Here's my situation. I have a 150 that has been set up for about 5-6 years with no problems. I had a 12" Butti, 5 clown loaches and 1 mbuna. A few weeks ago I bought a pleco. I was lazy and neglected my tank for a couple of weeks after buying the pleco, forgetting how much waste they produce. I was out of town for about 5 days and the day I was coming home my roomate called me and said that my loaches were all dead and the butti didn't look good. His eyes were cloudy and he was covered in white stuff. He called his friend who works at a fish store who told him to do a big water change and treat the tank with melafix. By the time I got home he was halfway through the water change. I was amazed by the amount of crap that was in the gravel, mostly pleco poop. So the water quality was probably pretty bad. A few hours later the butti was swimming around a little and the white stuff was falling off of him. Was this his slime coat? I also noticed that the white part of the rear of the fish was red as if infected. He was also breathing faster, my roomate said he was breathing very slowly and not moving before. His eyes were still VERY cloudy. The next morning he was swimming upside down and seemed disoriented. After a couple of hours he was dead. The butti was probably 8-10 years old. The mbuna was completely unaffected and the loaches were dead before my roomate noticed anything (who knows how long that was, he might not have looked at the tank for a couple of days.) Does anyone have any idea what this was? Should I treat the tank with anything before I add new fish? Thanks in advance for any input.
What killed my fish? What should I do before adding new fish to tank?
- Thread starter tothna
- Start date
Did you put the pleco right into the tank when you got him or did you isolate and treat for a week? Sounds like you put it right in and your fish got sick from bacteria that pleco was carrying.
And yes,i just threw the pleco right in the tank. The pleco also showed no signs of illness, should I have treated him anyway before I put him in the tank? Do you always treat new fish just in case?
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It is a good practice to quarentine new fish in a separate tank for a week or so before adding into the main tank. Fish carry different bacterias your fish may have been affected by whatever the pleco had.
he didn't say it was a sure thing about the pleco and bacteria.. it "MAY have" had something.
With all the crap you described, the pleco probably overloaded your system, and killed the most sensitive fish with ammonia, etc.
Also, both the 2 different things could've happened at the same time.
:-/
You'll have to get your tank & filtration all balanced again before any new fish. a little at a time, not gigantic changes.
Personally, I'm not a big pleco fan bcuz of their huge bio-load. I use my fishes' space for the ones I like best. some ppl love plecos... they probably have more tank space than me, too..?
With all the crap you described, the pleco probably overloaded your system, and killed the most sensitive fish with ammonia, etc.
Also, both the 2 different things could've happened at the same time.
:-/
You'll have to get your tank & filtration all balanced again before any new fish. a little at a time, not gigantic changes.
Personally, I'm not a big pleco fan bcuz of their huge bio-load. I use my fishes' space for the ones I like best. some ppl love plecos... they probably have more tank space than me, too..?
yeah my pleco tank is my worst tank to clean. Its gets wc and vacs as often as i can. I also keep my pleco tanks bare bottom so i can siphon the buckets of #2's they produce!
I agree the pleco may of overloaded the system. Plus when the loaches died they added to the ammonia spike. Basically triggering a die off. Yeah mubna are a pretty hardy bunch so they may of ridden it out but they should still show some traces of ammonia poison. Check the color of the gills. I also hear loaches are sensitive but i have yet to lose one.
But that doesnt mean that its not a problem brought in by the pleco. Always quarantine new fish. I dont think theres a fishkeeper out there who hasnt learned this the hard way.
I would make sure you find the problem before buying new fish. Lots of wcs and monitor the survivors. Good luck
I agree the pleco may of overloaded the system. Plus when the loaches died they added to the ammonia spike. Basically triggering a die off. Yeah mubna are a pretty hardy bunch so they may of ridden it out but they should still show some traces of ammonia poison. Check the color of the gills. I also hear loaches are sensitive but i have yet to lose one.
But that doesnt mean that its not a problem brought in by the pleco. Always quarantine new fish. I dont think theres a fishkeeper out there who hasnt learned this the hard way.
I would make sure you find the problem before buying new fish. Lots of wcs and monitor the survivors. Good luck