Deaths After Ten Days Away...

[DaveyH]

Hi All - my frst post here though I have been lurking for a long time.

I've had my 100 litre tropical tank up and running for about three years now with no problems. I've got x-ray tetras, a few Cories, a bristle nosed plec and a family of Platies. Plants have always done well and the algae was kept in check by the plec. I'm no expert, but am pretty good with maintenance and have only lost a couple of Gouramis in all that time. Until now...

The Platies bred as Platies do, with one or two surviving from each brood. I couldn't bring myself to cull the population and I was too lazy to find an alternate home for them. I ended up rather overstocked but the other fish seemed OK so I didn't do anything about it other than increasing my water changes slightly.

I go away for work quite a bit and use a battery operated automatic feeder. I recently went away for ten days and returned to find that the feeder hadn't worked - the batteries that I thought were OK were just plain flat.

Luckily all fish seemed OK - a bit stressed, but OK so I gave them a slightly bigger than normal feed and counted myself lucky.

The next day three cories, two xray tetras and my beloved plec were dead!

I did two big water change and a thorough gravel clean and haven't lost any more fish in the last three weeks - although the remaining two cories are looking a bit sad.

Does anyone know what could have caused the deaths? Is it possible that I could have caused a big ammonia spike by overfeeding an overstocked tank after ten days of minimal waste? I only thought of testing the water after the water changes, and ammonia levels were normal. Any other ideas?

I am now looking to rehome my platies and simplify my stocking. I think I will steer clear of live bearers...

 

[WILDER]

Can you say how many fish you have in the tank.
Can you post your water stats please.
Its best to over filter a tank when your stocking over it's limit.
What filter do you have in the tank.

 

[DaveyH]

Hi Wilder - thanks for the reply.

My stats are as follows:

Tank 100 litre
Ph: 7.5
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 60mg/l (First time I have ever tested nitrate - surprised that it is so high considering the regular water changes, but it explains the growing algae problem!)

Filter is an internal Fluval 1 Plus - set to about half flow.

Fish were:
8 Sunset Platies (two full grown, the rest of varying sizes)
5 X-Ray Tetras
5 small Albino Cories
1 smallish Bristle Nosed plec

Any advice much appreciated!

Davey

 

[WILDER]

Your filter to small for the tank size you need at least a fluval 2, but I would get a fluval 3.
Do you do a gravel vac.
Plecs are massive waste producers.
I doubt the filter keeping up with the stocking of your tank.

 

[WILDER]

Here the the info on filter size for your tank.
http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/bigpics/fluvalplus.htm

 

[DaveyH]

Actually made a mistake and it is a Fluval 2 that I have. Would it help to turn it to full flow?

I vac gravel every two weeks, although there was quite a big area under a large pice of bog wood where I couldn't reach. This is now removed so there are no areas where detrius can congregate. With these changes and more water changes I'm hoping to bring down nitrate levels...

Trying to find a new home for my platies then I will introduce a couple of new cories when nitrate levels have dropped.

 

[WILDER]

With having a plec I would do a gravel vac once a week.
You can only get away with less maintance if the tanks not fully stocked.
Do a good gravel vac and water changes to fetch the nitrate reading down.
Also if your sponges are really mucked up, just rinse one sponge slightly in old tank water.
Never rinse all the sponges on the same day.
If the fish can cope with the filter on full flow turn it up.

I would maybe invest in a fluval 3 as the fluval 2 only for up to 90 litres.