keep adding small amounts of your tank water to the bag or container the new fish are in. Keep doing this slowly. A small amount every 5 mins or so. Once the amount of water has doubled.... Take half the water back out and start again. Gives the fish a good chance to adjust to any differences in water parameters. Your water changes are not big enough. Your under filtered if your showing ammonia. Your using test strips which are as accurate as sticking your finger in the water and guessing. I would not blame the LFS.

Thanks for the advice on adding the fish. I'll do that from now on. As for water changes, 15-20% has been told to me by many people in many places as standard. Anyone else do more than this a week? As for filtration, I'm using an Aquaclear 110 for my 55, so I think I'm good there. The strips I see used everywhere, even the high end fish stores here so I would give them a little more credit than that, but understand the precision with the full kit.

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[44Paps44]

Thanks for the advice on adding the fish. I'll do that from now on. As for water changes, 15-20% has been told to me by many people in many places as standard. Anyone else do more than this a week? As for filtration, I'm using an Aquaclear 110 for my 55, so I think I'm good there. The strips I see used everywhere, even the high end fish stores here so I would give them a little more credit than that, but understand the precision with the full kit.

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Don't push back on the advice, everything you've been told is spot on.

You also have a lot of fish for a tank that is only two months old, regardless of how you cycled.

Pleco's are messy and will up your water change schedule dramatically in order to keep parameter in check.

 

[Brookster123]

50% wc's on all my tanks, 2 for the 5.5 a week! I'd be running at least 2 ac's on that tank, no such thing as to much filtration. There is still a pod of dinosaurs roaming the land.. speaking of under gravel filters and small infrequent wc's. Avoid those dinosaurs. Get with the now

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[fishliker]

Just to say... Testing water with the API master kit instead of strips is so much better, is really knowing your water results, as opposed to guessing and feeling your way around in the dark. I keep a log of the results so I can follow it over time. It's nice not having to depend on/trust the lfs to tell you how things are with your tank. Water changes, I change at least 30 percent every week. I test the nitrates to be sure they stay below 20, if they go higher, I would change more water. If you change water anyway, is easy to change a little more, right? I'm not that much of an expert so please correct any advice I've given, other members. So good luck! And remember to acclimate new fish as been said already.


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[Jmunroe]

Test strips are inaccurate, doesn't matter if God himself uses them, still inaccurate. For your stocking do larger water changes. Especially where the tank is new. When nitrates hit 20ppm do at least a 50% water change. I do 2 75% water changes a week on my 125 gallon. You may need more bio media and more filtration. Your tank isn't fully cycled yet and if your reading ammonia you need more beneficial bacteria. AC110 isn't a lot of filtration on a 55 gallon. If your using carbon, throw it away and use the space for bio media.

 

[Angela1108]

Is that picture of the strip you posted your actual results? Also that test strip doesn't show ammonia on there at all so you are already missing the most lethal thing to fish (as far as cycling goes) if that was a real test you posted it looks like 1 for nitrItes which means your tank is
Not fully cycled. Plus someone else mentioned it but they are correct - that many fish in a 2 month period is a lot.


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[LiQuiD]

Don't push back on the advice, everything you've been told is spot on.

You also have a lot of fish for a tank that is only two months old, regardless of how you cycled.

Pleco's are messy and will up your water change schedule dramatically in order to keep parameter in check.

I'm not pushing back, Im just trying to be thorough. If I always trusted the advice of just one individual, I would be in bigger problems than I am now. You both say I need larger water changes, but dont give me a percentage to start, so Im cautious on how much to take out and what is considered safe.

I have also always had tanks in the past with this amount of small fish on a fast cycle, and never run into this problem before. Little strange that all my fish are doing well, but 2 fish of the same breed from the same tank, both died.

 

[Mattyfelts]

percentage depends on an accurate test that cannot be provided, i would do 60-70% on a tank like this but thats me being wild.

 

[Angela1108]

I would start with at least 1 50% water change.


The deaths could be because you never drip acclimated them - so the ammonia and nitrite that could be in there killed them. The other fish in your tank are probably fairly "used to" whatever is in there even if it isn't good for them it isn't a quick shock of nothing to some levels of nitrite or ammonia or higher nitrates. do you know what the store you got them from has their ph at? Even thoigh yours is at 7 (If the strip is correct) if they have it lower or higher it could be shocking them. By drop acclimating you get them used to what you have in your tank


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[44Paps44]

I'm not pushing back, Im just trying to be thorough. If I always trusted the advice of just one individual, I would be in bigger problems than I am now. You both say I need larger water changes, but dont give me a percentage to start, so Im cautious on how much to take out and what is considered safe.

I have also always had tanks in the past with this amount of small fish on a fast cycle, and never run into this problem before. Little strange that all my fish are doing well, but 2 fish of the same breed from the same tank, both died.

No safety level to really be concerned about. Your fish will tell you if you ever bring the water level too low. Just be sure to match the water going in with the water going out (ph, temp, etc) as much as you can. Always do more than less when youre estimating.

Try AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor, input your stocking and it will give you great tips on helping maintain your tank.

I don't know specifically what killed those two fish versus the other. Until you get an accurate testing kit, neither will you. Make that your priority so you can have a good idea of what's going on.

 

[LiQuiD]

Test strips are inaccurate, doesn't matter if God himself uses them, still inaccurate. For your stocking do larger water changes. Especially where the tank is new. When nitrates hit 20ppm do at least a 50% water change. I do 2 75% water changes a week on my 125 gallon. You may need more bio media and more filtration. Your tank isn't fully cycled yet and if your reading ammonia you need more beneficial bacteria. AC110 isn't a lot of filtration on a 55 gallon. If your using carbon, throw it away and use the space for bio media.

Thank you again. I needed a good start with percentage of water to take out. I thought taking more than 40% could be dangerous. I will do a larger water change and purchase a better test kit. I had another Aquaclear filter on there, but moved it to my other tank. Was planning on getting an additional 110 for it.

 

[LiQuiD]

Is that picture of the strip you posted your actual results? Also that test strip doesn't show ammonia on there at all so you are already missing the most lethal thing to fish (as far as cycling goes) if that was a real test you posted it looks like 1 for nitrItes which means your tank is
Not fully cycled. Plus someone else mentioned it but they are correct - that many fish in a 2 month period is a lot.

No that is not my strip, just the result image of the test kit I use. Should have mentioned that.

I would start with at least 1 50% water change.


The deaths could be because you never drip acclimated them - so the ammonia and nitrite that could be in there killed them. The other fish in your tank are probably fairly "used to" whatever is in there even if it isn't good for them it isn't a quick shock of nothing to some levels of nitrite or ammonia or higher nitrates. do you know what the store you got them from has their ph at? Even thoigh yours is at 7 (If the strip is correct) if they have it lower or higher it could be shocking them. By drop acclimating you get them used to what you have in your tank

Thank you. I will always do that from now on. I have never had an issue like this, but that makes the most amount of sense. I really appreciate everyones help!!