Sudden death

[kirkland795]

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
While doing a water change today one of my danios suddenly died without sign of illness or injury. One of my discus fish also has white body and fin fungus which I believe is due to fighting.

2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, nitrate is 5, temperature is 84(I'm aware this is slightly warm for danios but they have lived fine at this temp for months.)

3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
I have 60 gallon tank that has been set up for a year and fully cycled.

4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known. I have a marine land emperor biowheel(2) that does 400 gallons an hour. I also have a marine land canister filter magnum that does 350gph.

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? I have 5 discus. Two are 5inches and the other three are 2-4 inches. I did have 4 danios but due to recent death I have 3. I also have 2 apple snails.

6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time? I did a water change today of 50%. I do a 50% water change every other day. Every now and then I go two days before a water change. I keep a bare bottom tank.

7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them? I have had the discus for a year. Two of the danios I've had for a year and the other two for just two months( I quarantined them for 2 weeks prior to adding them), I've had the apple snails for 2 months as well and they were also quarantined prior to adding them.

8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? No

9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? No recent change, I feed a flake food, frozen beef heart, frozen cichlid mix(various shrimps/fish/beef heart), and frozen blood worms.


Should I be concerned about this sudden death? What could have caused such an immediate death with no symptoms? Also I have done a salt dip to treat my discus with the fungus. After this didn't fix the problem I have her a potassium permanganate dip today.

 

[Delapool]

Generally I find if I lose a fish during water change there is something else stressing the fish as well. Or they seemed a weak breed in general. I've found this with pwc's ranging from 30 to 90%. The pwc would normally be fine as part of a consistent routine but something else is slightly off in the tank.

If everything else is all normal (eg eating and schooling well) I don't worry too much.

 

[treemanone2003]

Are you saying the body has turned white from it's original color or the fungus on the body and fins is white ? Also, what dechlorinator are you using ? Is there an expiration date ? Can you post a pic of the sick one ? At what point were which fish added and how long have all the discus been together ?

As for the death, it sounds like it was just a fluke incident. With your WC schedule you're on, I give two thumbs up !!! And bb too !! I understand the danios have been good up to this point and the discus like it, but I would drop it down to 82° and don't see it to be an issue.


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[Delapool]

Are you saying the body has turned white from it's original color or the fungus on the body and fins is white ? Also, what dechlorinator are you using ? Is there an expiration date ? Can you post a pic of the sick one ? At what point were which fish added and how long have all the discus been together ?

As for the death, it sounds like it was just a fluke incident. With your WC schedule you're on, I give two thumbs up !!! And bb too !! I understand the danios have been good up to this point and the discus like it, but I would drop it down to 82° and don't see it to be an issue.


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Thank goodness, a discus expert

 

[treemanone2003]

Thank goodness, a discus expert

Lol. Here to help. Especially with that "King of the Aquarium".


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[kirkland795]

A white fungus is found on the fins and one part of the body. I use seachem prime and it's not expired.

Ok so I started with two discus since they are pricey and I had never kept them before. They thrived well and ended up pairing off and regularly spawning every 10 days or so. Then I added 3 new discus about 3 months ago and ever since I did its been terrible as far as fighting. I thought these fish would school and liked to be kept in groups. I mean I know they are cichlids so they will be aggressive but it seems excessive. The original male that had paired up paired with a new female for a few weeks and now he won't pair with any of the fish. They all fight constantly. I've tried re-arranging the tank and I've tried quarantining the most aggressive fish for a while but nothing seems to work. So I really believe the white fungus on my fish was due to fighting. I initially did a salt dip to try and cure the fungus but that didn't work. I finally dipped her in some potassium permanganate and she looks way better. Any advice on how to curve the aggression. I posted on simply discus a while back and was told that in time they would establish territories and relax but that hasn't happened. One of the females is starting to lose a little weight due to stress.

I think the danio death must have been a fluke thing because all the rest are doing great.

 

[treemanone2003]

Thanks for the clarification on what's happening. Sometimes thing get misunderstood and just wanted to be on the same page. Since you treated with PP and things are getting better, that's great news. I'm quite familiar with their cost as I have 5 from a sponsor on SD.

I don't recall your thread on SD (I have a homesteader page) but I see quite a few between here and there. As far as the aggression goes, it's just a matter of time. My latest two have only been in the DT for 3 weeks after QT for 6 weeks, and it's happening in my tank. I try to feed them on separate sides (55g with 2 lids) to try and help things along. Also, having the lights on for only a few hours a day may help too. 3-4 hours at the time you'll be there the longest, whatever time of day it may be. Possibly around a feeding time.


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[kirkland795]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try the keeping the lights on for a limited amount of time. I have noticed they are more active and aggressive with the lights on, so that's a good idea to try. Hopefully they sort themselves out soon. It's stressing me to have stressed fish lol! especially if it's going to cause problems like fungus.

 

[treemanone2003]

Also I forgot to mention maybe add some stress coat in there too. It helps protect and restore the slime coat of fish. It's 10ml (capful) per 20g. Very clear directions on the bottle. I use 3 capfuls in a 55g.

I do to use nets for my Discus. I always grab them by hand.


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[kirkland795]

Is the stress coat safe for my apple snails?

 

[kirkland795]

Also what brand do you use?

 

[treemanone2003]

Is the stress coat safe for my apple snails?

I'm not sure on that one. Maybe Google with have the right answer. I can say that I have hitchhiker snails in my shrimp tank that have had no problems multiplying, lol. I use API brand stress coat and stress zyme.




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