Hello everyone,
I am an aquarium enthusiast for the last 20 years. I have had planted aquariums and typical aquariums. I’ve had fish, turtles, you name it. Normally I take care of all the challenges my aquarium presents, but this time I am stumped.
As for my set-up, I have a 125 gallon with two pieces of correctly prepared drift wood, and bare gravel bottom. I have a Marineland 300gph filter (or something near that). There is a bubble curtain that spans the back of the tank. And of course, a heater. I have high end lighting and a glass top. I HAD 2 golden red spot Severum. I’ll repost again if I have to, but here is my story:
For starters, my water parameters are excellent. I have this tank for over 9 years and kept it in great shape. A month ago I noticed one of my golden red spot Severum began to exhibit laboured breathing. It was lethargic and not eating. After a few days it died. It’s colour was great, there was no fin damage, no other apparent issues. A flew days later the smaller Severum followed suit. My lone pleco remains alive.
I fed the Severum store bought pellets, occasionally some zucchini and rarely frozen blood worms. Admittedly, I have had this pack of blood worms frozen for some time. I resolved to do more frequent water changes in lieu of large ones. The tank seemed exceptionally clear and clean. An odd thing I noticed was that my algae growth slowed significantly during this event. The tank is loaded with trumpet snails and still the pleco, so I feel the cycle is untouched. Each day during summer the tank gets a sliver of sunlight. There is no accelerated algae growth were this happens, so I believe that this has no impact on the tank.
So the pleco remains alive, there are lots of snails, the algae growth has returned and the parameters remain excellent. My only guesses would be Oxygen? Genetic mutation? Poisoned food? OVER cleaning? I could use some input on this. Please help!
I am an aquarium enthusiast for the last 20 years. I have had planted aquariums and typical aquariums. I’ve had fish, turtles, you name it. Normally I take care of all the challenges my aquarium presents, but this time I am stumped.
As for my set-up, I have a 125 gallon with two pieces of correctly prepared drift wood, and bare gravel bottom. I have a Marineland 300gph filter (or something near that). There is a bubble curtain that spans the back of the tank. And of course, a heater. I have high end lighting and a glass top. I HAD 2 golden red spot Severum. I’ll repost again if I have to, but here is my story:
For starters, my water parameters are excellent. I have this tank for over 9 years and kept it in great shape. A month ago I noticed one of my golden red spot Severum began to exhibit laboured breathing. It was lethargic and not eating. After a few days it died. It’s colour was great, there was no fin damage, no other apparent issues. A flew days later the smaller Severum followed suit. My lone pleco remains alive.
I fed the Severum store bought pellets, occasionally some zucchini and rarely frozen blood worms. Admittedly, I have had this pack of blood worms frozen for some time. I resolved to do more frequent water changes in lieu of large ones. The tank seemed exceptionally clear and clean. An odd thing I noticed was that my algae growth slowed significantly during this event. The tank is loaded with trumpet snails and still the pleco, so I feel the cycle is untouched. Each day during summer the tank gets a sliver of sunlight. There is no accelerated algae growth were this happens, so I believe that this has no impact on the tank.
So the pleco remains alive, there are lots of snails, the algae growth has returned and the parameters remain excellent. My only guesses would be Oxygen? Genetic mutation? Poisoned food? OVER cleaning? I could use some input on this. Please help!
