Platydoras Costatus - Mystery Death

[Lisa Biddlecombe]

Hi, can anyone help us - we have two Platydoras Costatus in a community tank. The tank is only about 3 months old and these two have been in for about a month. Up until now they have both preferred to stay hidden within their cave during the day but in the last few days both have been out swimming all over the tank - then yesterday morning we found one of the cats dead. There is no outward sign of sickness and the other fish in the tank are fine. We have had trouble feeding the cats as they don't seem particularly interested in any tasty morsels that we offer them (including cat fish tablets, bloodworm, shrimp or wafers) we've assumed that they have been scavenging overnight, otherwise they would have got sick earlier, and they both seem pretty chubby. We spoke to the shop where they were bought yesterday and were told that perhaps its the bloodworm as this type of cat cannot digest blood worm?? Any ideas?

[DutchFry]

hey Lisa, welcome to PC!

I'm sorry for your loss. did you check the water parameters? especially ammonia and nitrite are important now.

about the blood worms, I'm quite sure that's BS. catelog says about feeding:

"All aquarium fish foods, sinking catfish tablets offer the best method of getting food to the fish. Bloodworm and high protein dry food are also favourites. Try delivering food at night."

your fish is almost certainly

Platydoras armatulus

btw, P. costatus is not imported that much (or at all).

edit:

you might want to fill in this:

"If you are planning to post about a fish that is ill, please remember to provide as MUCH of this information as possible. If you can, a picture would be a great help. We can't help you without the information necessary to get a complete picture.

1. Water parameters
a) Temerature range.
b) pH.
c) GH.
d) KH
e)Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, levels.
f) Water change frequency
(Most LFS's will check your water and give a list of readings).

2. Tank set up
a) Size.
b) Substrate.
c) Filtration.
d) Furnishings.
e) Other tank mates.
f) How long has it been set-up?
g) When was the last new fish added?
h) Foods used and frequency?

3. Symptoms / Problem description

4. Action taken (if any)

5. Medications used (if any) "

[Lisa Biddlecombe]

Hi Thanks for your response... I've filled out the details below - yes we realised that it may not be what we were told - but my boyfriend loved the fish so much he was willing to take that risk. Seems like a load of info... hopefully you can make sense of it! We're smiling again today as when I was changing the water yesterday I came across some sailfin fry and have moved them to a breeding tank - so we've lost one and gained a few others! Many thanks, Lisa

1. Water parameters
a) Temerature range. 24-25
b) pH. 7.0
c) GH. 7
d) KH 1. Water parameters 4
e)Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, levels. = NO2 0 NO3 <40
f) Water change frequency = Weekly - 15-20%, inc. addition of Aquatan conditioner
(Most LFS's will check your water and give a list of readings).

2. Tank set up
a) Size. 160L
b) Substrate. Gravel & layer of plant substrate underneath
c) Filtration. Internal (Juwel)
d) Furnishings. Live Plants, Bogwood cave, coconut shell/java moss
e) Other tank mates. 3 x Turquoise Rainbow, 2 x Sailfin Molly, 2 x Ram Cichlid, 2 x Agazzis Cichlid, 2 x Diamond Gourami, 1 x gold nugget plec, 1 x leopard frog plec, 1 x african butterfly
f) How long has it been set-up? Since Aug 09
g) When was the last new fish added? Plecs added 2 weeks ago
h) Foods used and frequency? - varies daily - mixture of flake, granule, wafer, plec/catfish tablets, frozen shrimp, dried bloodworm, v.small crickets (for butterfly), live shrimp. (they're spoilt rotten - but not overfed!) once per day, plus catfishtablet or wafer dropped at night. Nb. we have only ever seen them take the food once.

3. Symptoms / Problem description: No real symptoms - in the last few days they have become more energetic - coming out during the day, swimming throughout the tank (both top and bottom), when not swimming lies a little listless outside of the cave.
4. Action taken (if any) - 50% water change, stopped feeding bloodworm & crickets (butterfly had a habit of dropping the odd leg, carbon filter added to remove any remnants of medicine

5. Medications used (if any) - used Exit/Esha 2000 combination x 3 days - possible white spot problem, didn't seem more than a couple of white spots - none seen since. Nb. we have used this before with no problems.

[Richard B]

Nitrate is perhaps a little high if i read your data right

Bloodworms should not present any digestive problems for your Platydoras - the only problem ever is when feeding live bloodworm & disease or parasites are introduced, but this is not a common occurrance. Your feeding variety is excellent & better than a lot of others Have you tried pre-soaking the crickets for the butterfly so it doesn't miss the legs?

Your gold nugget plec is not one of the easiest species to keep long term & would prefer slightly warmer water cat-e-log states 25-30c but most people i've spoken to recently have said 28-30c

[Proteus]

if it was nitrate then many of those other fish would have been dead as well as most of the fish on the list have higher sensitivity to nitrate let alone a stripped raphael. Gold nugget would have been dead first for sure if that was the case anyhow.

I have taken in several raphaels when purchasing tanks and people would swear that they're immortal fish when so many fish died or having so many screwed up water changes so whatever killed the raphael has nothing to do with the water or the tank condition itself in my honest opinion due to other stock doing just fine? So I dont think its the high nitrate that killed the raphaels but might have had been a secondary factor anyhow.

I do have both 1x Platydoras Costatus 11+'' and 2x Platydoras armatulus at 11+'' and 7" and they're really true troopers.



My questions :

1) do you QT your fish before adding it to the community tank

2) where did you get those two from AND were they in the same tank

3) what did the fish look like when it died


Sorry about your loss- hope it doesn't stop you from getting more of those as they're super cool fish to have and enjoy for years to come.

[Richard B]

if it was nitrate then many of those other fish would have been dead as well as most of the fish on the list have higher sensitivity to nitrate let alone a stripped raphael. Gold nugget would have been dead first for sure if that was the case anyhow.

Sorry if there's confusion - it was a generic comment on the nitrate level not s suggestion that was the cause.

[Proteus]

my bad if I misread it as well too

[wrasse]

but in the last few days both have been out swimming all over the tank - then yesterday morning we found one of the cats dead. There is no outward sign of sickness and the other fish in the tank are fine. We have had trouble feeding the cats as they don't seem particularly interested

Hi Lisa.
If this had happened within a few days of purchase, I'd suspect disease - possibly oodinium. Its not always a clear diagnosis and often kills one species of fish without apparently affecting all the others. Swimming all over and not feeding are indicators. Stress of moving from the seller's tank to yours could trigger it. Look also for clamped fins.
Oodinium kills fairly quickly. Its unusual that it would take a month, but possible.
The day before a new addition its good practice to do a water-change to lower nitrates and 'neutralise' the tank, in order to help new fish adapt (you may already do this).
When you went back to the shop did you happen to check their remaining cats? - If they were all gone, it may be that they too had died.....
The retailer's explanation is b******* !