No more breeding pair :(

[SpinalFan]

Ive had a breeding pair of Nicaraguense alone in a tank with a pleco for MONTHS. I removed the midnight egg eater once I got room to house new fry. I waited. They laid eggs and lost them in the sand. Once I was certain it was too late for them to be alive, I decided now is the time to switch to gravel and re-scape their tank!

I temp matched a 20g and a 5g pail as the male seemed aggressive with her after I removed the scaping. I put him in the 20 and her in the pail. Not 5 mins later, neither was swimming right. Wife had to keep coaxing him to get him to keep moving and not DIE, and I noticed the temp in the pail was dropping so I got them setup with an air stone, heater, and all in this 20g temp home.

By the time I was done and refilled with treated water (used 1 pail of their old water) I put him in and bam, sunk to the bottom lifelessly. I babied him for an hour as he faded and eventually passed for no reason. I look back, she's doing same thing in the 20. I put her in her home, she's still alive 6 hours later but bresthing VERY heavily just like he was.

Anyone have input as to what could have happened? Clean water shock? Chlorine shock going into the pail and 20? I did it no differently than it would have been if I were buying or selling any other fish... now I have a looonely female and I never rven got fry from them they were a one of a kind pair and I feel like I directly killed them.

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[Breezyod]

Sorry for your lose, always is hard losing a fish can't imagine one from a breeding pair.


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[MattyA]

Did you acclimatize them when adding them to the bucket of fresh treated tap water? Shock would be my first guess.

 

[onefowl1]

Did you acclimatize them when adding them to the bucket of fresh treated tap water? Shock would be my first guess.

+1 This is my guess to.
This shock was probably from multiple things such as the water temp, oxygen levels, ph, hardness/softness, ammonia levels, nitrites/nitrates and possibly other chemicals in the water like chlorine/chloramine.

When I tare down tanks to redo them and need to house the fish in other tanks for a short time I use as much of the water they have been in as possible and put in either an air source or a low powered powerhead depending on how big the holding tank. Then if the ambient temp of the room they are in is below 70 i add a heat source for the water. After I am finished redecorating the tank I if the water is clean add it back to the tank as much as possible and top off with fresh new water. If it is not I use mostly new water and let it run overnight to balance out before acclimatizing the fish back in.

How do I acclimatize fish safely, I use a drip feed method that takes about 30 min from start to finish for less then five gallons of water. I take a length of airline tubing and put a single knot several inches up one end. I then create a siphon from the water they are going into and let the knotted end drip into the bucket or container holding the fish I want to add/move. You can speed or slow the drip by tightening or loosening the knot. With the right speed in about 30 min the water volume holding the fish will double so about 50/50.

Since I started keeping fish that get bigger then 10 inches I invested in a couple bigger igloo ice chests with latching lids to use to transport & hold my bigger fish, 1 35 quart and 1 100 quart. I attached battery powered air pumps to the tops of the lids and drilled a small hole next to them to feed the airline down into the water inside. I also notch a bit of the rim so a power cord can be slipped in between when the lid is latched down. This can be either for a powerhead or a heater cord depending on which i need for the fish. I will admit I came to doing this after I had lost fish due to them either jumping out of buckets or getting their bucket knocked over. Every one of these "accidents" in reality where 100% my fault because they were all preventable if I would have taken the time to move/hold them more securely.

 

[duanes]

If you get water from the surface water plants that get water from Lake Ontario, chlorine or chloramine would have been used as disinfectant, and you would have needed to dechlorinate before adding fish. If you're in the ground water service area, not sure.
Also, even if you temp matched the water, at this time of year, in northern climates water can be supersaturated with oxygen. These gases are under pressure in pipes and are suddenly released when drawn from the tap. If fish are put in without the water being degassed, can get a condition similar to the bends in scuba divers, creating gas bubble embolism, killing the fish.
When I do water changes in winter, I don't add water directly to tanks, but to sumps first or into a airstone stream to aid in degassing.
If you draw a glass of water and it clears from the bottom up? this is degassing of microscopic bubbles , and shows your water is super saturated.
Another cause, could be pH shock, if you hadn't done a water change lately, the pH in the new water could be dramatically more acidic than the new water.

 

[SpinalFan]

The 20g was 50/50 their water and fresh.

The pail was all theirs. Could be why she's still alive. She went into the 20 a good while after he did...

But the last bit sounds highly possible, as even 18 hours later her breathing is deep and rapid...

Thanks for the input guys. Always like to learn.

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