Catfish Dying Like Crazy Please Help!

[smjmcomic]

Upsidedown catfish getting bloated and loosing their color. And we've lost 5 Panda catfish in the last three days. We lost a frog this morning, and a Laser catfish tonight. Oh and 2 upsidedown catfish today. Water levels are Nitrate 40, Nitrite 0.3, Hardness 300, Alkalinity 120, Ph 7.8, Ammonia 0.

Any help would be appreciated!



Thanks!!!

 

[Zagz]

Are they all getting bloated? Are their scales sticking up at all? What size is your tank? More detailed descriptions will help figure out what is going on in your tank. The swelling if accompanied by scales sticking out might be dropsy, without more info it is hard to guess.

 

[Jchillin]

You have a 55gal tank listed in your profile. Along with Zagz questions, are there any other fish in the tank as well...if yes, what kind(s)? How long has the tank been set up?

 

[Devilishturtles]

How did you acclimate them? Its usually a good idea to test your LFS' water in the bag, and then your tank water. If their parameters are way different then yours, you could have shocked them.

Could very well be dropsy as well...

 

[Zagz]

Any further updates?

 

[smjmcomic]

Ok, the tank has been up since late May. It is a 55 gallon. Besides the Cory's we pretty much just have Platy's, Swordtails and Guppies. And one BB goby and a few Ghost Shrimp.


We did notice that a few of the catfish had tattered scales and would look like their shaking before they died.

 

[Toirtis]

Nitrates are a bit elevated, but I am guessing an infection of some sort. Are all the dying catfish displaying similar symptoms? Any behavoural changes in the catfish before/during the obvious bloating? Which fish were the most recent, where did they come from, and when were they added? What is your current aquarium water temperature?

 

[smjmcomic]

Nitrates are a bit elevated, but I am guessing an infection of some sort. Are all the dying catfish displaying similar symptoms? Any behavoural changes in the catfish before/during the obvious bloating? Which fish were the most recent, where did they come from, and when were they added? What is your current aquarium water temperature?

Yes, they looked sluggish, colors faded and they seamed to be shaking. Just the upsidedown catfish got bloated, the others just faded and died. The newest addition would be two black upsidedown but so far their ok. We also got a few Panda catfish we usually buy at LFS about a week ago, out of six we two left. They started dying on second or third day. The temperature is 83. So far the guppies are ok. We also have fry in breeders that look ok.

 

[smjmcomic]

Sorry I forgot we also lost three frogs. We borough the same day.

 

[smjmcomic]

We also have a Guppie in the conner of the tank doing like backflips?

 

[Toirtis]

If 83ºF is your regular temperature, it is about 6ºF too high for most if your fish.....if you have temporarily raised the temp to fight infection, have you also added additional aeration to help alleviate dissolved oxygen loss caused by the higher temps?

My immediate thought is that something nasty came in with your most recent additions, but it is difficult to determine precisely what...this is why a quarantine tank for new arrivals is an excellent idea.

 

[smjmcomic]

If 83ºF is your regular temperature, it is about 6ºF too high for most if your fish.....if you have temporarily raised the temp to fight infection, have you also added additional aeration to help alleviate dissolved oxygen loss caused by the higher temps?

My immediate thought is that something nasty came in with your most recent additions, but it is difficult to determine precisely what...this is why a quarantine tank for new arrivals is an excellent idea.

How quickly should I lower the temp? Is there anything I can do to fight the infection? Also their turds are vary long and white even the fry. Will a 10gal tank work for quarantine tank?

 

[rich311k]

Lower the temp slowly 1 degree every two hours or so. A 10 gallon makes a great qt tank.