Fish lifespans

[dwayne]

When I first set up my aquarium, June 2000, I bought 2 upsidedown catfish. I came home on Christmas eve from a perfectly fun evening of festivities only to find both of them bloated and floating on the top of my water.

I bought 10 neons a week ago, and my husband thinks the cats ate a few of them, which was why they were bloated.... but I eventually counted all the neons.

These guys hid 99% of the time, and I often wondered if they were still alive. I had just removed their hiding space 3 weeks ago (the castle) to do a thorough vacuuming of my gravel, as I do every 4 months or so. They were alive and well at that time.

No other fish in my tank appear to be sick. No deaths in the last, god maybe 3 months. The last deaths were guppies - 3 females, who were all 1 year old approximately and had bore a lot of fry.

Do you think the cats died of old age? :confused:

[JamisonBWolsh]

at the same time? Naw.. Catfish are KNOWN to live well over 10 years..

[PunkMartyr]

Don't sweat it, the only fish I've had a lot of success with is my crayfish and thats because they are the hardiest fish i've ever encountered, but you can only keep one of them in an aquarium usually (found that out the hard way). The little frogs I have are pretty tough too

[RTR]

No, your upsidedown cats did not die of old age. They are unlikely to even have been mature.

[Ledslnger]

I know loaches can live for over 20 years too! Nope, your catfish didn't die of old age!

[Decz]

Did you test your water after the deaths?

[famman]

How thick is your gravel substrate? You may have stirred up an anaerobic spot.
sorry
good luck

[TnCgal]

Famman just hit the nail on the head.

You mentioned in your original post that you did a thorough substrate vacuuming for the first time in several months.

Dwayne, you need to be doing this AT LEAST every other water change, I myself do it every single time I change my water, and NEVER go longer than a month. The reason for this is exactly what Famman mentioned. There are pockets of anaerobic bacteria that form in the substrate that are deadly to your fish. Their existence is due to an accumulation of waste material that has worked its way down to the bottom of the substrate where the normal aerobic (needs oxygen for survival) bacteria that stays towards the top of the substrate converts itself to deadly ANaerobic (survives withOUT oxygen) bacteria. When released after a thorough cleaning and upsetting the substrate, and having been given the chance to multiply in significant enough numbers (in this case, being given several months to do so) can prove fatal. Upside down catfish are bottom dwellers which can often be the first to experience the effects of such anaerobic activity from the substrate.

I'm so sorry about your fish, it is upsetting to lose fish after so long, but since you lost them both at once so soon after your first substrate vacuuming in several months, I would look to this as a cause and I recommend that you greatly increase the frequency of your substrate cleaning, thus minimizing your anaerobic bacterial population.

[dwayne]

Thanks for the replies! Fanman, my gravel is about 3/4" thick. I vacuum the gravel at every water change (25% every 2 weeks) but it's not 100% thorough - I sort of go around and under the castle and cave as much as I can.

Every 4 months or so I take out the castle and cave to rearrange and straighten up the air stone, heater, air tubing and plants (plastic)... they are all attached to the bottom of the tank by suction cups that tend to come undone during my water changes.

I suppose I did stir up an anerobic pocket of some kind though - the more I thought about it it is wierd that they died at the exact same time so close to the big cleaning.

I guess I'll have to be a lot more diligent about stirring up the substrate better at each and every water change!

Thanks guys!

[Orbitorly]

I stirred my 55 and the water became very cloudy it lasted 3-4 months and I couldnt get rid of it. I didn't lose any fish tho - Thank god :)

[dwayne]

You're lucky! When I do the big vacuuming, I also change the carbon in my filter. The water stays a bit cloudy for maybe 1 or 2 days then clears up again.

[famman]

Orbitorly,
when you stirred your gravel, you probably stirred up excess nutrients and caused a bacterial or algae bloom. In a way, that helped you avoid problems by removing the nutrients from your gravel.
good luck
:)