This happened about 2 months ago, but just getting on here to see if anyone has had this happen to them before. Here's what happened, had (6) 4-6" Indos with (2) 6" Severums, and (1) 5-6" Normal Pleco in a 225 gallon tank. All normal with fish and weekly WC with 2 Rena XP4s full of ceramics for 6-8 months and I come home to 5 out of the 6 dead! So within 12 hours from feeding them they died. The last Indo and other fish lived and are fine to this day. These were all with me since 1-2" and no new fish were added. The nitrate was high on the strip but no signs before of breathing heavy or anything out of the ordinary. Fish were healthy. The reason I am asking is because I moved my other 4 Dats to the tank and are getting to the same size and don't want to go through this again. Any input is appreciated.
Datnoid death
- Thread starter dgsxdad
- Start date
Strange.. No reason for them to belly-up like that. Your water change schedule is pretty good. Maybe there was something in the food? Do you remember what you last fed them? Maybe some chemical got sprayed into the room and poisoned the fish tank's water? Do the dats fight often or anything like that? How high were the nitrates? By the way, test strips are inaccurate. You should invest in drop kits instead. I recommend API Freshwater's master test kit. So sorry to hear about the losses dude.. That really sucks..
Thanks for the advice about the strips Neon! I do have the drops, but they are like 6 years old and I was told they would be inaccurate. Is this true? They were eating hikari green pellets. I got 2 lbs and I have 2 tanks and all my fish were eating them. As far as the nitrate it was 140-160. I realize this is high, but do you think this could kill them? Also the temp was at a steady 80. And yes it was believe it or not, it was a moment that made me stop. These were my pride and joy for my fishes. Terrible site for what I thought were healthy fish, and all that died were stable 3 and 4 bars. The one that survived was my dark one and the smallest, he is now my favorite.
You mentioned that you do weekly water changes, but you never mentioned how much(%). Nitrate is way high and I believe your dats ultimately succumbed, either directly or indirectly, to the accumulative effects of this toxin.
I do wc 25-30% religiously. I feel my tanks are clean but like you said maybe not. They sure do look clean. I'll admit I don't check water parameters often but tank has been running well over a year and no problems. And why would 5 out of 6 die and the severums and pleco also have a 3" spotted SD in there that lived.
Sorry about that buddy. I've had an eerily similar experience about 2 months ago as well... But my dats were around 3-4" and in a much smaller tank. I had 4 dats that were in a 30 gallon growout since they were just an 1" and all of them ate tiny pieces shrimp, tilapia, krill and pellets. Their tankmates were 1 zebra loach (2"), 2 bristlenose plecos (2") and a rainbow goby (3"). One evening I fed them cut shrimp (I used to alternate between shrimp, krill, tilapia and pellets) all of them ate well and the next day 3 out of the four of them were dead. I have no idea what went wrong :/.
Unless you're utilizing plants for filtration, 25%-30% once a week is not going to do much to the nitrate level. Its just going to keep elevating. I do 50% w/c every 3-4 days and my nitrate are still at about 60ppm.....on my tanks without plants.
In regards to why certain fish succumbs to disease or toxin I suppose it comes down to sensitivity amongst species and even individual fish.
Thanks for your replies everyone. This is why I come here. Time to add plants, more % on wc check nitrate more often and maybe even thin the stock. Hard lesson learned.
And sorry for your loss as well sunny! Dats are too cool and at least for me, I hated to lose even one
I like your new plan. A good idea to fix the high nitrate problem!
Well, my drop test kits still work for me; been like 4 years or something so far and they still work like champions.. but can't say for 6 years.. It's a good time for you to get a new set. They'll be much more accurate. And yeah, like the others have said, nitrates are off the roof and I'll have to agree and say the same.. the high nitrates got to them. This sort thing has happened to me last year actually. Lost a nice flagtail prochilodus, a large luna red hook silver dollar, barbs, etc. Inexperience.. Learned my lesson and introduced some houseplants to the tank. Helped tremendously controlling nitrates. I suggest you try out plants like pothos or peace lilies. They're great.
Well, my drop test kits still work for me; been like 4 years or something so far and they still work like champions.. but can't say for 6 years.. It's a good time for you to get a new set. They'll be much more accurate. And yeah, like the others have said, nitrates are off the roof and I'll have to agree and say the same.. the high nitrates got to them. This sort thing has happened to me last year actually. Lost a nice flagtail prochilodus, a large luna red hook silver dollar, barbs, etc. Inexperience.. Learned my lesson and introduced some houseplants to the tank. Helped tremendously controlling nitrates. I suggest you try out plants like pothos or peace lilies. They're great.