Sudden death
Posted: 05 Nov 2004, 17:16
I'm experiencing sudden deaths of catfish (plus one knight goby and one pantodon) in four separate tanks, all within a 48 hour period.
I have test kits for ammonia and nitrates which come back normal, which is to say none present.
The 220 gal. tank has been set up for a year, where I work during the day. I've lost 2 pim blochiis, the pantodon, and 4 horabagrus brachysoma in that tank, with another 2 horabagrus looking very poorly. No fish added in the last 2 months.
The other tanks are in my home, a 29 gal. where 2 julliis and 2 paleatus died; a 29 gal. where 1 agassizi died, (another languishing), a 40 gal. where the goby died. These are long-established tanks. No new fish added in the last 2 months.
All tanks runs at 77-79. There are different varieties of loaches in every tank, along with rams, ancistrus and a potluck of midwater fish.
The dying/dead fish seem to be slightly bloated after death; the bigger pims were twitching (possibly because they could not right themselves). There seems to be some loss of swim ability and respiratory distress similar to swim-bladder disorder, but much quicker onset, and more severe.
After trying to eliminate all possibilities, I realized I had fed the tanks frozen bloodworms from a new package 2 days ago ... which I normally only give to the big guys at work. Because the gobys like them so much, I treated everybody at home to a few also, with some of the tanks getting a little more than others because of the number of cats/loaches in various tanks.
Is it possible that food poisoning is the cause of this rash of deaths? Has anyone every gotten a bad batch of frozen bloodworms?
The fish that primarily eat flake/algae wafers seem 100 percent healthy and unaffected.
It's been a bad couple of days. I'd appreciate any thoughts.
Kathy S
I have test kits for ammonia and nitrates which come back normal, which is to say none present.
The 220 gal. tank has been set up for a year, where I work during the day. I've lost 2 pim blochiis, the pantodon, and 4 horabagrus brachysoma in that tank, with another 2 horabagrus looking very poorly. No fish added in the last 2 months.
The other tanks are in my home, a 29 gal. where 2 julliis and 2 paleatus died; a 29 gal. where 1 agassizi died, (another languishing), a 40 gal. where the goby died. These are long-established tanks. No new fish added in the last 2 months.
All tanks runs at 77-79. There are different varieties of loaches in every tank, along with rams, ancistrus and a potluck of midwater fish.
The dying/dead fish seem to be slightly bloated after death; the bigger pims were twitching (possibly because they could not right themselves). There seems to be some loss of swim ability and respiratory distress similar to swim-bladder disorder, but much quicker onset, and more severe.
After trying to eliminate all possibilities, I realized I had fed the tanks frozen bloodworms from a new package 2 days ago ... which I normally only give to the big guys at work. Because the gobys like them so much, I treated everybody at home to a few also, with some of the tanks getting a little more than others because of the number of cats/loaches in various tanks.
Is it possible that food poisoning is the cause of this rash of deaths? Has anyone every gotten a bad batch of frozen bloodworms?
The fish that primarily eat flake/algae wafers seem 100 percent healthy and unaffected.
It's been a bad couple of days. I'd appreciate any thoughts.
Kathy S