All my newly acquired L144 are dead...

[greenpointer]

I bought 5 and they were ranging from 2.5-4"... The day after they arrived and were acclimated - I found the first floating around dead. The next day another died, and the next another. Today I pulled the last two who were dead is well... I have other fish in the tank, some were also newly acquired, and they are all pretty well so far....

Any thoughts? I am so sad.

[krazyGeoff]

Hi there,
Sorry for your loss.

How big is the tank? Including dimensions
What are the water parameters, specifically Amonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, temp
how long has the tank been running?

There is other information you can provide as per the information in this post
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... f=5&t=4305

Cheers

Geoff

[wijnands]

Also, did they arrive looking well fed and lively? You're not leaving the lead weights on plants are you?

[Richard B]

Isn't there some previous discussion on plant leads being as good as inert in the aquarium?

[greenpointer]

Tank info: 18x18x18" cube with temp of about 76-79. Ph is about 6.4
I do not have a test kit for the rest.

The tank has been running for about 3 months now. I have other fish in the tank from very early on.

What is "lead weights" on the leaves mean?

[krazyGeoff]

lead weights are a strip of thin lead that is wrapped around the roots of a plant so that it sits on the bottom of the tank in the plant shop. otherwise they would either need to plant it or it would float.

We really need some of the other parameters to be of more assistance.

What sort of filtration do you have.

Cheers

Geoff

[greenpointer]

Oh... No lead weights in my tank.

I have a eheim 2213... I might buy that API test kit to see what is going on...

[krazyGeoff]

Hi,
It may be a bit late for the test kit as the tank may already recovered.

They were quite big fish really, and it feels like some kind of shock to their system.

The onset seems quite quick for an amonia spike, which is what it feels like.

In a tank that size it is still possible, if the original stocking is quite lite, that the filter wasn't really cycled so the addition of a significant amount of fish (in terms of relative size / volume) could have caused a toxic spike.

The bacteria colony would only have been big enough to sustain a size which could be fed from the waste of the existing fish.

What were the other fish, and their sizes?

Cheers

[wijnands]

Isn't there some previous discussion on plant leads being as good as inert in the aquarium?

Possibly. I know I've lost 3 of those little SAE in temporary housing and the only possible cause I can think of was the leads on the plants. Everything else in that bucket was fine only those three idiots insisted on grazing on the leads.

[greenpointer]

the rest of the fish are smaller but there are quite a few of them... All together I think I have about 15 smaller fish in there.

I feel like I had too many deaths since my tank started. What testing kits should I get? (I mean - what should I test for?)

[racoll]

the rest of the fish are smaller but there are quite a few of them... All together I think I have about 15 smaller fish in there.

What species and what sizes are they? We'll need more information to be of any help.

[krazyGeoff]

I feel like I had too many deaths since my tank started. What testing kits should I get? (I mean - what should I test for?)

Amonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH is always the minimum that I test for when I have a new and existing tank.

Anything else can be tested by your LFS, if you ask them. Of course everything can be tested by your LFS, but those are the test kits I have on hand.

Cheers