Overcrowded?

[Hobgob]

Do you have two filters? You could have put some of the media into a bucket with tank water so you have some seeded just in case...

 

[Lifeoffroad]

Ahhh, that makes sense! In addition to too many fish at once, maybe I messed up the chemistry with salt water! Hopefully the mega water change and now-decreased population will end the fatalities.

That shouldn't make to much of a difference. However, anytime you add anything to your tank that comes in water you should not add the water. You should pour it into a net over a bucket. Then add the fish or food.

 

[FishieMomma]

Thanks for the advice folks. I don't have a second filter yet, but once the QT is cycled I won't be in this predicament again.

1. I'll be using the QT properly buy isolating new fish
2. I won't add so many next time
3. I'll have extra seeded filters due to the 3 tanks at home: my son's, the QT and my 55 community tank.

 

[FishieMomma]

I've been watching my angel pair get more and more territorial lately, corresponding to them beginning to do courtship rituals and laying eggs. I am seeing how they seem to try and take a jab at the guppies that invade "their" section of the tank. I suspect that though Cotton Mouth killed a several of my fish, the many guppy deaths may be attributed to the angels.

Yep, found one more dead guppy today that was alive this morning. No signs of any disease. And all the dead guppies have been found at the edge of the angel's territory. Fortunately, that territory only takes up about 35-40% of the 55 gal. tank.

So now I have the 2 koi angelfish, 5 male guppies, 2 female Platys and 2 baby Platys, 1 female sword tail and 4 Cory catfish.

BTW, I had thought my Cories lost their. Barbells because I have gravel. However, I recently heard that it is bacterial infection, not gravel, that eats away at their barbells. I suspect that may be true as from the first anti-biotic dose I applied, the Cories, and well, everybody, perked up. The barbells have already started to grow back a little.

I added the last dose of anti-bacterial powder tonight. The direction say to change 25% of the water tomorrow and put in a new carbon filter (I had removed it before the first treatment). I need to watch for ammonia spikes and a mini-cycle. Fortunately, my seeded filters from Angelsplus should arrive tomorrow. I'll add one after a major water change on Saturday.

 

[absolutangel04]

Yeah, spawning angels can be rather nasty. Male guppies are not the fastest swimmers because of their long tails, so sometimes they are easy targets for aggressive fish. Honestly, though, I still think that your guppies were sick and just not all showing symptoms and thats why they died. Usually, if a fish died because of aggression, there should be a lot of damage to the body. But, maybe your angels are just sneaky ninjas.
Your issue isn't from adding too many fish, its from the cotton mouth (columnaris). That stuff can be pretty nasty to shake.
True story about cories and gravel.
In the future, you ever need to take to remove the carbon, just slit the cloth part of the filter cartridge and dump out the carbon bits, that way the bb can still live on the cloth/cotton part.

 

[FishieMomma]

In the future, you ever need to take to remove the carbon, just slit the cloth part of the filter cartridge and dump out the carbon bits, that way the bb can still live on the cloth/cotton part.

Great idea! Didn't even cross my mind! I think I'm making every mistake at least once. Sigh. Hopefully i'm done for awhile because now I'm in charge of three aquariums at my school. But that's a different thread.

 

[absolutangel04]

Great idea! Didn't even cross my mind! I think I'm making every mistake at least once. Sigh. Hopefully i'm done for awhile because now I'm in charge of three aquariums at my school. But that's a different thread.

Hey, we all make mistakes in the beginning, and after the beginning too. Lol.
It was good of you to order a seeded filter cartridge though. So, that will help your situation out since you removed the other filter cartridge. But, dumping the carbon in the future will save you some money.

 

[Hobgob]

Ya angel fish does grow up to be nasty buggers. The cories can loose their barbels from the gravel. If it is sharp enough it will get cut right off. I thought my gravel was pretty good in a recent tank and when I switch to sand the barbels got pretty long

 

[HeatherW]

glad to know everyone is doing better. I just hopped on your thread today. found out i have columnaris in my tank as well. (90 gallon) I think some of the fish I got must have been infected and hopefully they are not passing in to many of the others. I think your angels nipping created sores on your guppies which weakend them and helped to make them vulnerable to the bacteria.

I am using maracyn two - gram negative medicine to treat as I have heard that columnaris is a gram negative bacteria. erythomycin is a gram positive medicine and is not effective in the treatment of columnaris.

what was the medicine you used?
trying to get as smart as possible...

 

[Eelpout]

I'm new at this but I'd bet the cory barbel loss is from fungus and not sharp objects. I just went through a similar scenario:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/ooooh-nooo-194377.html

 

[Hobgob]

There is a good chance it could be from sharp objects to though. If it was a fungus, you would see it on the barbels. I no mine were losing them from the gravel...

 

[BBradbury]

Your 55 G

Hello jen...

Nice tank. Aside form Corydoras, your Guppies, especially the males with the long fins will be a target for most other fish. Corys are essentially peaceful, but the larger species can become aggressive toward small fish, especially fry unless they grow up with them.

I keep large numbers of different species of Corydoras in my "Livebearer" tanks and haven't had any problems because the two species have been raised together from the beginning.

I would recommend keeping fish about the same size in a "community" tank. You may need to do further research into the compatibilty issue too.

Above everything, change half the water in the tank weekly. Water stability is the most important thing for a successful aquarium.

B