AHHHH...losing Demasoni left and right!!!

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Neogenesis

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 19, 2008
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Findlay, Ohio
Grrrrrr...

As the title of the thread states, I'm starting to lose Demasoni left and right. I've found 3 dead in the last 4 days, and the worst part is I'm not sure why.

Lets rewind to about a month ago. I was outgrowing my 75 gallon at a rapid pace as my Demasoni population was growing at a alarming rate. In general my demasoni were not very aggressive compared to some stories I've read. I picked up a used 125 gallon and the move went well, I don't think I lost a single fish. I went with pretty much the same setup but have since added a used wet/dry unit because I got a pretty decent deal on it. Nothing else has changed.

Fast forward up to today, everything appears normal in the tank, Demasoni are still reproducing, even the new fish to the tank look good. But there have been too many deaths too close together to be coincidence.

No apparent damage to the dish, no fin rot, gills look good. Fish are eating like champs. I've lost females and now my dominate male tonight. Aggression the same it's always been, if not less due to the larger tank. It's too late to test the water tonight, I'm bushed after a long day today. It's the first thing on the list for tomorrow.

Sry guys....I had to vent.

Scott
 
Guess I should post my stock list.

30ish Demasoni down to about 7 adults
3 Labidochromis Caeruleus
2 Copadichromis Borleyi Kadango
1 Eureka Red Peacock
1 Nagara Flametail Peacock
1 Iodotropheus Sprengerae
1 Metriaclima Greshakei
1 OB Peacock
1 Clown Pleco
1 Bristle Nose Pleco
3 Clown Loach
 
Temp 74

PH - 8.0

Nitrite - 0

Nitrate - 0

Ammonia - 0


No new deaths this morning........Think I'm going to do a 30% water change today.

Scott
 
I started with 24 juvie demasoni in a 55g and they settled into a group of about 15 after some deaths. Now with a 150g, I started with 40 juvie demasoni and now have 25? It seems as if no matter what, there are deaths - that's why I started with so many.

Crazy fish.
 
0 nitrates in a cycled tank? thats odd.
If its not cycling killing them my next vote is they were establishing a new order in the new tank.Demasoni didnt get thier bad rep from nowhere,they can kill each other pretty effectively.Get all the males out of the tank.Pick as many females as you can from the juvies,hopefully 12-15.keep 3 males and trade the rest to the lfs.Give the females a few weeks to settle in then put in the boys.
 
Neogenesis;3657285; said:
Temp 74

PH - 8.0

Nitrite - 0

Nitrate - 0

Ammonia - 0


No new deaths this morning........Think I'm going to do a 30% water change today.

Scott

Those numbers can't be correct in a cycled tank. Perhaps you should try another test kit or just test again.

If they are correct, why would you change water?
 
There is no way the tank is cycling, as I transferred all the existing sand, rock, and filters from the old tank when it was moved, not to mention that was around a month ago. As for my filtration, I've got a wet/dry sized for a 125G tank. I also running a planted refugium trying to suck out all the nitrates possible, on top of that is a canister filter that I use for polishing the water. I've heard of test strips going bad, but can the chemical test kits go bad? I haven't used it in quite some time, but I also had the LFS test it and it tested good, I didn't look at the results...that's just what they told me.

I would also think if I was having deaths from cycling, I would be losing some of the babies and juvies, not just adult demasoni. So....it must be a power struggle going on in the tank. It's just annoying as I'm down to around 5 adults now. The good news is that I have a bunch of babies and juvies coming up. I'll have to cull all the males but one to try and avoid this in the future.

It just kills me to watch them perish one by one as there is nothing I can do about it while they work it out.

Scott
 
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