Fish Mix Problem? I Guess so...

[TN Tanks]

Hey guys, I thought I did enough homework but maybe not, what do you think? I just set up my 135 gal FW tank, well filtered and lit, lots of fake coral (plastic) hiding spots, and all Ammonia and Nitrite levels are correct ( I used the new instant cycle bacteria, brain fart so I forgot the name ) and had the following stock:

8 Rosy Barbs ( 4 male, 4 female )
6 Tiger Barbs
4 Clown Loaches
1 Red Tailed Shark, about 3in or so
1 Rope Fish ( Carpet burned, unfortunately )
1 Blue Crayfish
6 Angels

Started off ok, but one of the angels had its dorsals nipped off and didnt make it, so I transfered my angels, end of the problem, right?

Next day, I wake up to 2 of the male Rosy's dead, no signs, no nipped fins that I could tell, just dead. Next day I woke up to the 2 larger Clowns in the same condition on the bottem of the tank.

I dont know what to add next, was thinking of some mollies for the nutrition value of the young, and a brine shrimp hang on incubator.

Guess the question is, any clue on why I suffered the losses?

 

[QTOFFER]

Sorry about your losses - that really sucks.

At first I thought it was the barbs, but they're fin nippers, not cold-blooded killers.
Betcha anything it's that blue crayfish to blame.
Bad crayfish bad.

FYI, tiger barbs and angels really don't mix cause of the fin-nipping thing.

 

[jlindseyjr]

If the water parameters are ok, my money's on the crawdad.

 

[ferret]

Betcha anything it's that blue crayfish to blame.
Bad crayfish bad.

My vote as well. They'll eat anything they can catch. The clown loaches in particular would have been in the bottom of the tank and easy to reach. And I've heard stories of barbs apparently being fascinated with crayfish and 'swimming the gauntlet' .. ie, trying to swim past its claws real fast, over and over.

On the other hand, you say there's no visible damage to the fish. I would vote to recheck water parameters and/or possible disease.. It would probably be one or the other for a 'mysterious' death.

I must of course also asked, how did you acclimate them? Also check the nitrate levels. About the only time nitrates can kill a fish is when they aren't probably acclimate from a low nitrate environment to a high nitrate environment.

 

[Allivymar]

Did you QT the new fish? Or add them all together?

I also think the crawdad did in the angel, but if the others show no sign of attack, they may be ill. Are any of the other fish showing signs of disease (changes in color, behavior, eating, breathing patterns)? I wouldn't add anymore fish to the tank until this is either figured out or there is at least 2 weeks with no problems. Plus, you'll want to QT any new fish anyway to avoid bringing in new disease or parasites to the main tank anyway.

 

[krap101]

maybe its the temp of water hardness of water etc

 

[krap101]

i came up with a plan
if you got a disease from the pet store give it back to em and make alla their fish sick 8P

 

[ferret]

Beat you by a split second ally

 

[TankGirl]

i came up with a plan
if you got a disease from the pet store give it back to em and make alla their fish sick 8P

Yes, and "alla" their now sick fish are being sold to whom? YOU! That kind of thinking will come back to bite you in the ***.

TN, what are your nitrAte levels? If you used enough Bio-Spira so that you were truly cycled when you added your fish, which is what it sounds like if you have zero ammonia and zero nitrite, things like temp differences, pH differences between your tank and the LFS could have done some of these fish in. I have had bad luck with the crayfish types so I agree with that likely suspect, as well. Usually cycling issues take a bit more time to start causing problems. No obvious clues present themselves here, in the case of the unmolested dead fish.

 

[lyquidphyre]

I like ur Avatar TankGirl =o)

Some of the problems I see with that in general- please correct me if im wrong- is with angel fish I thought you were supposed to keep them in odd numbers (or is that an old wives tale?), and since they can get especially big you don't want too many in a small tank.

I think why the rosys might have died is because of the water parameters. When you add that many fish all at once everything goes haywire (sorry for the phonetic spelling).

Like jlindseyjr said- if the water parameters are okay im sure the crawdad had something to do with it =o)

 

[TankGirl]

Thanks, lyquidphyre!

I don't think there is any need to keep odd numbers of angels, and in a 135-gal tank I think the number of fish was perfectly appropriate, but the general rule is ~20 gal per pair of angels, provided it is a tall enough tank.

If the BioSpira was added in the proper quantity for that size tank (that would have cost a few sheckels!) then the correct amount of bacteria should have been there, and things should have been fine, in theory.

 

[lyquidphyre]

Ah, i tried to look for the tank size and didn't see it. So I assumed it was a smaller tank (29 or less) because not as many people have a tank that large especially poor college students like myself *sniffle*

hehe

Hmm then my vote is on the crawdad *nod*

 

[TankGirl]

I am no college student but I can only dream of a tank that big! When I calculate what I have spent on all of my various tanks over the years, I could have bought an entire giant setup, maybe twice over...

 

[lyquidphyre]

haha thats what I plan on having some day is a large aquarium filled with lots of neat fish. It will be a happy place filled with happy fish =o)

 

[Allivymar]

You're not funny krap. I suggest keeping foolish comments like that to yourself; folks here do not find that sort of "joke" funny at all.

 

[krap101]

Hey you guys knew i was kidding didnt you?About the fish thing...If you didnt i didnt mean any harm by it i just thought u people needed a little joke..

 

[TN Tanks]

Well this poor college student is a bartender, I am making more now then I will when I graduate, oh well.

In speaking of my little bug, he has molted 3 times this month alone, he might be eating all my fish.

I also lost a tiger barb, and cant find the rest of the clown loaches anywhere at all..