Allivymar said:
Just to be clear, when you say water chemistry is fine, you mean 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 20 or less
ppm nitrates? Also, what size tank/what kinda fish? Tank temps? I'm assuming the tank has been up for a while as it appears cycled, but just to be sure, how long has it been cycled? And lastly, any new additions/changes?
0 Ammonia
0
ppm of nitrites
0-5
ppm of nitrates
P04 2ppm+ (we are working on this)
pH 7
Temp between 72-75 degrees
55 gallon tank
Eheim canister filter
Air stone
Eco Complete plant substrate (re: phospates, ruled them out)
Live plants galore (we plant heavily)
CoralLife plant light
Plenty of hiding places, etc.
Been cycled for little more than two months now. The substrate have live bacteria which helps settle the tank and we added a few gallons of water from an older tank that is diong well.
We plan to bring our two SAEs back to the
LFS and not get anything else. So that would leave us with:
2 small angel fish (babies)
1 clown loach (1 other died)
2 oto cats (1 other died)
2 raspboras (small)
2 Black phantom tetras
2 serpae tetras
4 glass catfish
1 pleco
2 long-finned danio
2 zebra danio
6 neons
2 Colombian tetras
outside of the pleco and angels everything is relatively small....we added them up by inch, etc. with 5 gallons per angel fish...
Allivymar said:
The oto was bloated...I wonder if he was constipated or had dropsy? If it was dropsy, thats usually indicative of another infection (dropsy is more a symptom than a disease itself). It MAY explain why the clown also passed away; if there is some sort of infection in your tank its spreading to the susceptible fish.
I suspected dropsy, but it's harder to tell with otos as they don't have scales that would stick out on another fish and be obvious of dropsy...so I thought maybe constipated. I did read they are prone to that. Since we put the Otos in a few weeks ago, they have been nonstop eaters...so I thought perhaps he ate too much?
Allivymar said:
I'm noticing its the scaleless fish which had probs; I'm wondering if anything else got into the water? Has anyone been doing any cleaning with spray type cleaners near the tank? Could a small child have dropped something in? They'll absorb chemicals much more quickly then the scaled fish (is why treating for ich with malachite green is such a prob with them).
We do not use any chemicals in the water other than plant fertilizer (made for aquatic plants, been using it for a while). We are very careful and regular about water changes and substrate vacuuming. If I use glass cleaner it's on the outside and I spray onto a paper towel first just to get water spots off the outside of the glass. No kids...so no there. But yes, it is the scaleless fish...it's so weird. But it's also the bottom feeders, which is why initially I thought about the SAEs.
The one thing that is at all new is filter media from Hagen called Phos-X. It's in the canister filter to draw out the phosphates. It's safe for saltwater as well as fresh, which usually indicates that it's very safe as things have to be very safe for marine aquariums. But besides that, nothing...it's so odd.
Allivymar said:
Were there any unusual markings on the body when you found them (not including any of the tankmates snacking on them after)?
I checked the poor fellows out. So sad :-( The Oto had nothing on him...just his fat little belly, which had actually gotten smaller than they day or so prior. And the loach had nothing...just looked pale in death. So sad...
Allivymar said:
What is causing the high levels tho? Were you guys able to figure that out?
We tested our tap water, we stopped feeding, got low phosphate food, etc. We finally diluted this liquid
CO2 we were using and tested it...it came out screaming with phosphates. It only lasts for 16 days in the tank and at that time we were on day 14. So we did a 25% water change and got the Hagen Phos-X filter media into the canister. Turns out our 20 gallon also has the Phosphate issue. Now, the 20 gallon is older...about 9 months and does very well with regular water changes, etc. But we used the
CO2 in there, too. So that also got a filter thing and water changes. It's so weird...we can't seem to lower these phosphates!!
