Sudden Deaths In Tank

[bricko]

Hi guys, Looking for a bit of general advice here. About a month ago I purchased 2 more skunk cories for my 260l tank. After quarantining for 2 weeks they were added to the tank and all seemed fine, mixing with the other cories, eating etc...

On Saturday I returned home to find 1 of the new corie dead at the top of the tank, I had seen no previous signs of illness and the corpse (apart from being pail in colour) showed no visible signs of illness / injury. I figured it to be just one of those things as I have had no fish losses for about 6 months and they were due to old age with some swordtails and my water quality is always very good. Ammonia reading .0 Nitrite .0 Nitrate between 10 - 15. This is quite a heavily planted tank and has a regular maintenance cycle of twice weekly 20% water change using remineralised RO water and fertilisation using Flourish and Flourish Trace respectively. I also run CO2 at about 2 BPS during lights on and my drop checker is always in the green, so there is no CO2 / PH flutuations in the tank to the best of my knowledge.

Anyway last night I returned home to find my female Kribensis dead against the intake for the internal filter (again no previous signs of illness though I had not been home since saturday evening, so something may have occured between then and now) All water tests were as usual.

Should I now be worried that there is some sort of infection working its way through my tank (possibly introduced by the new cories) or could this just be a coincidence. If this was a water quality issue then I'm sure my Blue Ram would probably be the first to go and he is absolutely fine at this moment.

Also my male Krib has lost a lot of his colour today (probably due to the loss of his mate) how long can I leave him without a female companion? There are about 15 - 20 Krib fry currently in the tank and I'm sure some will be female. Would he be okay pairing with his offspring? I would rather buy a new mate for him to be honest to avoid too much inbreeding but Don't wish to purchase any more fish until I am confident there ar eno underlying problems in my tank.

I hope I have given enough information for any innitial suggestions / help.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

 

[Colin_T]

If the water is good then there is probably a bacterial infection spreading thru the tank, possibly brought in with the new cories. The male kribensis should not be losing colour simply because his partner has gone. In fact he should be well coloured up because he has fry to look after.
Give the filter a clean and try to gravel clean the gravel if possible. If it is filled with laterite or another plant fertiliser then don't do too much of a gravel clean.
Pop down to your LFS and pick up a broad spectrum medication, something like "Waterlife Myxazin" and run that in the tank for a week.

It is preferable not to inbreed fish primarily due to the fact most fish in a shop tank are already related. The more inbred they are the weaker they become. Kribensis are pretty easy to get and virtually every shop has them so getting different bloodlines isn't a problem. When the fry are big enough take them to the LFS and trade them in for a new partner for the male.

 

[bricko]

Thanks Colin,

I have given the internal filter a good clean and replaced "some" of the old sponges (Juwel tank). I have also "temporarily" added a carbon filter. I don't usually have one in as it is a planted tank.

I have not medicated the tank yet and was hoping to avoid doing so. Do you think medication would be the best option to prevent further losses? I do have Myxazin on standby if required.

The male Krib seemed to be a bit perkier today and some of his colour has returned. He is no longer looking after the fry as they are over a month old now and about 1 inch long. Should I consider removing them now? I think this may prove quite a mission to catch them in such a heavily planted tank. Do you think the male would be okay without another female for company?

Cheers,

Mark

 

[bricko]

More bad news!!!! Found my pink Gourami dead this morning

Am absolutely GUTTED!!!!! He was my first fish 3ish years ago. Must be a bacterial infection in the tank as this is 4 fish in a week. Started treatment with Myxazin today. Hopefully this should prevent the rest of the tank kicking it. Sometime fishkeeping can be a real nightmare

I really hope this is not going to wipe my favourite tank out. Does anybody have any sterilising tips for gravel vac etc as I don't want to pass this onto my other tanks?

Regards,

Bricko

 

[Colin_T]

Hi Bricko

sorry I haven't responded for a bit I have been unable to do anything online, (stupid ISP)

sponges and most types of filter material only need replacing when they start to fall apart. The exception being carbon and Ammogon (white ammonia removing granules), which need replacing quite often. Carbon should be replaced about once a month but if you are using plant food or medications then don't have carbon in the filter.
Ammogon should be replaced and recharged every day or so but it should only be used in a quarantine tank where it is hard to keep a mature biological filter. In a normal aquarium Ammogon should not be used at all.

If the gourami had not died then I would have said move the baby kribensis into another tank. However, because something is happening in the tank you are probably better off leaving them in the tank until the fish stop dieing.
The male kribensis should be fine without a partner but it is nice to see a pr of kribs looking after their young. Maybe further down the track look at getting him another friend.

Gravel cleaners, nets, etc can be washed with hot soapy water and rinsed well before allowing to dry. That will get rid of most problems that can spread. For really bad diseases like Tuberculosis (TB) you can soak the gravel cleaner, nets, etc in bleach. I use straight bleach but it destroys nets so most people use a 10-20% bleach solution (80% water). Then they soak everything in that for a few hours before rinsing off well with freshwater. Then leave it to dry.
*NB* wear rubber gloves and safety glasses whenever you use bleach.