Mmmm Completely Baffled By This One

[modaz]

Ive had over 2 days 5 fish die and it hasnt been the neons (that usually peg it first) infact all of the neons are fine but ive lost

1 neon drawf rainbow
1 cory
2 halfbeaks
1 mollie
1 bulldog plec AWOL presumed dead
and one platy that has had major clamped fins for a few days now but moving around as usual

ATM im half way through treating for ich with a multi disease treatment (PROTOZIN) b/c last treatment failed

Noticed that all the riccia that is floating in this tank had also lost most of its colour and gone white, so ive removed it, the riccia thats matted or attached to bogwood is perfectly healthy.

the Co2 test has come back as perfect

Stats are
Ammonia 0
Nitire 0
Nitrate 5 but this is strange as the norm for all my tanks is around 20
temp at 78/26 degrees
Ph 7.5

had to raise the temp from 24 to 26 to speed up the ich cycling for treating it

Do you think that it maybe something internal causing these unexplained deaths or am I just missing something thats so obvious?

I cant do a water change due to being in the middle of treatment

 

[-germ-]

This is a wierd one....
When was the last time you water changed and how much?
Does anyone else look after your tank at all, or have access to it?

 

[modaz]

last water change was 5 days ago with full gravel vac before i started treatment, nitrates before water change were 40 and went down to the usual 20, so weird that theyve dropped to 5, good, but weird

could it actually be the meds or do you think the tank is heading for a cycle with the nitrates dropping so quick? which really is the only thing i can think of

and no i work from home so only me looking after them

but the white riccia is causing concern as this aint happened for the whole time ive had riccia (about 5 months)

 

[-germ-]

Possibly, i'm not good on med knowledge i just regurgitate the info i've picked up...
Either the bacteria are dieing off, possibly due to a lack of oxygen with the meds and/or temp raise, bacteria need oxygen to survive.
But the 1st thing in my mind was a huge water change, sounds stupid but with the floating plants dying it sounds like a possible lack of nutrients in the water this crossed with your nitrates dipping so unexpectedly has got me thinking.....
A huge water change could also kill your fish if done incorrectly, in a number of ways....
Any chance someone spilled something into your tank and did a water change hoping you wouldn't notice.
Maybe i'm losing it

In addition Do you have an airstone or does your filter disturb your waters surface, maybe its simple hypoxia..

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Mystery detahs that show no external signs are most often a water qualityt issue OR Fish tuberculosis. Did anyone seem somewhat skinny, any bent spines AT all?

 

[-germ-]

AD is spot on but that wouldn't explain the riccia death or the nitrate drop......
It would be surprising if they aren't in some way interlinked.....

 

[ArauraDiscus]

True. Possibly a two prong bacterial attack? Some sort of cyanobacteria outcompeating the plants for nitrates and light, causing them to wither and nitrates to drop, and then the wicked step brother of the cyano's, Fish TB bacteria are attacking the fish at the same time? Far fetched but a theory nonetheless.

 

[-germ-]

 

[modaz]

the water change was 25% as recommended before using it, i usually only do 10% but i wouldnt have though that 25% wouldve done the damage as had to do larger ones before due to high nitrates and had no issues. TB, had this ages ago and know the signs but these fish have had no symptoms at all.

Mmmm yep good theory, did just cross my mind about nitrites after reading up on denification bacteria , but if the nitrites were so high to cause the damage then i cant understand why my nitrates are not higher.

cyanobacteria, not hot on this subject but if there was loads that wouldve caused this theory to happen then wouldnt it be possible it see the colonies?? if so what would it have looked like? would it have made the riccia look white when infact it was just large colonies of cyanobacteria. like i said aint to hot on cyanobacteria so apologises if i seem a little thick on this topic LOL

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Hmm yeah sometimes TB has absolutely no signs whatsoever, but who knows. Normally water changes aren't an issue, I do a 75 percent water change ever 3 or so days If I can. This has just resulted in a loss of a total of 1 fish in almost 5 years.

 

[modaz]

Hmm yeah sometimes TB has absolutely no signs whatsoever, but who knows. Normally water changes aren't an issue, I do a 75 percent water change ever 3 or so days If I can. This has just resulted in a loss of a total of 1 fish in almost 5 years.

i wouldnt want your water bill

 

[ArauraDiscus]

It's ok I just don't drink. I run outside to lick the morning dew. It's why I'm still here.

 

[modaz]

It's ok I just don't drink. I run outside to lick the morning dew. It's why I'm still here.

i would rather die of thirst than get up that early.

 

[ArauraDiscus]

It's ok I just don't drink. I run outside to lick the morning dew. It's why I'm still here.

i would rather die of thirst than get up that early.

Haha good man!

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Is it possible you had an anaerobic pocket dwelling your substrate somewhere?