Another One Bites The Dust!

[ppipanman]

ok my 55 gal tank is really starting to bug me

the water stats are:
Amo-0
NitrI-0
NitrA-10-15
GH-7

the inhabitants were
3 BLK neons
3 neons
6 gold neons
4 GBR's (2 M 2 F both breeding pairs)
1 albino choc. pleco (4" long)
1 albino bristle nose pleco (1-2" long)
1 sunset fire platy (oddball i know but wife likes the color)

heres the problam:
over the last 2-3 months ive been having one of my rams die suddenly with no explination every 2-4 wks. there is a bit of aggression when i put the new gbr in the tank which i watch carefully but things seem to get better quickly. they all settle down and pair up. then mysteriously i will find one of them lying belly up on the bottom of the tank. water params are always the same tank temp stays between 82-84 F and i do atleast a 30% WC every week.

PLEASE HELP!!!

thanks every one.

 

[minxfishy]

This is often the case with rams, they just dont do well in some tanks and for no apparent reason. It could be the way they are bred, conditions they are kept in prior to sale, something about your water they dont like, even when it appears to be spot on.

Try sourcing them from a different LFS, acclimatise for longer after purchase, do extra water changes.

It may be the case that it always happens and it does to alot of people, who eventually resign themselves to the fact they cannot keep rams.

Whats your ph, you dont have it listed?

 

[ppipanman]

pH is around 7.5 ive successfully bred about 10 times in this tank.

could this just be a bad batch of fish?

 

[minxfishy]

It could be, rams are just so awkward and sensitive, like I said, try another source.

Is it the newest ram each time or is there no pattern to it?

 

[ppipanman]

the fish i have in there came from the only 2 stores in my city and i couldnt tell you which came from which store LOL

 

[TigerIssey]

I would say a bad batch of fish too. You have bred too many to be unable to keep them in your tank. They may be descended from hormone loaded fish, never as strong and prone to various malformations and traits from both sexes.
Just to make sure they are not being killed after introduction by the present rams, I would do a tank re-arrange when you add the next.

Sorry to hear about that. Good Luck

 

[Tolak]

You've successfully bred rams in this tank? What's your gH & kH?

 

[TigerIssey]

In the first post Tolak he says GH is 7. So presume very soft water, which is good.

 

[ppipanman]

tolak i'll test it right now i'm using the api gh/kh liquid test kit

 

[ppipanman]

this just in lol 7 drops for each test not sure on how you convert but i think its 7 degrees or 125 ppm

 

[TigerIssey]

Just as an after thought, has anything changed in the water supply recently?

You should have two figures, one for KH and one for GH.

 

[ppipanman]

Just as an after thought, has anything changed in the water supply recently?

not that i would know still use dechlor city water from the kitchen

 

[Tolak]

With a pH of 7.5 I'm assuming the gH of 7 is in German units, which you would multiply by 17.9 to get ppm. This would give you 125ppm, which would be more in line with a pH of 7.5. This is slightly hard, but not way up there.


If your gH is 7ppm you can work with that pH very easily.

****Edit To Add****

If the rams you have been getting have been bred & kept in something other than your tap water that may be an issue. Add in that they are a more sensitive species, and perhaps a bit of inbreeding, and you have a real touchy fish.

If you've had them before with no issue this may be the case. As TigerIssey mentioned, water suppliers will at times do things to the water for public safety, increasing disinfectants & buffers to keep these increased disinfectant levels raised throughout the supply. A little extra chlorine & such is bad for sensitive fish, as would be the increased hardness & TDS from increased buffers.

I would start with doubling the amount of dechlorinator you use. If that doesn't seem to help, a search for stronger stock may be in order. Next step would be ro, cutting it with some tap water to drop the hardness & pH.

 

[ppipanman]

i don't understand

how on earth would i get hardness to 7ppm

outside of a 99.5% water change with RO water LOL

 

[Tolak]

7ppm would be the result of water out of a ro system without di, with a membrane towards the end of its usefulness. I wish I had tap water like that, the 7.5 pH made me think it must be in German degrees.