Sudden Death Of 2 Fish

[osikorn]

I have a 75 gallon tank. Its been succesfully balance for 2 months.

In the Tank is: 1 Oscar, 2 Jack Dempsey Cichlids, 1 Placo, 1 red Tail Catfish, 4 Discus Cichlids, 1 upside down Catfish. Until today 1 blue hammer lobster, 1 rainbow fish ...

Ok so here is the situation. the tank was in great shape 0 amonia, ph 7.4, nitrates at 10. the the Hurricane happened. and I lost power for 5 days. after about 3 days, i was able to get the aquarium pluged in to the neighbors generator, so there was partial power to the filter and air bubbles. so far so good.

three days ago I fed them live minnows. It was our first time to do this. It was quite a site for my kids to watch. Now I have a problem.

BEGINNING OF ISSUES:

Two days ago, there was an amonia spike at 1.0 and Ph dropped low below 6. I did two days of water changes to lower the amonia, and it worked.. amonia is almost perfect now. so only problem was Ph. I added baking powder to raise the Ph.

My blue lobster was found dead this morning seperated from his skin, and tail eaten by the oscar. I figured that he was molting and didn't hide good enough. I chocked it up to Darwin.

This afternoon - the Rainbow fish was found floating dead. not sure why, clearly the fish were eating at him so I have no idea what actually caused the death.

Current ISSUE 1
This Evening -- One of the discuss fish seems to be loosing his scales, is swimming with an upward angle of his head. This is kind of hard to tell on this one though as I am finding that the discuss swim in angles often. But definitely something going on its skin. It does not look like Ich. it is not on its fins or gills. it is on the side of its body. It is not rubbing on anything. it is not being attacked as far as I can see. The fish is usually Orange, but now is very black. which tells me that its very stressed by something.

Current ISSUE 2
The Placo is sluggish and kind of Droopy. He is usually perky and robust looking.

Current ISSUE 3
The Larger (more dominant) jack Dempsey has pooped something large and red. very very red. it was terrifying to watch. I thought his cavity was turning inside out, but then it disconnected from its body so I assume its red poop. could this be from having eaten several minnow a few days ago? No sure how to go forward with that.

At this time, I am doing another water change. ... Then I will add a table spoon of baking soda to raise Ph to normal.

Any thoughts at all about what could be going on?

 

[fluttermoth]

When you say ammonia is 'alomst perfect', what's the actual level your teast is showing? Have you tested for nitrites? What is the pH before you start adjusting it? Normally pH swings (rapid changes) are worse for fish than a stable pH, even if it seems too low.

It could be overcrowding or agression between the fish that's causing your problems; you have a lot of predatory fish that are too large for your tank.

You should not feed them on feeder fish; minnows contain high levels of thiaminase, which could prevent your fish form absorbing B vitamins; they can also introduce parsites and disease. The only reason for feeding live fish is in the very rare circumstances that you have a fish which refuses dead food altogether. There are far, far more healthy diets for your fish.

 

[holidayinn]

Sorry to say but imo you have an unsustainable mix for the long term....RTC shouldnt be anywhere near a 75g tank...an Oscar should have a 75g to themselves and discus don't really mix with more aggressive cihlids.

Also, imo a stable PH is much better then a varying PH, I would leave it alone.

What filtration do you have on this tank?

As these fish get older and bigger, you will only come across more problems imo, unless you review your stocking, which is the main issue here and feeder fish will only encourage aggression.

 

[PyroBrit]

Looking at your current problem, the Ammonia peaked at 1.0 after a filter was without power for 3 days. The filter will of course have lost some of it's friendly bacteria during the powerloss. Possibly quite a lot.

Once the Ammonia has processed to Nitrite, the second set of friendly bacteria kicks in to process this to Nitrate. This bacteria takes a lot longer to grow and may even die faster than the Ammonia eating bacteria.

How are your Nitrite levels now that your AMmonia level is almost normal again?

 

[osikorn]

My Nitrites have been at a steady 0 for the duration.

I realize that the fish will become incompatible as some point in time when they become bigger. I did not purchase them, they were gifts from multiple people for my birthday. My friend is starting a 155 gallon tank soon, and as soon as possible the Oscar and the Red Tail will find a new home.

In the mean time, the Ph is back to 7.0. It jumped rather radically which was strange given the amount of time it took. This morning the ammonia is 0. Nitrates are at 5.0

I have a Marineland 350 Magnum pump.

I will keep monitoring.

 

[holidayinn]

Not sure of Marineland pumps, but yep keep up with the water changes and monitor.

Like FM says also, its not beneficial to your fish to feed them feeders, and could cause health, behaviour issues going forward.

 

[osikorn]

2 of the discus now have "pop eye"

one eye is inflammed and foggy white .... WHAT DO I DO? This is aweful!

Amonia is at .25 ... sigh .. what is going on!

 

[fluttermoth]

Pop eye is caused by a combination of poor water quality and stress.

It's really quite simple; you have incompatable fish (they wont 'become incompatable', they are incompatable now) and inadequate filtration combined with (probably) not enough water changes.

 

[osikorn]

I have been doing daily water changes. I've read that pop eye may be caused by gas in the water as well. I'm not sure what this means in relation to the fish i have in the tank or the filter system or how this may change. Since the Hurricane, the tank is plantless as shortly after the plants started to die.

Prior to the power loss, all was well in the tank and there were no issues. Now its a bit different. The lobster was killed by the oscar during his molting dispite the hiding place that he found. So I'm one less in the tank. It is clear to me that the fish are incompatible. they are all very young specimine, I clearly need to make changes to the inhabitants of the tank. Thank you for pointing this out, again.

The more immidiate issue is that I have fish with Pop Eye! I have taken the two fish into a seperate bowl to quarantine. Is it necessary to quarantine?

I have done a large water change.

other than that I am at a loss but to just wait and see.

I realize that most people on this forum are anti-medicines, but is there a medicine for this or is it just hope and pray and continue water changes type of disease.

I have also spotted Ich on a fish. So I will be raising the heat and adding auarium salt to deal with this battle.

Why do you think i have inadequate filtration? What should I be doing different with the filter?