Golden Wonder Killi

[KushBush]

Our female golden wonder killi suddenly became very dark and scaly. Not sure if she's sick or not.... She's eating like a champ, ammonia and nitrates are fine. She's currently in a 120 gallon planted tank with loaches. Any thoughts?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Hi there,

Do you know your nitrItes? Are you testing with test strips or a liquid test kit? Could you post the exact numbers of ammonia and nitrates?

 

[KushBush]

I use the API Freshwater Test kit for all my tanks (I have 10). The nitrates & nitrites are 0, the ammonia is 0 and the pH is 7.0. We only use R.O. water and aquarium salt and since it is a planted tank I do 10% water changes twice a week. Water parameters was my first suspicion as to why she was so discolored but if everything seems to be normal.... I'm out of ideas... :-/ hopefully with this info you can help.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Are you positvely sure it is 0 nitrates? When you test, I want you to shake the bejesus out of the nitrate bottle #2 for a good solid minute, if not shaken long enough it will produce false readings when you put it in the water.

 

[KushBush]

Lol that's a common rookie mistake. I just remeasured though. Sorry for the quality pic... iPad sucks.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Hmm. Strange. Is your tank heavily planted??? What plants do you have, if any?

Other than that, all I can say is that your killi is stressed out. Do you have any other fish in there besides the loaches?

 

[KushBush]

We have a sword with leaves about 12 inches long and a small square of christmas moss on the ground that was planted 2 months ago. We'll probably have to wait about 1.5 - 2 yrs to cover the bottom of the tank. 2 Burmese loaches, 2 yoyo loaches, 2 skunk loaches and 2 zebra loaches and that one platy. We had a male killi in with her about 3 months ago but removed him (thinking that he was stressing her out).... But 3 months later she still looks like death. I guess I could try putting her in a different tank.... But a 120 seems like more than enough room for all the fish. Maybe I should get her a female killi friend and see if she gets any better... I'm ready to try anything at this point.