Any Idea why My Loricariidae Died ??

[alienone]

Hi Guys, Brand new to your forum, cracker of a site, if I may say so....

Got a query for you...I have 3 of the above fish , I inherited them from a mate, who moved into a smaller house a couple of months ago. He didnt have the room....and as I have a 4 foot tank, with not a lot of fish in it, I adopted them. I have one of each of the fish in the links...tho, middle fish died ,or rather was found dead today....


http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/sp ... ies_id=148

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/sp ... ies_id=148

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/sp ... ies_id=915

Starting from the top, they are as we call them, wee, middle, and large....Middle was found dead today, and for the last few days they have all been off their food, and rather listless....I usually give them one disc of food each per day....also, their colour has been rather palid. I completely changed the tank water about a month ago, but didnt touch the filter, which is a Fluval 204. I did lose the only Angel Fish I had, a couple of weeks ago, it had White Spot, it was treated, and recovered well, then one day, it was dead...
So, any help would be great.....

[Riftrod]

and for the last few days they have all been off their food, and rather listless....I usually give them one disc of food each per day....also, their colour has been rather palid. I completely changed the tank water about a month ago, but didnt touch the filter

Hi, I'll try and help - Go easy on the amount of water that you change out of your tank at one time/
IMO changing most all of the water creates a shock to your fish -

1) Much better to change 25% of your water (once a week). The species you have create a lot of waste & of course the larger they grow the more they create.

2) If you are merely feeding your (2) survivors pleco wafers, you need to supplement their diet with vegetables, peas, cucumber; go to the website you typed in and it makes great suggestions.

3) What is your water temperature? Important it is not too low or too high. Check that website for suggestions.

4) These Cats like dark (caves) for hiding places. They usually nocturnally feed but when hungry will come out in the light, too.

5) Very good thing that you did not clean out your cannister filter, at same time you did that huge H20 tank change. Your new tank water had to "recycle" all over again & no doubt that put a tremendus load on your filter. That same new recycling put your fish in distress, can make them palid and knock them off their feed. This, in turn, lowers their immunity to disease during this time.

6) Watch for uneaten food, as well as the fish excrement on your substrate. Use a net and remove it daily, if possible. This waste contributes to the ammonia and nitrite levels in your tank.

7) Always used declorinated water. I do not mean distilled water. Their are a choice of chemicals on the market (in your LFS) that remove the ammonia and clorine from municipal water. I use AMQUEL PLUS. Staight from the bottle it smells like a dead racoon but the smell quickly dissapates once mixed with the new water and airated for a while.

It is possible your loss of the Angelfish to ick, was due to poor water condition and/or cooling of the water temp. Angelfish like and need very clean, clear water whereas your Catfish can tolerate water conditions not as pristine.

Didn't mean to write so much, but in this hobby many little things, handled correctly help to add up to a comfortable and safe environment in which your fish will thrive.