Of course this happens when I'm traveling for work. I got a call from my gf who was watching my tanks (and is well trained on feeding and noticing problems) saying that the water was cloudy and one of the rays was in rough shape. So I hopped in the car right away and headed home to check it out. What a disaster I walked into. The tank was indeed cloudy and my female motoro was beat up, bad. One eye was completely white and I saw blood in the other and her fins were chewed up bad (mainly in the rear, but some bites on the sides). All of the other rays were fine though and she reported that all the rays had eaten earlier in the day. I tested the water and here's what I got:
Ammonia - 10
Nitrate - >100
pH - 4.5
I did a 50% water change and added salt at about 1lb/100gallons. I took apart everything and rinsed my FX5 in a bucket of tank water, but it wasn't all that dirty. I rinsed off the filter pads in my sump as well. I left a lot of powerheads off to try and reduce flow to not stress out the injured ray. Unfortunately this morning she was dead.
Here's my tank info:
265 gallons (7'x2'x2.5')
40 gallon sump w/ 10 gallons of bioballs, 32watt UV sterilizer, FX5
50% water changes 3-4 times per week
Tankmates:
achara cat - 14"
TSNxRTC - 14"
Mystis cat - 7"
TSN - 7"
Temensis PB - 6"
1x Henlei (male) - 6"
4x marble motoro (2m, 2f) - 8-12"
1x superspot motoro (female) - 10-12"
Feedings usually consist of a handful of massivore, silversides, or cut up raw shrimp usually 1-2 times per day (depending on whether Im home or not) I try to starve one day per week. In the past my water params are usually pretty good. Ammonia was between 0 and 0.25 when I added my last two rays so I started with daily water changes for a week and everything settled down. Nitrates are at 50 when I do water changes and the pH is stable at 7.
My question is, what could've caused the water to deteriorate so quickly? My last water change leading up to this was 4 days prior. I have let the system go for 7 days without a water change on my busier work weeks with no problem. My the looks of the motoro female it almost looked she had mated with the male (torn up rear disc). Could something like cause the water parameters I found last night? If not, I'm open to suggestions. The last fish I added were two new marbles over a month ago now and I haven't changed anything about how I feed, water changes, etc. in many months. I'm at a loss here trying to figure out what happened. I know pictures would help, but they'd have to be post mortem and I wouldn't have them up until maybe Thursday when I finally get a day off. Any help would be appreciated.
Ammonia - 10
Nitrate - >100
pH - 4.5
I did a 50% water change and added salt at about 1lb/100gallons. I took apart everything and rinsed my FX5 in a bucket of tank water, but it wasn't all that dirty. I rinsed off the filter pads in my sump as well. I left a lot of powerheads off to try and reduce flow to not stress out the injured ray. Unfortunately this morning she was dead.
Here's my tank info:
265 gallons (7'x2'x2.5')
40 gallon sump w/ 10 gallons of bioballs, 32watt UV sterilizer, FX5
50% water changes 3-4 times per week
Tankmates:
achara cat - 14"
TSNxRTC - 14"
Mystis cat - 7"
TSN - 7"
Temensis PB - 6"
1x Henlei (male) - 6"
4x marble motoro (2m, 2f) - 8-12"
1x superspot motoro (female) - 10-12"
Feedings usually consist of a handful of massivore, silversides, or cut up raw shrimp usually 1-2 times per day (depending on whether Im home or not) I try to starve one day per week. In the past my water params are usually pretty good. Ammonia was between 0 and 0.25 when I added my last two rays so I started with daily water changes for a week and everything settled down. Nitrates are at 50 when I do water changes and the pH is stable at 7.
My question is, what could've caused the water to deteriorate so quickly? My last water change leading up to this was 4 days prior. I have let the system go for 7 days without a water change on my busier work weeks with no problem. My the looks of the motoro female it almost looked she had mated with the male (torn up rear disc). Could something like cause the water parameters I found last night? If not, I'm open to suggestions. The last fish I added were two new marbles over a month ago now and I haven't changed anything about how I feed, water changes, etc. in many months. I'm at a loss here trying to figure out what happened. I know pictures would help, but they'd have to be post mortem and I wouldn't have them up until maybe Thursday when I finally get a day off. Any help would be appreciated.
