Queen arabesque deaths

[guysmiley]

I have 4 zebra juveniles and 4 queen arabesque juveniles with plenty of hiding spots in a 40g long with a corner filter, a #5 sponge and an eheim professional 3 ( for up to 65g). Today, I was putting in a wooden bubbler and everyone was active and ok. 2 hrs later all 4 queen arabesque were dead. The zebras are all fine. I have a long leaf ficus that drapes over the tank and was wondering if it poisoned them? I removed the cover below the plant and let it(the cover) drip off in the tank. The temp was a steady 83 deg. Ph 7.0 ammonia 0, gh 0-1, kh 3

[Barbie]

Why would you let the plant drip into the tank? How long had the tank been set up? Could you provide us with the rest of the answers to the questions in the sticky at the top of this forum please?

Barbie

[guysmiley]

Sorry.
I didn't realize the sap from the plant had dropped onto the lid till after the queens died. Then I realized it when I looked at the lid closely. I've since removed the plant.
It's a bare bottom 40 g long subdivided by a plexi divider. Queens on one side and zebras on the other. No other tank mates. plenty of caves and furniture. I change 25% bi weekly. 50 tap/ 50 r/o. The tank has been set up for 2 months. The canister has been running, on another tank, for 4 months.

[Mike_Noren]

Provided the ficus really is a species of Ficus isn't poisonous, or at least not significantly so, but there may have been insecticides or other chemical residues on the leaves.

[guysmiley]

Their sudden deaths(4 within 2 hours) led me to assume it was something I unknowingly did and the plant sap is the only "chemical" I could come up with. I did a 25%(50ro/50tap) water change yesterday and added a corner filter filled with carbon. I also did another 25% waterchange today. About a week ago I purchased 3 betta macrostoma and put them in a seperate tank. They came down with what looked like columnaris( there was another person who bought 6 from the same breeder, who's fish all died the same week, and he claims they had columnaris). I treated them with Jungle antibacterial medicated fish food, but lost them all. There is a possibility that I cross-contaminated them. This morning I found a zebra dead. The three remaining seem to be doing well and are still active.

[Barbie]

If they were mine, I would treat them with a medication for external parasites. I use a product called ProFormC, but it is only available in large quantities for pond or commercial usage. Anything with formalin and malachite green should work, with daily water changes. Have you tested for ammonia and nitrite? I know you ran the canister on another tank, but interruptions in the cycling process can happen quite easily, early on, and L260 tend to be extremely prone to issues that cause lack of oxygen, IME.

Barbie

[guysmiley]

Thanks for the response.
Ammonia is 0-.25 ppm
Nitrite is 0
I started using metro + by hikari. Is it ok to just switch from this to formalin/malachite green. If I switch, what temp should I keep them at during treatment and should I keep adding salt as you stated in the zebrapleco.com forum?

[Barbie]

Any ammonia at all is probably the cause of the initial issue. I would not use salt in conjunction with a formalin malachite green medication. The salt treatment and heat work well if they aren't already weakened, but if you are losing fish, I would do large water changes, reduce feeding, and treat.

Barbie

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I'm pretty sure the plant is a "red herring", the latex in Ficus spp. sap is toxic, but I've had a Ficus benjamina with a large volume of aerial roots growing into the tank without any problems.

L260 tend to be extremely prone to issues that cause lack of oxygen, IME.

That would be my suggestion as well.

Have a look at this thread: <http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =5&t=33883>

cheers Darrel

[guysmiley]

The last two zebras died last night sometime. One of them had reddish pectoral fins.

[guysmiley]

Does anyone have suggestions on how to treat the tank I had all the deaths in. I don't want to destroy the biological filtration that I already have, but I also dont want to harbor any parasites. Can I just let the bad things cycle out and, if so, how long should I let the tank stay without any fish?

[racoll]

Sorry to hear you lost your fishes.

Seeing as you don't really know what the cause of death was, but suspect a nasty pathogen of some kind, I would not take any chances.

This means stripping the tank down and disinfecting everything with bleach.

[guysmiley]

I nuked it today and set it back up. Thanks for everyone's help. I am so heartbroken, It helps to know there's nice ppl out there. Thanks especially to Barbie, you really make a difference!