RIP Panaque

[Oddball]

I lost my royal today. On Christmas, I found both panaques laying on their sides and barely breathing. I moved the 2 to other tanks, boosted aeration, and added O2 by using a protein skimmer as a mixing chamber. Both appeared to recover, become mobile, and started feeding again. Today, the giant Panaque is still doing well but, the royal faded away. Another tragic (and expensive) reminder on how quickly the status quo can go from good to disastrous.

Next stop...the taxidermy shop.

[Mourinho18]

he sure was beauty.

[messiner]

i can only hope mine gets as big and and awesome as yours! sorry for the loss

[DeLgAdO]

how did it die? :confused:

[redtailfool]

Sorry to hear Phil. It was a beauty...

[rallysman]

That really sucks to hear....Im suprised. You just showed it off a couple days ago:( Sorry about your loss.

[Oddball]

how did it die? :confused:

Near as I can tell, the 300gal started to ferment. I'd been feeding that tank with chunks of pumpkin, whole potatoes, and an assortment of sinking pellets. When I found the royal and giant panaques on their sides the tank had a sweet smell to it. After I moved the fish and added aeration, I pulled several water samples.
I started 4 tubes spinning down for checking under the scope. I tested the water and ammonia and nitrites had risen but, were still under 2ppm. The pH took a dive from the mid-7s to 7.0 and 6.8 (2 hours later). Looking under the scope yielded so much bacteria that I couldn't differentiate this bacteria from the normal flora and fauna usually found in tank water. I fired up the DO meter and was shocked to find only 3% dissolved O2 where there was 27-29% the previous week.
Taking into account the mass of starches placed in the tank, the drop in pH, the abnormal bacteria, the drop in O2, and the sweet smell, the best explanation I can come up with is that the tank was fermenting and turning to vinegar.

[redtailfool]

Ugh .. what couldve been done to avoid this disaster ? powerheads, less feeding and more water changes ?

[quix]

oh mine..oddball..i had tot when u posted that the worst was over.. :(

for myself..i never like to feed too much of stuff like potatos at one go..sparingly is the word and to make sure they finish it within the couple of hrs or so...this is really to prevent leftovers from fouling up the water..and i also typically feed them these stuff the day b4 water change..and aeration..always add powerhead/airpumps for pleco tank for aeration

again oddball..hope the giant LDA65 will turn out fine..

[Oddball]

Probably less feeding is the key. I'm still adjusting to how much pumpkin to feed. The potatoes is a no-brainer. The giant panaque inhales them like they were little algae wafers. Water changes were/are done every 3 days at 100+ gallons each. Filtration is a 1600gph 1200gallon-rated bio-bead filter and 4 100gallon bio-sponge filters.
I'm still questioning the relationship of heavy starches vs pellet food. I set up 3 20s, with filtration, and I want to see if I can duplicate this event, find the catalyst that started the fermentation, and figure out a feeding regimen to prevent this in the future.

[Thomascl]

He was very nice mate sorry about the loss.

Thomas

[DeLgAdO]

Probably less feeding is the key. I'm still adjusting to how much pumpkin to feed. The potatoes is a no-brainer. The giant panaque inhales them like they were little algae wafers. Water changes were/are done every 3 days at 100+ gallons each. Filtration is a 1600gph 1200gallon-rated bio-bead filter and 4 100gallon bio-sponge filters.
I'm still questioning the relationship of heavy starches vs pellet food. I set up 3 20s, with filtration, and I want to see if I can duplicate this event, find the catalyst that started the fermentation, and figure out a feeding regimen to prevent this in the future.

jesus oddy, your a man of science arent you? :grinyes:

[JD_MAN]

That sucks to lose such a beautiful fish.

How much pumpkin and potato were you feeding them at a time? I just picked one up and have been giving him chunks of potato amongst other things.

That is awesome that you are going to be testing on how this happened, I will be looking forward to the results.

[Oddball]

That sucks to lose such a beautiful fish.

How much pumpkin and potato were you feeding them at a time? I just picked one up and have been giving him chunks of potato amongst other things.



The chunks were fairly large. But, that's due to the fact that the cats are so large. The royal was the smallest and he was just under 19". The largest panaque is 35".

[fishnutham]

sorry for your loss oddball just lost another cat myself (whiptail) and the gold nugget the day before i'm wondering if the cold water has some effect on o2 content seems to be a few pleco losses this week sorry agian he was a beauty

[fishnutham]

sorry to hijack your thread but i just added a protein skimmer to my cat tank after seeing you put one on to help airate yours its planted and i just used my diatom filter a day ago so i know its clean but i'm getting a lot of foam what gives i'm starting to judge my knowledge here maybe its the extran carbon sorce i add for the plants(ferreal&flourish?)
i' m freaking this shouldnt be happening

[Im4u2nV]

sorry about the loss...the panaque is awesome looking...i wish i can get it in where i lived...

[redtailfool]

jesus oddy, your a man of science arent you? :grinyes:


You gotta be a scientist and a man of arts to succesfully keep fish. ;)

[DeLgAdO]

You gotta be a scientist and a man of arts to succesfully keep fish. ;)


:headbang2

[loach43]

Sorry about the loss. I'd be upset if mine died.

[Miles]

Man that really sucks.. I loved that Royal, the biggest I have ever seen! I told alot of people about that bad boy..

Do you think the introduction of the new big pleco could of stressed him a bit? It looks as if the oxygen levels are the obvious one though.. Man that sucks :(

[Oddball]

I had the royal in a corral of egg-crate. He had around 90-100 gals of the 300 while the giant had the other 200 gals of the Q tank. If I was as smart as I sometimes think I am, I would have put the royal back in his own tank once I saw he also liked the pumpkin chunks.

I found a local taxidermist who's willing to mount the royal for only the cost of materials if I allow him to use pics of the finished mount in his advertising.

[billet-o-fish]

sorry about the fish, was very nice

[Steve_89]

Damn that was a stunning fish :(