Pandas, Delicate?

[cynic]

My pandas are dieing, over the last 10 days we have lost 3 the last one today.

Thing is the water is same as its been for months , as in stats ie 0,0 and nitrate at 20-30 as a rule. 50% water change once a week with a little one if there is too much poo on the sand. No new fish, no new plants, no big swap round. Apart from water changes the only thing that changes in the tank is the bogwood, i move it every waterchange to stop the sand going nasty under it.

There is nothing obvious, no fungus, missing bits or fight wounds, their just dead. All the fish look fit as a fiddle, including the Panda's then i come in from work and boom there it is one on the bottom.

They are partial to the plec food, could they be getting a thump from her, she is far bigger than the panda's.

Or are Panda as fragile as people say, i have heard it mentioned a few times on here that over breeding has made them a bit fragile.

 

[Jamie24]

My pandas are dieing, over the last 10 days we have lost 3 the last one today.

Thing is the water is same as its been for months , as in stats ie 0,0 and nitrate at 20-30 as a rule. 50% water change once a week with a little one if there is too much poo on the sand. No new fish, no new plants, no big swap round. Apart from water changes the only thing that changes in the tank is the bogwood, i move it every waterchange to stop the sand going nasty under it.

There is nothing obvious, no fungus, missing bits or fight wounds, their just dead. All the fish look fit as a fiddle, including the Panda's then i come in from work and boom there it is one on the bottom.

They are partial to the plec food, could they be getting a thump from her, she is far bigger than the panda's.

Or are Panda as fragile as people say, i have heard it mentioned a few times on here that over breeding has made them a bit fragile.

How come your Nitrate level is 20-30 if your doing 50% water change per week ?? Are you overfeeding at all ??

20-30 Nitrate is in my opinion bad but if your doing the changes you say you are it shouldn't get anywhere near that figure, mine doesn't get past 10ppm during my week waiting for a change, sometimes I've left the tank for 10-14 days before a change & never got as high as 20-30 ??

Panda cories are a little bit more sensitive than other cories & ideally the Nitrate needs to be below 20ppm whereas other fish can tolerate higher... I ultimately think that's where your problem lies... Check the barbels on the Cories to see if there eroded at all & what about temp ?? Anything above 77 can be dodgy for Panda Cories especially if it's not well oxygenated

Is there Nitrates in your tap water ??

 

[cynic]

Oh ok, i'll test it again. I always understood the nitrate didn't really matter all that much so long as its low.

I scrutinise the other two tests, never really paniced over this one esp as its such a pain to do and get reliable numbers.

I'm pretty sure i'm not over feeding.

 

[Jamie24]

Oh ok, i'll test it again. I always understood the nitrate didn't really matter all that much so long as its low.

I scrutinise the other two tests, never really paniced over this one esp as its such a pain to do and get reliable numbers.

I'm pretty sure i'm not over feeding.

In genrel your right but some fish don't like high or even medium nitrates but you shouldn't have a problem doing 50% changes... Overfeeding, overstocking, old filter media, dead fish, dirty tank can all cause higher nitrates.

 

[cynic]

Well done mate, found it, the cories like to hide under and around the rock to the right in my sig, well to be sure i lifted it to make sure it was clean underneath, or more dead uns.

Da dah, 2 part eaten plec wafers under there now a soggy yucky mush. So ANOTHER water change ( the water board will think i have a leak, that will be 5-600L this week) and it looks like i may have a fix.

Just got to wait and see now.

Cheers.

 

[OldMan47]

I have no trouble with pandas in a truly mature tank but I steer clear of them in any tank less than 6 months old. I get good nitrogen readings at far less time than that but have found that I lose pandas in young tanks, even though they show fully cycled. Try waiting until your tank has had time to mature then try them again. We only measure the nitrogen cycle but lots of other things go on in any tank.