Dead Goby. Sick pleco.

[nomzombie]

My 75 gal aquarium just went through a random bloom of green algae and it wasn't getting any better. I tried changing foods and blacking out the tank for over a week and even lowering the feeding because I didn't want to use chemicals. Then I got brown algae on top of that. I had already removed all the gravel to make cleaning the algae up easier. I just couldn't figure it out naturally. The tank isn't even in a room with sunlight and it's not planted. So I finally went and bought the api algae treatment and dosed the tank, it said it was okay to use with the fish in there. The only fish in there were my 6 year old violet dragon goby and this little bitty clown pleco. And I noticed the tank went cloudy about 10 minutes later and my Goby swimming frantically and trying to hide behind the bubble bars. So I scrubbed the tank glass down and did a 30-40% water change and waited 3 days. The green algae bloomed again so I took the fish out and put them in the hospital tank and dosed the tank again. It went cloudy and then it cleared up so I reintroduced the fish the next day after I siphoned the dead algae out. Now just 2 days later my Goby is dead and his fins were pink and he spent most of only today upside down at the bottom of the tank. He didn't show any symptoms yesterday. And when I was scooping out the pleco to put back in the hospital tank I noticed his belly is pink now but he doesn't seem bloated and shows no other symptoms. I've completely drained the aquarium, scrubbed it, bought sand substrate, and have started cycling it. I can't find anything on the internet except possible dropsy but it doesn't come on this quickly. Do you think maybe it could be a chemical burn from the treatment? What should I do for my pleco? Should I give him antibiotics? Take him to my LFS?

The parameters of my tank never changed except my ph. It's normally at 7.5 but after the algae blooms it's climbed slowly to 7.9 over the course of about 3 weeks. Ammonia .2 nitrites 0 nitrates 5-10.

We got rid of the large 15.5in common pleco last month because she became aggressive so that might have triggered the algae bloom?


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[libertybelle]

it not being planted is part of the problem in this case. You obviously have nutrients and light in the water thats not being used up by plants so algae is growing. What lights are above your tank and how long do you leave them on each day? Brown algae in particular is a new tank syndrome issue though, and that and the ammonia reading combined suggest that your tank is cycling or mini-cycling. All the cleaning from fighting the algae is probably killing off your beneficial bacteria. The inflamed fins could from the ammonia? And ammonia spikes can certainly kill off fish and cause those kind of stress responses.

 

[nomzombie]

I took my pleco to my LFS today and he was looking much better. I added aloe Vera slime coat the the hospital's last night and he was back to his normal color. What I learned is that since the Goby is a scale less fish he's sensitive to treatment just like invertebrates and essentially sustained enough chemical burns to kill him, resulting in his pink fins. Which is also why the clown pleco belly was pink, bc they don't have belly scales. So it was entirely my fault. I wasn't aware. So I've completely torn down the tank and scrubbed it and all my decor just to be safe, added new organic soil base covered in mesh and sand to start a planted goldfish tank, Once it's cycled.

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[libertybelle]

bummer. Yeah I don't have any experience with those algae killing chemicals, don't even know what is in them but they sound pretty nasty! Good luck with your new planted.

 

[nomzombie]

Thank you so much

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