The strange death of 3 nanacara anomala

We have a well-established (2 years) 325l (~80 us gallon) tank mainly with
South Americans.

The tank is well planted and the plants are growing well.

18 months ago or so we got 4 young Nanacaras (2+2). They all seemd well and
grew, but while we were away on holiday early July one of the females
disappeared.

The last few weeks the alpha-male has lost the appetite and just stayed
behind some bark in the tank, getting worse and worse. Monday i found the
other female dead, and last night the Alpha-male was to bad i put him down.
It was like he was stiff, paralysed, but there was no damage to be seen on
him; he was nice and round with good fins.

The last male seems ok.

Any clues?

The fish were on reduced diet the 2.5 weks we were away.

No other fish seem to have any problems.

Other fish:

10 Cardinals
7 Rummynoses
10 Hatchetfish (sp?)
4 Copper (or is it bronze?) catfish
4 Otocinclus
2 small West African cichlids (2" or so, can't remember sp)
1 Ancistrus
1 Siamese algea eater
20-30 Amano shrimps

Water: Normally 24C/75F, last couple of weeks 27C/81F due to summer temps.
Hardness 18-20dH, pH 7.8 or so.
CO2 from yeast fermenter

Light 11h/d, 4x30W with reflectors.

Food: mostly frozen, bit of flakes and pellets for the bottom. Gave them
live daphnia and migdet larvea back in May, collected from pond which
occasionally dries out (no fish!)

tia

Martin

"Martin Sorensen[2840]" wrote in
message ...
We have a well-established (2 years) 325l (~80 us gallon) tank mainly
with
South Americans.

The tank is well planted and the plants are growing well.

18 months ago or so we got 4 young Nanacaras (2+2). They all seemd
well and
grew, but while we were away on holiday early July one of the females
disappeared.

The last few weeks the alpha-male has lost the appetite and just
stayed
behind some bark in the tank, getting worse and worse. Monday i found
the
other female dead, and last night the Alpha-male was to bad i put him
down.
It was like he was stiff, paralysed, but there was no damage to be
seen on
him; he was nice and round with good fins.

The last male seems ok.

Any clues?

The fish were on reduced diet the 2.5 weks we were away.

No other fish seem to have any problems.

Other fish:

10 Cardinals
7 Rummynoses
10 Hatchetfish (sp?)
4 Copper (or is it bronze?) catfish
4 Otocinclus
2 small West African cichlids (2" or so, can't remember sp)
1 Ancistrus
1 Siamese algea eater
20-30 Amano shrimps

Water: Normally 24C/75F, last couple of weeks 27C/81F due to summer
temps.
Hardness 18-20dH, pH 7.8 or so.
CO2 from yeast fermenter

Light 11h/d, 4x30W with reflectors.

Food: mostly frozen, bit of flakes and pellets for the bottom. Gave
them
live daphnia and migdet larvea back in May, collected from pond which
occasionally dries out (no fish!)

tia

Martin



The appetite shift and no apparent signs could be indicative of internal
parasites. Heximita, round worms, and tape worms are a couple
examples..... Years ago I had many Angel deaths as you are
describing...I did some research and found that many breeders use
preventive measures against these common parasites with good results.

I started doing prevention treatments and now rarely have any of these
types of deaths. The prevention treatment is in the form of medicated
foods. I use one type for internal worms and another for
Heximita/protozoans..... I started by feeding each exclusive for 1
week.....After this treatment I use each exclusive for 1 day per month.

There are many sources for these types of foods...lately I use the ones
from Angels Plus.....here is a link:

http://www.angelsplus.com/cgi-bin/ca...angelsplus.dat

I am not affiliated with the site.

My post may not be relevant to your specific issue, and is a guess...

The appetite shift and no apparent signs could be indicative of internal
parasites. Heximita, round worms, and tape worms are a couple
examples..... Years ago I had many Angel deaths as you are
describing...I did some research and found that many breeders use
preventive measures against these common parasites with good results.

Thank you, that might be it. I'll see if I can find similar stuff here in
Denmark.

Do you have any idea if there is a suitable quarantine period after which
there should be no more parasites left? Or can they survive at at "low
level" in the other fish?

I would be sad if the treatment killed off the shrimps.

rgds

Martin