PlanetCatfish.com

My farlowella cat is dieing from a bizarre problem that has killed 11 cory cats in my tank so far (I put in 2 orginally, then one lived so I got three buddies for him, they all died but one of the new ones, then I put two more in, they died and I tried to put in a large school cause people said they needed to be in groups of six or more, the one still lived the new ones died. The farlowella cat I just put in is showing the same signs now. Help please!
1. Water parameters
a) 78-80
b) 7.6
c) cant find a test kit
d) cant find a test kit
e)Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, and pH 7.6
also tested for copper and it's 0
f) once a week or every two weeks

2. Tank set up
see the tank - http://youtube.com/watch?v=OAgdOt31uIc
a) 65 gallon tall (two feet tall)
b) medium size roughish gravel
c) two 70 AquaClears and a 30 AquaClear powerhead
e) African Knife, quarter sized angel, albino cory cat that has been in there for 4 months now, and a pearl gourami
f) 6 months
g) four days ago, the farlowella cat
h) a pinch of flake food or freeze dried bloodworms and a quarter of a tetramin in the morning; a pinch of mysis, frozen bloodworms, or soft krill pellets in the evening. Put a rock with a Marine Algae sheet in for the Farlowella Cat and he ate it all by yesterday evening.

3. They act crazy (kinda like a swim bladder disease) then they die in a day or two. They also have rapid breathing. No visible signs of sickness. Lateral line looks normal, eyes are clear, pigment is normal, etc.

4. increased food (incase they were starving)

5. no medication has been used yet

Thank you for your help! Right now I am debating just taking out all the gravel and putting in new substrate incase it is in the gravel (as it has only affect bottom dwellers). Any advise?

Hello and welcome to Planet Catfish.
I've seen this kind of thing too, but on 2 different plecos and a killifish. I believe this either occurs because of lack of dissolved oxygen or because of high nitrates (in the case of my killifish), but I cannot be sure. It could also be from starvation, which seemed to be the case with the plecos. Some wild caught fish are starved to the point that they don't realize that they are hungry anymore and in my experience this is usually accompanied by an internal parasite of some sort, stressing the fish too. This almost always leads to death. What kind of cories were you buying (some species are not bred in captivity)?
As for your Farlowella, I can't say what is killing it. Farlowella are known for completely cleaning a tank of algae and then dying. If there is no algae, then there is a pretty good chance that it wouldn't be able to survive in your tank anyway, which by the way is very nice and clean of algae. My best advice is do a 33-50% water change and see if it gets better. Maybe add an airstone too. Increasing food rations shouldn't help and in fact is probably to the detriment of your fish IMO. If it IS from increased ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels, then more food, if uneaten, is just fueling the increase in those harmful chemicals.
Good luck,
Josh

They were pepper corys, albino corys, and julli corys. Here another factoid for you though, I work at the store I bought him from and he has been there for three months without a problem, eating TetraMins and sheets of Marine Algae. What did you think of replacing the substrate, bad idea? I will crank up the power head's bubbles and add an airstone. Thanks!

This sounds more like they are poisened, maybe ammonia combined with low oxygen level. If your tapwater is of good quality I would recomend you to change 70-75%, add some salt (disolved in water) around 100gr to that volyme of water and raise the temp to 84. If they stop breathing fast after that, they was suffering of ammonia/nitrite poisening.

Janne

My farlowella is still alive. Was doing great (eating/acting normal)... then I did a water change and he is doing the same thing again! It's not ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate poisoning... I tested for all of those and they are 0 and the nitrate is 5-10. His behavior obviously shows that it is environmental though... so the only thing I can figure is hardness of the water (the one thing I cant find a kit for!). Im gonna go around to every pet store until I find one darn it! Hopefully he will survive this time too.

ps it was a 15 gallon water change out of a 65 gallon tank.

It was never mentioned whether the Farlowella were quarantined and treated for flukes and other parasitic worm which typically infest all wild caught Loricaridiae. Using PraziPro and flubendezole at the manufacturers' recommended dosages is an important step in acclimating them to life in captivity. Each medication kills parasites the other doesn't. These parasites drain the life out of the fish faster than they can replenish themselves through feeding and it is true that they reach a point where they lose all interest in life.

My impression is that they were just brought home and turned lose in your tank. Hoping this will work is rarely enough. They are not a very hardy fish even when they are healthy and require the absolute best in water quality.