Not such good news for m gran. Yesterday morning I woke up to 2 dead kels and the other 2 had their slime coats coming off. Off of instinct I did 60% water change and while I was making a post on how to save my fish. In my haste to get the water changed the temp was off which put my other 2 pbass in shock as well as my aero. I put them in another tank and they seemed to revive for a bit but all 3 ended up dying. The good news was that my cat seemed fine swimming around and acting normal. I woke up this morning to him floating at the top dead. I am devastated by the losses, especially this cat who was the favorite of the tank. I am now trying to figure out what I should do to clean out the tank. I at first thought it was a ph crash however the ph was high not low. You don’t see much about these guys online or here for that matter so I have no idea how hard he will to be replaced as I fell in love with this species. This has been a horrible last couple days. Now I have to figure out how to sanitize my tank to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
Bacu Catfish
- Thread starter Pbass265
- Start date
My sympathies. Sanitize? Are you saying a bacterial infection or parasite infestation killed them?
What led to these events and are your water parameters good?
What led to these events and are your water parameters good?
I really have no clue what happened and no one else has been able to figure it out either. The paramaters were good with no ammonia, or nitrite, and 30 nitrate. The ph was a bit higher than normal at an 8 vs 7.2 like normal but there is no reason I could find why. I don’t use feeders and haven’t added any new fish. I had several theories but none have proved conclusive.
1 There was some fungus on the drift wood and it was a bit crumbly and floating however everyone let me know that fungus was common and should not be the case. I’m not sure about this and is partially what led to my bleaching.
2 The fish started acting weird and the aro stopped eating after a 50% water change 4 days prior so something wrong with the water. I used prime to condition and have never had a problem like this before.
3 I use pfs and a bubble of some gas from rotting food came up during the change from where I didn’t stir the sand well enough. This is a possibility but others told me it shouldn’t be the case.
I don’t know if there was some kind of parasite or infection in the tank but everything inside was dead most likely including the bb so I figured I would rather play it safe and just bleach. In a worst case I overreacted and wasted a few bucks on bleach. Best case I killed the mystery killer and saved future fish. If anyone has any other theories I would love to hear them, this has been driving me crazy. I hate not knowing what I did wrong and most importantly not knowing how to make sure this doesn’t happen again. On a bright note I spoke with the lfs I bought it from and he is going to put a request in for me but I don’t have that high of hopes. This was the first time he had seen one so he bought 1 to see what it was and hasn’t seen another since.
1 There was some fungus on the drift wood and it was a bit crumbly and floating however everyone let me know that fungus was common and should not be the case. I’m not sure about this and is partially what led to my bleaching.
2 The fish started acting weird and the aro stopped eating after a 50% water change 4 days prior so something wrong with the water. I used prime to condition and have never had a problem like this before.
3 I use pfs and a bubble of some gas from rotting food came up during the change from where I didn’t stir the sand well enough. This is a possibility but others told me it shouldn’t be the case.
I don’t know if there was some kind of parasite or infection in the tank but everything inside was dead most likely including the bb so I figured I would rather play it safe and just bleach. In a worst case I overreacted and wasted a few bucks on bleach. Best case I killed the mystery killer and saved future fish. If anyone has any other theories I would love to hear them, this has been driving me crazy. I hate not knowing what I did wrong and most importantly not knowing how to make sure this doesn’t happen again. On a bright note I spoke with the lfs I bought it from and he is going to put a request in for me but I don’t have that high of hopes. This was the first time he had seen one so he bought 1 to see what it was and hasn’t seen another since.
Yeah, sounds hard to point to the reason. I am much surprised by the quickness and completeness of the wipe-out. IDK anything about the wood fungus or thick sand substrates from experience. The pH jump is bothersome - going from 7.2 to 8.0 is a big jump of almost tenfold as it is a logarithmic scale with 10 as a base. If it happened instantaneously, the fish'd be shocked perhaps leading to their immune system weakening but that usually leads to visible symptoms of bacterial infection or parasitic infestation, both of which usually take a while to develop, more than 4 days. Still, I don't see anything else.
I'm sorry to hear about your losses. Don't give up on finding another though, they are more common than you might think although you might have to order one online. I've seen them around and I'm sure you'll find another.
As for what happened, sometimes you just have to chalk it up to bad luck. I will be the first to admit that I've had tanks crash for no apparent reason before.
As for what happened, sometimes you just have to chalk it up to bad luck. I will be the first to admit that I've had tanks crash for no apparent reason before.
I have pretty much given up on trying to find the cause, I think this may just be a mystery that will never be solved. I bleached the tank and changed the water several times. I Think I need to change the water one more time since I put a few mollies in last night and they all died. It doesn’t smell like chlorine anymore but maybe there is too much chloramax in the water since you really can’t easily empty a whole tank with a sandy bottom. I’m just glad I lost a few mollies vs. a couple kels I plan on buying soon. I got rid of the wood as well just to be sure, even though several people say theirs have fungus, there are different kinds and maybe mine is a bad one. I have Scott at The Fish House/ Bluegrass aquatics looking for me which is who I bought him from. He is really good at finding fish for you, sometimes it takes a bit for him to find it but he will usually pull through.
Add a double dose of prime and wait 24 hrs before adding new fish. The prime will neutralize the bleach.
I did several times the recommended dose of cloramax which is pretty much the same as seachem safe and switched out all the water yesterday 2x. I thought this should be safe for fish to add some tomorrow but it turns out I was wrong. I put 5 mollies in and all 5 were dead this morning. It is a good thing they weren’t the kels I was planning on getting. I am switching out all the water again today and will refill. This is incredibly frustrating and I am starting to loose my patience of fishkeeping with monster fish.
So there were a lot of people following this thread and I apologize to bail on it at the end. I was pretty upset mine died and utterly frustrated that I couldn’t find the cause and never have. On a positive spin the tank has been running for several months with no problems and several fish. I now have a 6-7 inch acara cat with 3 3 in kelberi, 2 3 in rio meta monos, 3 datanoids, a red Oscar, and 7 inch black aro which I am excited to have them all. Most importantly however is my 55 grow out which contains another 3 in granulated as well as a 3 in irwini. Aquascape has granulated cats for sale for $13 which I thought was crazy cheap and picked one up. The granulated eats like a champ and will compete with my 5 in aro for pellets at the top. The irwini is a bit more timid but im sure will come around. There are also 2 2 in orinos growing out as well. Just figured I would share that everything is going and most importantly where everyone else can get one. I looked ever since that day and never found one which I was starting to feel was a lost cause. He eats much better which is also a relief.
I know this was long but I’m really excited, he has been here for a week and really wanted to share this opportunity with others.
I know this was long but I’m really excited, he has been here for a week and really wanted to share this opportunity with others.
I already have a very large granulated cat but thanks to your update I pmed aquascape earlier today to get a few more and some irwini. Those are great prices for those cats!
