Well, the stocking was pretty tight. I know that. We added these fish over a course of about 3 weeks. We finally began to care for the aquarium like before, and a large amount of the older fish died. The larger angelfish was not territorial- I tend to sit in front of the tank for hours, and he doesn't really snap at anyone after he gets used to their presence. The leopard is the most territorial. He is willing to share the whole tank with all the other fish, but he really dislikes angels. The loaches never gave any problems- they must be the most even tempered fish I've ever had. I've had clown loaches for years. The other fish are forced to move out of the way when he swims, but he doesn't attack anyone. He is prone to eating snails, small fish, dead fish, and other small living creatures, but all of the fish were too large for that. Well, there is only one angel left, and now the tank seems to be relatively okay. It was just odd how all the fish were fine until we cleaned the filter and put up the lights. I was wondering if there was a connection to that. Also, I haven't checked nitrite/nitrates because my test kits are old, and I don't think they will give correct results. The little ammonia is because the tank had no water changes for a whole year....it was neglected, and it won't happen again. The ammonia level should be going down as we do more water changes and clean the gravel.
Sudden death- Coincidence?
- Thread starter CoryCatfish
- Start date
Well, the stocking was pretty tight. I know that. We added these fish over a course of about 3 weeks. We finally began to care for the aquarium like before, and a large amount of the older fish died. The larger angelfish was not territorial- I tend to sit in front of the tank for hours, and he doesn't really snap at anyone after he gets used to their presence. The leopard is the most territorial. He is willing to share the whole tank with all the other fish, but he really dislikes angels. The loaches never gave any problems- they must be the most even tempered fish I've ever had. I've had clown loaches for years. The other fish are forced to move out of the way when he swims, but he doesn't attack anyone. He is prone to eating snails, small fish, dead fish, and other small living creatures, but all of the fish were too large for that. Well, there is only one angel left, and now the tank seems to be relatively okay. It was just odd how all the fish were fine until we cleaned the filter and put up the lights. I was wondering if there was a connection to that. Also, I haven't checked nitrite/nitrates because my test kits are old, and I don't think they will give correct results. The little ammonia is because the tank had no water changes for a whole year....it was neglected, and it won't happen again. The ammonia level should be going down as we do more water changes and clean the gravel.
You don't always see the aggression. Anyway, there is no way to know for sure. Changing your light should not have made a difference. No water changes will certainly have an effect on the health of your fish. However, what you described does sound more like an aggression issue than disease. My advice at this point is to continue to watch and see what happens.
Is it a true Siamese algae eater (I know there are a couple different kinds and some are very aggressive and mislabeled)? I had a gold algae eater in my tank that started to attack my fish. They like to eat fishes slime coat. I never had any injuries but I rehomed him the second I saw him try to put his mouth on my angels. Maybe that addition as something to do with it
Added aggression most likely from from overstocking.
Could just be me but that seems like a lot of fish for a 33 gallon tank.. :/ Any amount of ammonia is a warning sign IMO. If it were a tank of just tetras and cory cats, I'd say you could get away with 15 fish. However, angelfish and other fish that could be potentially aggressive and need a lot of room creates problems, especially when they are cramped.
Could just be me but that seems like a lot of fish for a 33 gallon tank.. :/ Any amount of ammonia is a warning sign IMO. If it were a tank of just tetras and cory cats, I'd say you could get away with 15 fish. However, angelfish and other fish that could be potentially aggressive and need a lot of room creates problems, especially when they are cramped.
We took our water to a store to have it tested (still haven't bought new test kits) and there was a level of nitrates that was on the high spectrum of the chart. That means that the day before, there was a spike of nitrites. That's the cause of the deaths, I think. It was a coincidence that it happened when we put the lamp up. Also, the fact that we cleaned the filter and did a water change on the same day may have killed some bacteria.
We bought a small power filter to complement our canister filter, and we planted a large amount of plants. Now the aquarium looks like this:
We are doing very tiny water changes daily, hoping that the nitrate level will lower. The second filter should help with the ammonia, and we are keeping the fish on a mini-diet (feeding a little once a day) to help lower the levels.
Also, yes, it is a true Siamese Algae Eater. You can see him on the wall on the right of the aquarium. He spends all day eating things I can't see off of the rocks and plants.
The Leopard still is snappy toward other fish, but the smaller angel is fin-nipping the veil skirttail tetras. He's half their size! What a little bugger...
