Orangehead tapajos dying after water change

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
yikes, some high levels in that report. looks like fish might be like canaries of the coal mines :-(
 
RD. said:
That's what the manufacturers would like everyone to believe, when in fact all the higher dosage rate ensures is that the chlorine/ammonia bond is broken. In some cases that's all that might be neccessary, especially if one is performing smaller water changes, or they have a heavily planted tank that will utilize the ammonia quickly. Every set up is different, be it pH, temp, planted, non planted, even the matutity of the tank and its bio-filtration. It's all relevent when the toxicty of free ammonia is being discussed.

Products such as Seachem Prime, Seachem Safe, ClorAm-X, etc will not just split the chlorine/ammonia bond, and reduce chlorine to fish safe chloride, it also detoxifies the free ammonia until ones bio bacteria consumes it.
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Sweet. I learned something new today. I wonder what is this special additive that detoxifies the free ammonia. It sounds like a sales pitch but must not be.


I would like to see the op use prime next water change and see what happens.

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Thanks for posting that Duane. While certainly far from being from what I would call pristine drinking water, I'm still not convinced that the sudden die offs that have taken place are caused from mineral/heavy metal content. Keep in mind that these deaths appear to be happening shortly after each water change. If it was due to minerals or heavy metals, one would expect that the die offs would be either fairly immediate to the exposure, or as the toxins build up to lethal amounts over a set period of time. If the fish are fine all week, why die shortly after a water change? Not to mention the fact that many of the fish that we keep in captivity are exposed to some pretty nasty conditions in their wild habitat. As an example, I believe I posted this link in the past.

http://www.ipsnews.net/2009/03/nicaragua-cleaning-up-lsquoworldrsquos-biggest-toiletrsquo/

Yet despise that amount of pollution the majority of native fishes in that volcanic crater lake still seem to survive, breed, show good color, etc. The pollution has become so bad in Lake Managua that aquatic researchers will no longer even dive in it.

Of course that doesn't mean that something in the OP's tap water isn't killing his fish, perhaps if he resolves the issue by using additional conditioner we will have our answer.
 
Thank you very much for inputs everybody.
1.As I mentioned earlier, the last tapajo in that tank (almost dead) was all right as soon as I put him in the bucket with my pond water.
2.On the same day I transferred him to my 220g (where 3 tapajos and 12 small pBass are living) and he is doing great there.
3. Yesterday I bought the last two tapajos left at LFS and put them in to the tank where the dead tapajos were (it already has the 4 small pBass and 1 small green terror). Note that at this point it is about 2 days after the water change. I did't change anything since the 3 tapajos died in that tank (except adding more water circulation). The two new tapajos are doing fine. No problem. So whatever killed the tapajos earlier is not there anymore. It will happen only when I do a water change.
The PH in that tank is about 8.0 (due to sea sand). The tap water ph is about 7.0. But the PH in my other tanks and pond are also 7.0. It has to be chlorine isn't it?

I can't do trials by killing more tapajos. Already killed 6 of them at different times. I guess my only options are to play it real safe during water changes, when tapajos are present.
1. Do smaller/ more frequent water changes.
2. Let the water sit out a day before putting in to the tank.
 
and/or 3. Increase the level of anti-chlorine that you've been using, as it seems you can't be sure as to what the actual levels of chlorine are in your water supply.
 
RD. said:
and/or 3. Increase the level of anti-chlorine that you've been using, as it seems you can't be sure as to what the actual levels of chlorine are in your water supply.
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Yes, certainly. Extra levels of sodium thiosulfate does not harm fish, correct?
 
No, that won't be a problem. In fact, depending on your chlorine level you may not even be actually adding "extra", but simply adding what you possibly should have been adding all along. The only dosage rate that I could find for anti-chlorine is: "Directions for use: Use 5ml for every 25 litres of fresh tap water." ........ which is based on an imaginary level of chlorine I guess? Some people may need half that amount to render their water chlorine free, others may need to use twice that dosage rate - this will vary based on how much chlorine your town/city is using. Seeing as you don't know, I would personally err on the side of caution and use a larger dosage of your anti-chlorine in the future.
Make sure to post back & let us all know if that resolved the issue. Good luck.
 
While I agree that there seems to be something amiss with your water, it's worth asking what do the other fish in the tank act like after the waterchange? Geos are fragile and it doesn't take much bullying to make them kick the bucket. All of my fish get quite rambunctious after I do a waterchange and maybe they are just succumbing to aggression. Pay close attention the next time you do one and see what you think. A lot of the time there is no aggression in a tank at all except after waterchanges, decorations being moved, anything that may make a fish think it needs to assert dominance or protect an area. Good luck.


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