What is happening?

[jratuszn]

Damn.

I just lost the second yellow lab in 2 weeks. No external signs of disease, not bloated, I feed vegetable flakes and cichlid pellets. Both of the fish were fairly mature. I noticed this one kindof laying on the substrate, lethargic and seeming to have trouble staying upright. 2 minutes after I put it in the QT it was gone. Same with the first one. I looked really closely at the fish once it was dead, and didn't see anything remarkable aside from a very small red slit under both eyes. It may have even been a separation between two scales, it was so small. I'm sorry, but I don't habe any parameters at the moment- I have to get more test kits. However, I do water changes twice weekly, and have a ton of philodendrons growing emmersed, so I really don't think nitrogenous wastes are the culprit.

These are the only possibilities I can think of:

-Too much salt: I add just under 1.5 Tsp / 7 gallons (after water changes)- aquarium salt, not table salt

-High nitrates, bad test kits - really don't think this is it. I don't think 12 2" fish could overload a 70g tank with all of the plants, water changes, etc.

-Bloat? - sure didn't look puffy at all

Does anyone have any idea what is killing my fish? At first I thought it was an isolated incident, but I really don't want this to keep happening.

Thanks,

-J

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

What may be killing your fish is bad water quality, overstocking, Aggression with other fish in the tank. i suggest for you to check to water parameters ASAP. As for High Nitrates, I don't think that should be a problem, unless it's at unacceptable levels. Also, need to make sure that you properly test your salt level since I heaerd that they require a high PH, but never heard of high salinity. high salinity, can be really what is killin them.

 

[jratuszn]

As far as aggression goes, I looked over the casualties well, and saw no signs of fin or body damage. My pH is fine - ~7.8. I think nitrates may have been the culprit, as I took a look at my filter and it was a bit dirty- I guess my bioload was higher than I expected. Too much plec poo. How would I measure salinity at such low levels? I think I'd need a pretty low limit of detection. I'll try cutting back on the salt until I can take a water sample to the fish store. Crap.

Thanks for the suggestions,

-J

 

[Allivymar]

What are the nitrogenous waste parameters (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate) - drag a sample to the lfs and ask them to test while you pick up some new ones. Its hard to just guess by looking at the filter; mine may look dirty but my nitrate level in my planted tank is only 15 ppm.

How old are they; how long have they been in the tank?

Not sure about the salinity levels being a culprit. You can get a hydrometer which reads low levels; SeaTest makes one (I have it - cost me $11) that starts at 1.000. I used it to measure salt levels while treating for ich; was able to measure 2 ppt (1.002 SG), but I've never heard of yellow labs being sensitive to salt. Maybe one of our African gurus can pop in with a comment.