Jayaa Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 I have an aquarium problem that needs to be addressed swiftly. Everything has been dandy for the weeks that I've been keeping fish, but all of a sudden, things are going haywire. I noticed this today when I came home this evening. It started out with a dead Pictus Catfish, one missing hatchtfish, and a lethargic hatchetfish. I removed the Pictus, inspected him thoroughly and found no abrasions, signs of disease. I immediately performed a 50% water change. During the siphoning, I uncovered the missing hatchefish. It was dead. Again, no signs of disease. When I filled the conditioned water, the other hatchetfish had been very droopy. I removed it, placed it in another container with water matching that of the tank. He, unfortunately, died. No obvious signs of why. Now I'm noticing some of the other fish acting strange. They're swimming erratically, not schooling or hanging out at the heater. Ammonia is 0, Nitrites are 0, and Nitrates are less than 5ppm. The tank has been cycled previously using the fishless cycle method. Never had a problem until thus far. Any ideas? More importantly, what do I do right now? I'll be waiting for a response. Specifics: 22 Gallon 4x Serpae Tetra 6x Threadfin Rainbowfish 3x Dwarf Rainbowfish 1x Bango Catfish 1x Bristlenose Catfish 5x Harliquin Rasbora 3x Glowlight Tetra (One missing?) 1x Marble Hatchetfish 1x Golden Algae Eater 11 (ish) White Cloud Mountain Minnows Everything has been stocked slowly. Never had a problem with nitrite or ammonia. Small feeding at "lights on" using broken dried blood worms Small feeding in the evening using veggie flakes. Lights out for at least 12 hours. Temperature is maintained at 25-26 degrees. PH is always 7.5. No plants. I'm going insane. I thought I was doing well at this hobby! (!?!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 I would suggest removing the algas eater.... Smokey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richer Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Are your test kits accurate? Thats a lot of fish in a 22gallon tank... :shock: -Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayaa Posted April 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Hagen Test kits? I think they're quite reputable. Ever heard of them? The tank is overstocked by some, yes. Most are young juveniles growing out. None of the fish grow big, anyway. I also wanted to keep each in schools, plus a few (Catfishes) were getting ready to be moved into the larger tank. The Algae Eater, which has been removed, was given to me when I got the large tank. But there was a growth of algae so bad, that I needed to clean the whole tank out, and begin the cycling process all over again. Regardless. There's plenty of room, and the bio-filter seemed able to handle the load fine. Smokey explains to me that the Golden Algae Eater (who is a color morph of the pesky India Algae Eater) tend to "eat" the protein from the other fish, thus obviously jeopardizing their lives. Hum, it's been interesting. I removed the Algae Eater, so I hope everything will be fine tomorrow. At least I hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirtis Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 If removing the algae eater does not do the trick, I would look for any possible contaminants in the tank next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAlberta Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 Check your water temperature. Yes, I know this sounds very basic but it is worth a second look with another thermometer Perhaps your bioload has crashed? How often do you do water changes??? It could be too cold or hot! Just a thought Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsmith Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 This thread is almost a year old, how did you dig this one up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vapor Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 Sure hope the fish aren't still suffering. -roll- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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