Bottom Feeders Keep Dying...Help!!

[Lupin]

I float the bag for 20 mins or so to acclimate new additions.

I just tested my water

GH: 120ppm

KH: 0ppm

pH: 6

NO2: 0ppm

NO3: 20ppm

The low pH must be shocking them to death.

Could you please post in detail your acclimation process? What is your ammonia? You never mentioned it. Is your pH consistent?

 

[Lupin]

I've been buying from PetSmart, and only one or two at a time. My only other option is WalMart.

As far as food, I fed a few sinking shrimp pellets every day with the normal flakes. There is more than enough algae accumulated for even a pleco to live on for a week!

Test their water parameters and compare them to yours. As far as food is concerned, were they eating well before they died? Were they in healthy condition when you bought them? How long had they been staying in the petstores' tanks prior to being bought?

 

[Lupin]

I've read that using larger gravel causes toxins to accumulate in pockets between them and can kill bottom feeders as they dislodge it. Would changing to a finer gravel help too?

True however if you vacuum them up, then you could prevent them from building up in which case the result would be the hydrogen sulfide forming and if the fish are exposed to it, the fish will obviously react negatively and eventually die. Do you vacuum your substrate? How often do you disturb the substrate?

For catfish, the finer the substrate, the better for them but make sure the substrate has no sharp edges which can damage the barbels and low part of the body. You still have to disturb the substrate as much as possible to make sure it won't compact too quickly thus forming anaerobic areas.

I keep panda cories myself and haven't had problems with them.