Tank Die Off?

[happyannie]

I take care of the tank at a local forest preserve educational center. Please try to bear in mind that I'm not around 24/7 so alot happens with the tank that I don't know about and there are alot of people that do stuff to it without my knowledge. This has also been holding true lately with fish deaths in the tank which I only find out about when I go and check on them.

I'd been noticing that the Wag Platys were getting kind of old looking, as in wizened, less active and thin and their fins were looking a bit frayed and chewed up. I figured they were just maybe getting old. Today I noticed that 2 of them were gone. I also noticed a Cory Cat carcass in the bottom which I removed immediately. I couldn't tell if the Plec was still in there or not. I didn't see him so lets assume he's gone as well. In the last month and a half I'd noticed a Cory Cat missing too. There has been a problem with snails brought in originally on plants and I've kept up with this by doing a "population control" every so often. However, recently I've noticed they haven't been reproducing so rapidly.

The ones who remain are 4 Serpae Tetra, 3 high-finned Black Tetras and 1 lonely Wag Platy. The tetras appear to be in good health.

This is a 60 gallon or so tank which has been up and running like forever... I changed out the pads 2 weeks ago and the parameters have been real good. I vacuum in there about 2x's a year and am going to do this tomorrow along with a water change and am going to add in aquarium salt.

They've always had a problem with Box Elder bugs climbing in for a swim only to drown and float around deteriorating in there.
I noticed someone had turned the heat down to 73 or so. I'm not sure if the ambient heat in the room had crept up and caused the heat in the tank to rise and so the person found it necessary to do this.

It also looks as if there has been an overfeeding situation with uneaten food on the bottom. The new food I brought out was set to one side with another type in its place. There was a problem with mice in the storage cabinet under the tank. I cleaned it out and the food was moved to a metal container. So you see I can only be responsible to a point with this tank....... It's rather frustrating at times.

I'm wanting some suggestions about what might be going on in there...??? and thoughts from others about what to do. I don't want to go throwing in meds and such-like.

THANKS for reading all this and for whatever ideas you might have. I'm not sure if all these deaths are connected or not..??

Later: I was just remembering last year right around this same time the tank had a small die off with some survivors left....
I forgot to mention the water comes from a well but I treat it with Stresscoat and add in Nitraban too. We have a high PH locally but it's the environment of all the fish around here even in the stores.

 

[WILDER]

Need to be doing a gravel vac once a week with a water change.
Can you post your water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate, and ph.
If a fish goes thin when still eating looking at internal parasites, fish tb, to flukes.
Check the fish for when the go to the toilet, check anus to see if its red and inflamed, or enlarged.

 

[happyannie]

Somehow it was my understanding with a larger tank like that you don't want to do vacuuming so often. It evaporates so quickly that new water is going in there all the time.

I got wondering about fish TB too... I found the Plec today when I was vacuuming so he's ok. I wasn't sure about the Platys being old as they came from a LFS and may have been in there for awhile before being sold to me. I took one of my Platys babies (big enuf not to get eaten!) out there to keep her company today as she looked very lonely. The other fish in there look good..

I got wondering about the well water there too and possible changes in metals or even contaminants in the spring. ?? I'm going to inquire about that.

I did a 50% change and vacuuming and need to do more in other areas of the tank but thought I should wait in case it starts cycling since the pads were changed out very recently too. There was alot of stuff let loose in the water too so I thought maybe I'd wait a few weeks to tackle the rest of it. I added in a large envelope of Bio-Spira the new liquid stuff that needs to be refridgerated. It adds in the good bacteria which I thought might be helpful.

Stats to come.......

 

[Tolak]

This sounds like a common overfeeding/maintenance problem. If people are overfeeding, and you have stray bugs climbing in & dying you need to do more frequent gravel vacs & water changes. The biospyra is a good idea, one of the few bacterial additives that actually seems to work.

If you start loosing smaller fish & still have the bug problem, consider a smaller more peaceful cichlid or two. I know some apistos can acclimate to harder water, and would have no problem taking care of stray bugs.

One problem with well water, besides the hardness, is heavymetals leeching into the water supply, especially with private wells, which are often less closely monitored. I see that the tank is located just sw of Rockford, I have an auction next week & usually run into a few people from the Rockford area. I'll ask them about the well water conditions there.

I would also look into a way of securing the top, just to prevent overfeeding and folks tossing foreign contaminents often thought to be food into the tank. This is a common problem with public aquariums.

 

[happyannie]

Sounds like good advice. Yes you have the location pinpointed correctly. I'm going to inquire about the well with the director there. I'm wondering if there is a variance from season to season..??
Before I volunteered for the job no one else did it and the tank had no maintenance for over a year. Supposedly none of the fish died...

It about drives me nuts to go in there and see what gets throw in there. Familes come out on the weekends to do volunteer work which means there are kids who like to feed the fish... Oh my. I've seen piles of food sitting on the bottom. Yesterday there was something at the bottom it would have taken forensic medicine to identify.

The director feeds them each morning so we can't shut the top off but maybe on the weekends....

How would the cichlids behave with the other fish tho? I just put in a small Platy but could take her out. There are still 4 healthy Serpae's and 3 slow moving Black skirted Tetras to consider. I know absolutely nothing about cichlids. I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks everyone for your reponses!

 

[Tolak]

Apistogramma cacatoides are pretty docile. I've had juvie green cory in a 20 gallon with a breeding pair. They do like a meaty diet, any bugs would get eaten, its free food. Unlike other apistos they do ok in harder water, I breed them in Chicago tap water. They may or may not bother the platy fry in a larger tank, but platys breed like rabbits as it is.

I had a spawn of angels go bad, didn't feed them enough or soon enough due to work, these things happen. The surviving two angel fru were the same size as the apisto fry the female apisto was raising, so I snuck them in. They are now in a growout tank with the apisto fry, near quarter body size. This is a fish you might want to look into, I'll have some at an auction near Midway airport next Sunday. If you can make it, & want one or two, let me know.