heartbreak and temperature question

[Kim Caron]

After 12 years of aquarium keeping, I have had my first outbreak of ich, which has killed 75% of my 40 gal tank occupants. The tank is at my husband's business, he feeds, and I clean once a week. Three new fish last week, this week chaos, coating, dead fish. Store owner says I keep my tank too low at 76 degrees, my fish were stressed, new fish came in and developed ich as result of too low tank temp. I have always kept my tanks at 76. Does everyone else agree with her that I should be keeping it at 80?

Tank has been up 5 years, all tests done at excellent levels. Some of the fish I lost were 3 to 5 years old.

Kim

[jeffro426]

What kind of fish?

[kveeti]

When was the last time before this that new fish were added? Ich doesn’t happen spontaneously; the theory that it’s always present in a tank is a myth. If you haven’t had an outbreak for a while (years?), only since the new fish, it was those new fish that brought it in. Even if the new fish were stressed by lower temperature, the fact remains if the new fish hadn’t already had ich, it wouldn’t have manifested itself. The store owner is full of hooey.

I keep my tanks at 78. Another question is, how did you acclimate the new fish?

Here is great reading (and about 2/3 down “Ich Myth”).
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml

[TKOS]

I keep one of my tanks at 70F. This is for cory catfish and white cloud minnows. It is the easiest low temp for me to keep stable as white clouds are cold water fish. If you are keeping most normal tropical fish 76-78 and stable is fine. Certain fish like discus want much hotter water. And neon tetras like really warm water as well. But platies and swordtails like 72-76F. So saying your tank is too low for a community setup is wrong. But you should tell us what fish you are (or were) keeping.

It seems extreme that your fish died of ich so fast though. I have seen fish hang in for long periods of time with ich.

[fishdude]

:eek: i keep my tanks at 74 and never had a problem

[Kim Caron]

Dead - bosemani rainbows, lemon tetra, all my rummynoses, black neons, black phantom tetras, all my beautiful big congo tetras, one of the tiger barbs that I added one week ago. No sign of any ich at that time. Today, I have three tiger barbs, one congo, two bosemanis left. Previous fish addition, maybe six months ago. This tank has been stable with the same fish for almost two years. I read about ich at the recommended site earlier today, thank you.

I cannot remember if I dumped the bag water in when I added the barbs. Usually I do not, but since I can't remember I have a bad feeling that I was careless. My fish are gone and nothing to be done other than cry, but I do want to know if I harmed them by having the temp too low. I am getting the impression that the fish store owner was throwing blame at me because she didn't want me after her because her fish killed my entire tank in a week.

[Leopardess]

I'd say your temperature was fine. Many people keep their tanks at that temp.

[DEmigh]

:sad

Is this the first time you have dealt with this LFS?

[chefkeith]

Depends on the fish. For my clown loaches, I keep my tanks 82F.

[chefkeith]

I have 2 tanks linked together. Back when my cat fell in the tank (long story), I lost control of my tank temps because one of my heaters was unplugged and my canister filter was down. Anyways, My clown loaches would swim from a 84F tank to a 78F with out any shock or signs of stress.

There's a thread on this incident if you look it up in the search option link above.

link to pic's of my tank-
http://home.comcast.net/~chefkeithallen/page2.html

[RTR]

Your dealer is at best dishonest, at worst a fool. Or maybe vice versa. There is nothing wrong with operating a community tank at 76F.

I operate at leat two dozen tanks, and the majority of those are at 75-78, mostly about 76F. a few are warmer because they have more lights, and I cannot use certain fish in them because they are too warm (80-82F).

But you really should quarantine all new fish before adding them to existing display tanks, no matter whether or not you have confidence in the dealer. It is cheap and worthwhile insurance.

[belmont0182]

i dont know what the problem is but i really want to know how you linked two tanks together, that is really cool