Expected tank mortality????

[Ben]

G'Day All,

I've had a 4ft bay window style tropical tank running for 2.5 months
now.

Started off with Red Ramshorn snails, waited a few weeks, got the
water tested at LFS, got the ok, added 10 neon tetras, waited a few
more weeks, added 10 more neon tetras, and 4 platys, 2 albino catfish,
and finally added 8 more small platys.

Yesterday I lost a neon.. it was swimming with it's head towards the
surface, it could not get horizontal like the other fish, I
quarantined it, it was "breathing" very fast (gills) and lifeless
sitting on the bottom of the tank... I euthanased it.. on suspicion of
neon tetra disease and little chance of recovery.

Today a platy was sitting on the bottom of the tank... I moved it to
quarantine, it died not long after.

Do I have the beginings of an epidemic here?

I've checked ammonia levels (0.25) and Ph about (7.2 - 7.4) temp about
27 deg C. have done a few 10% water changes with dechlorinated water.

Filters 1 UGF and One foam filter with venturi

I realise fish will die. it's the cycle of life... but any ideas on
what I may be doing wrong?

Any thoughts?


thanks,



Ben.

[Bill Stock]

"Ben" <b_rust at optusnet dot com dot au> wrote in message
...
> G'Day All,
>
> I've had a 4ft bay window style tropical tank running for 2.5 months
> now.
>
> Started off with Red Ramshorn snails, waited a few weeks, got the
> water tested at LFS, got the ok, added 10 neon tetras, waited a few
> more weeks, added 10 more neon tetras, and 4 platys, 2 albino catfish,
> and finally added 8 more small platys.
>
> Yesterday I lost a neon.. it was swimming with it's head towards the
> surface, it could not get horizontal like the other fish, I
> quarantined it, it was "breathing" very fast (gills) and lifeless
> sitting on the bottom of the tank... I euthanased it.. on suspicion of
> neon tetra disease and little chance of recovery.
>
> Today a platy was sitting on the bottom of the tank... I moved it to
> quarantine, it died not long after.
>
> Do I have the beginings of an epidemic here?
>
> I've checked ammonia levels (0.25) and Ph about (7.2 - 7.4) temp about
> 27 deg C. have done a few 10% water changes with dechlorinated water.
>
> Filters 1 UGF and One foam filter with venturi
>
> I realise fish will die. it's the cycle of life... but any ideas on
> what I may be doing wrong?
>
> Any thoughts?

I'm surprised you've got any Ammonia after this period of time, what are
your Nitrite levels?

I've lost a Tiger Barb, a Rosy Barb, an SAE (never found) and an unknown
number of Otos. I don't think any of these were illness, except for one Oto
runt. I think the Barbs did each other in, probably the missing SAE too.
Oddly, all my Tetras and Loaches have survived. So my mortality rate may be
skewed by the murderous Barbs. A lot of people can go years without losing a
fish in a well balanced community tank.

[dc]

Ben <b_rust at optusnet dot com dot au> wrote in
:

> Yesterday I lost a neon.. it was swimming with it's head towards the
> surface, it could not get horizontal like the other fish, I
> quarantined it, it was "breathing" very fast (gills) and lifeless
> sitting on the bottom of the tank... I euthanased it.. on suspicion of
> neon tetra disease and little chance of recovery.
>
> Today a platy was sitting on the bottom of the tank... I moved it to
> quarantine, it died not long after.
>
> Do I have the beginings of an epidemic here?
>
> I've checked ammonia levels (0.25) and Ph about (7.2 - 7.4) temp about
> 27 deg C. have done a few 10% water changes with dechlorinated water.

0.25 ammonia is toxic at 7.4 pH. Check your nitrite levels--the
lethargy you describe could be a sign of high nitrite as well. The
symptoms you are describing sound a lot like toxic shock. I do not
believe there is a disease epidemic at play in your tank.

UGF work, but they take a long time to break-in. Foam filters work very
well, but if you're just operating it with an air pump it isn't exactly
circulating a whole lot of water. You've added 34 fish to a tank that
initially had a very low bio-load. I suspect you've simply added more
waste producers than your nitrifying bacteria colony can handle. The
fact that you are reading ammonia at any measurable level strongly
suggests this to be true.

Measure your nitrite levels. If they are high you can lessen the
toxicity by adding aquarium salt to your water. Chloride ions compete
with nitrite molecules at the site which they pass through the gills
into the bloodstream. You may also use Prime (a tap water conditioner
made by Seachem) to detoxify nitrite.

Start performing larger water changes, but be careful of adding water
with a high pH to a tank with ammonia present. I suggest you perform
80% changes while testing and lowering the pH of the new water by 0.2
with respect to the pH of the tank each time before you add it to the
aquarium. Ammonia is partially converted to ammonium when acids are
present and so is much less toxic at a lower pH. Again, you may also
use Prime to remove ammonia. Be careful of dropping your pH by more
than 0.4 - 0.6 in too short a time.

Prime is a great way to treat your problem (often called New Tank
Syndrome) because it can lock away the nitrogenous waste products into
non-toxic forms, but will not remove them from the biological cycle.
Some other products that claim to do the same (e.g. Ammo-Lock) will
detoxify ammonia, but also remove it from the cycle removing the food
source for your fledging nitrosomonas bacteria culture, which you need
to feed in order for it to grow--which will ultimately solve your
problem.