Please Help...Old tank, new problem!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
itstrickytorock

itstrickytorock

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 25, 2006
118
0
0
38
pennsylvania
Hello,

Been awhile since I posted..I didn't post much anyways. I need some help! :nilly: I just did a water change on my 30 gallon tank, it housed:

2 angelfish, 1 large gold, 1 small koi
1 keyhole cichlid
1 Raphael Cat
1 Sun catfish
1 Featherfin Synodontis

The catfish are all rescues and I planned on giving them to my friend with a 90gal when they got large. The Sun catfish will have to go to an LFS soon, he's battling with my Syno.

The issue:

I try my best to do weekly water changes, I know the recommendation is 30%, but I've always done more like 50-75%, especially with three messy catfish. I've had fish for 2 years now, this specific tank for a year, and always have done these large changes. I never had an issue until today. I'd say 2 hours after the w/c my large gold angel started spasming around the tank, and died within 5 minutes. Everybody else was perfectly fine. Then just now my Raphael had the same symptoms and is dead, everybody else, happy. What the heck is going on?? I thought Raph cats were super tough?

I thought maybe a contaminant, but how would all the other fish be ok? My second thought, maybe a huge temp diff? I check the therm before and after, only changed 2 degrees. Final theory, I have three medium sized pieces of driftwood in the tank, and I was behind this month with changes..sadly it's probably been 3 weeks. Could the driftwood have lowered my pH dramatically enough that the large addition of tap water elevated the pH enough to kill the fish? Why one angel and not both? Why the raphael cat and not the synodontis? Any thing I may be missing??

Thanks...anyone who takes the time to help a confused and bummed out aquarist.
 
Have you tested your water parameters?
 
Are you using any dechlorinates like Prime or Aqua Nova?
 
It appears my Synodontis is now going down hill. He's out in the open, very unlike him and rapid breathing. I have to leave for work in 10 minutes. Should I try to move him to another tank until I discover what's going on in this one? Keyhole, Angel, and Sun cat are fine.
 
As far as I can tell from my liquid tests amm is 0 and ph is 7.6, in tank and from tap. I don't have time to check for trates or trites til I am home from work.
 
itstrickytorock;2076863; said:
Final theory, I have three medium sized pieces of driftwood in the tank, and I was behind this month with changes..sadly it's probably been 3 weeks. Could the driftwood have lowered my pH dramatically enough that the large addition of tap water elevated the pH enough to kill the fish? Why one angel and not both? Why the raphael cat and not the synodontis? Any thing I may be missing??

Thanks...anyone who takes the time to help a confused and bummed out aquarist.
Click to expand...

the final theory would be mine. as well as a contaminant.

Its possible that the fish that survived just did out of sheer luck. ?

PH is a more likely cause. By not cleaning for 3 weeks, the PH could have lowered significantly with that much bioload.
So when you did a huge water change the PH spiked up and those two just couldnt handle it.

thats my guess
 
I would be worried about some type of contaminant leaching in the well water or even heavy metals, and the usual nitrates and your ammonia is zero so that's good. Have you introduced any new fish latley, gill flukes?

Not to hijack or anything but how has your experience with the keyhole been? I've special ordered some as I really like what I've read about personality,size.
 
Thanks guys for your help. I got back from work, the raphael didn't make it. I left the sun catfish in the 30gallon cause I had no choice - he survived, and seems perfectly happy. I moved the keyhole, koi angel, and synodontis because they were fairly "safe" for the community in my 20.

The newest fish was the Raphael catfish, about 4 months ago? He seemed good and dandy until today. Poor guy. RIP.

So how do I prevent this? I guess keep up with water changes or do smaller ones if I don't have time? Should I take out the driftwood? I really love it, but I don't want to chance this again.

Arachnar: I love my Keyhole cichlid, really s/he is my favorite fish. The growth is pretty quick for the first year, he has slowed down since then and I think has hit about his full size. I wouldn't suggest them as the best community fish, but everybody thinks my keyhole is an oddball. He's killed over five fish (2 bolivian rams, a female betta, 2 corydoras), before I could get his tank set up. I think he felt crowded, and he's definitely top fish. They are really interesting because they have more natural behavior, but will still recognize the owner, unlike angels where they just beg all day. Mine was extremely skittish at first but has calmed for the most part. They change pattern a lot! He has a cave he sleeps in, but otherwise he's out scooting around looking for food.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom