What could be killing my bichirs?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Sorry about your loss...I'm A new guy here and although I only own one bichir i can say with much certainty that those fish look like they have columnaris. I lost numerous SA/CA cihlids in one afternoon due to it. it's extremely prevalent in temps over 78 and can kill otherwise healthy looking fish in a couple of hours. despite the fact that bichirs like warm water i would try for 75 degrees farenheit and hit the tank with a dose of Prazipro. (Prazipro is actually for internal and external parasites but for whatever reason does effectively treat columnaris). Best of luck with it.
 
dudey;3732972; said:
when you say you made a complete wash of the filter what exactly did you do?

You could have cleaned it too much and killed all the beneficial bacteria causing it to re-cycle and raising ammonia levels.


It could be it, but I only bring our the media for rinsing, the clean the motor and flushed the pipes.

As of today, the bichirs seem to be back to normal and start eating when i feed just now. I would still be monitoring the situation further to see. :) what a relieve.:)
 
I had the same symptoms in 2008 and early 2009 which killed 6 of my prized bichirs. The bichirs were shedding their slime coat then developed fin rottings. I don't know exactly what this is but it spreads and kill fast. I did not raise temp but did add half a dose of salt as instructed. Stopped feeding for 2 days and added a UV. I never had this same problem ever since I added a UV.
 
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