KhaosInc
Fish Crazy
Now that my tank has 'moved on' and is reborn as an african ciclid tank, I've been pondering.
Why did my last fish die.
Long story short, about 10 years ago, I bought a huge tank, got some nice big fish for it, and while I had a few losses along the way, I hadn't lost a fish in years until last fall. I would admit that my upkeep wasn't stellar in the last couple years, but the tank was well filtered, usual water changes, all the tests stayed the same.
Then one day, last fall I came home to one of my Plecos dead. Then one by one, the fish I had come home to every day and fed/fussed over etc. all died off. Came home to the last one of the original batch dead this morning. (The crippled albino pleco) He was swimming and eating yesterday morning. I have raised the PH a bit (7.6 this morning after yet another water change), as I am converting over to Africans, but I hadn't done much as I know the LFS keeps everything at 7.0 and the tank I got these from wasn't much higher than that. (It will now be going up a little quicker)
Is it just old age for a captive fish... or is there something devious in that tank Im not seeing. The Knife was of course fed live food, but they (almost) always spent a week in a holding tub and treated first, and I never saw any evidence of disease.
Tank is a 300 gallon, 200W of lighting, 78 degrees, and usually got a 20% water change every 2 weeks. Feeding was pellets, cucumber on saturdays (my day off, and it was fun to watch) Algea wafers every other day, and feeder goldfish for the knife...
Why did my last fish die.
Long story short, about 10 years ago, I bought a huge tank, got some nice big fish for it, and while I had a few losses along the way, I hadn't lost a fish in years until last fall. I would admit that my upkeep wasn't stellar in the last couple years, but the tank was well filtered, usual water changes, all the tests stayed the same.
Then one day, last fall I came home to one of my Plecos dead. Then one by one, the fish I had come home to every day and fed/fussed over etc. all died off. Came home to the last one of the original batch dead this morning. (The crippled albino pleco) He was swimming and eating yesterday morning. I have raised the PH a bit (7.6 this morning after yet another water change), as I am converting over to Africans, but I hadn't done much as I know the LFS keeps everything at 7.0 and the tank I got these from wasn't much higher than that. (It will now be going up a little quicker)
Is it just old age for a captive fish... or is there something devious in that tank Im not seeing. The Knife was of course fed live food, but they (almost) always spent a week in a holding tub and treated first, and I never saw any evidence of disease.
Tank is a 300 gallon, 200W of lighting, 78 degrees, and usually got a 20% water change every 2 weeks. Feeding was pellets, cucumber on saturdays (my day off, and it was fun to watch) Algea wafers every other day, and feeder goldfish for the knife...
