dead fish

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Robert Fling

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Sep 3, 2015
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I bought 4 haps about a month ago, all juveniles and the Placidochromis Jalo Reef that I bought from live fish direct stopped eating about 3 or 4 days ago and last night it seemed he was having a hard time breathing well I assumed he wouldn't make it which he didn't as of this morning but all the other fish are fine and he had absolutely no nipped fins and nobody was picking on him. I have no idea what happened do you think he just had some sort of internal shutdown or something?
 
Providing water test parameters such as ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and what your normal water change and filter cleaning routine are, how long the tank has been set up, how many gallons, would be needed in any significant diagnosis of the problem.
Did you quarantine before adding to the tank, were there other fish in a the time you added them?
 
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I change 50-75 % of the water every tuesday I also clean my HOB filters every water change but I clean my canister filter every 3-4 weeks. the tank has been up for over a year and its a 55 gallon I didn't quarantine them and there were other fish in the tank before added. I don't know my water parameters due to not having a test kit but I have had my water tested at my LFS and everything looked good.
 
Quarantining fish is not simply about keeping diseases out carried by the new fish. It's also about getting new fish used to what you are putting them into.
Your older fish may have built up a tolerance for whatever bacteria the water they have been living in, or the parameters they are used to.
A not so common Placidochromis prefers hard alkaline water, and although the others in the tank may also be rift lake species, they may be more aquarium strain than the Placidochromis, and although your LFS says your water parameters are generally fine they may be more acidic, or have a drastic osmotic difference than the waters the Placid was raised in, or used to, that along with the stress of shipment, and new habitat, been may be more than it could handle.
There may be semi non-pathogenic bacteria established in your tank that your present stock has grown immune to, yet can infect a new comer that has no tolerance for.
You can often drop a managuense or lemon yellow into any tank and it has no problem, but take one of the sensitive Theraps or Enantiopus, do the same, and find them dead or diseased the next day.
There are many variables to fish health, and the more you get into less common species, the more care must be taken when introducing them to a tank.
I would always quarantine a new fish for at least 2 months, gradually adding water from the tank it would go into, to prep it for what was in store. I know a little anal, but the more you get away from bread and butter species, the more expensive they get, so extra care is called for.
 
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I did acclimate them but only for about an hour. He was fine for 3 weeks and was the most active of the 4 always eating well and looking good until a few days ago. I'm going to set up a 10 gallon for a quarantine tank for the next fish I order. I'm also going to invest in a test kit which I should have done awhile ago. What is non-pathogenic bacteria?
 
The non-pathogenic bacteria are normal, ubiquitous species that usually don't cause problems, and are always in your tank. Many Pseudomonas and Aeromonas can be considered examples of these.
But if a fish (or any organism for that matter) comes under stress, they can become a disease causing agent, ie pathogenic.
 
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