Bristlenose

bubblegumblow

bubblegumblow

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Dec 30, 2006
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Any ideas on the following?
My bristlenose was found dead this morning!! Only had her a week!
Water conditions were fine when I added her to my tank which has been up and running 5 months.When I added her I also added a piece of bogwwod with a plant attached to it.Then suddendly I had and lower PH and a Nitrite prob. Carried out 3 x 50 % water cahnges over a course of 3 days and added some more shell to the water to buffer it back to ph 7 and the tank rebalanced all ok,but bristlenose still not happy,( I take it the bogwood caused these probs.)
She just sat at the bottom from the moment she entered the tank (slight movement here and there) would not eat, offered various food from blood worm to zuccinhi and certainly not interested in algae!
Now for my questions........
Are these fish hard to introduce to a tank?
She was in the LFS for ages all the time I had been there over 7 months and possibly longer, (not a big turnover on these fish) so could she have just become accustomed to her tank and not liked the move?
I understand that bogwood needs to boiled before being added to the tank I pressume this had happened before having the plant attached but who knows!Am I right in thinking that this wood has caused these probs?
It has left me rather upset as I have worked extremely hard to maintain this tank and I really thought that a bristlenose was for me!
Any help would be appreciated.........

I have a 207 ltr freshwater tank with an Otto internal power filter pf800n.
3 x Clown loaches 2 x Golden gourami
3 x Pepepred catfish 2 x Kissing gourami
2 x Neon dwarfs 2 x Pearl gourami
2 x Flame dwarfs 27 x Neon tetra
5 x swordtails 10 x Guppies
guppy and swordie fry
 
First of all your overstocked, there are far too many fish in your tank. Secondly you tank doesn't have enough filtration (especially for that many fish). Your filter (800l/hr right) is only turning the water over 4 times an hour, a turnover of around 10 times an hour is recommended for a well stocked tank.

It is likely when you added the bristlenose the nitrifying bacteria couldn't handle the load anymore and you had a mini-cycle. This plus the pH shift and being just introduced would have stressed the bristlenose out a fair bit and he died. Under normal circumstances bristlenoses are pretty hardy.

My advice would be to return some of your fish to your LFS (especially the clown loaches and kissing gourami). Hope this helps.
 
bubblegumblow said:
I have a 207 ltr freshwater tank with an Otto internal power filter pf800n.
3 x Clown loaches 2 x Golden gourami
3 x Pepepred catfish 2 x Kissing gourami
2 x Neon dwarfs 2 x Pearl gourami
2 x Flame dwarfs 27 x Neon tetra
5 x swordtails 10 x Guppies
guppy and swordie fry
Click to expand...
Wow!!! You have enough fish for 180 gallon aquarium stocked in to a 55 gallon! You are way overstocked and if you do not start getting rid of some of them then more of your fish are going to die. I would start by finding a new home for the clown loaches and the kissing gouramis as they get way to big to live in a 207 liter aquarium. I would also consider getting another filter.
 
your tank has to be having a war going on in there. with all of the gouramis you mixed, they are most likely or are going to start killing each other. fish also get more aggressive when they are in cramped quarters or there are to many fish in a limited ammount of space.

you need to fix your stocking. the temperments of the fish is not the only issue. size is also. gold gouramis are very aggressive, especially two males, and they will kill everything in the tank that is smaller than they are. two male kissing gouramis are very aggressive towards on another and will chase each other and do their "kissing" fight to determine which fish is dominant. the kissing gouramis and gold gouramis will fight amongst each other too. it also sounds like you have four male dwarf gouramis in your tank; another mistake. they will not only fight with each other, but the other male gouramis. the pearl gouramis are the only truly peacful gouramis you ahve in there, and they are probably being terrorized by all of the others.

your tank is to small for clown loaches. you have way to many fish period. you NEED to get rid of most of them. swordtails tails and guppies brred like theres no tomorrow, so who knows how many fry you have in your tank.

if you do not change your stocking this is what is going to happen-
the pearl gouramis will be the first to go. they are going to get picked on by all of the other gouramis. then, the dwarf gouramis will be next, as the kissing gouramis and gold gouramis are more aggressive than they are when it comes to fighting other gouramis. the gold gouramis and kissing gouramis are pretty eavenly matched, but a kissing gourami can power through at tank for quite a period of time before it gets tired, and they dont have long fins to be ripped at, plus, they get bigger than gold gouramis. if the kissing gouramis kill the gold gouramis, they will likely fight to the death, but after that, it is hard to say what will happen. some kissing gouramis are peacful with other fish, but the swordtail will probably be attacked. if the gold gouramis kill the kissing gouramis, then they will fight to the death or team up and kill everything else in the tank, and the turn on eachother and then you'll be stuck with one aggressive, mean fish.

yuor bristlnoze was probalby killed by either the nitrites, nitrates, ammoina, or aggression in your tank.
 
Last edited:
bubblegumblow said:
Any ideas on the following?
I have a 207 ltr freshwater tank with an Otto internal power filter pf800n.
3 x Clown loaches 2 x Golden gourami
3 x Pepepred catfish 2 x Kissing gourami
2 x Neon dwarfs 2 x Pearl gourami
2 x Flame dwarfs 27 x Neon tetra
5 x swordtails 10 x Guppies
guppy and swordie fry
Click to expand...

I have a highly stocked 220l, but nothing like that :) And it have a 400l canister on it. Almost sounds trollish, but we'll see.

I have about 8 asst gourami, 6 peppered cory, 6 tetra and 2 bristlenose in a fairly well planted tank, and that's pushing it I think.

The loaches would definitely have to go, and a lot of the others. It's just too many, and nitrites will always be an issue.

Time for another tank perhaps to split up the fish (and an extra 120g for the loaches maybe)
 
Interesting....

Wow thanks for all the feed back it's definitely left me slightly confused with all the conflicting information there is in this World when it comes to Aquariums.
Before setting up/stocking my tank, I unfortunately did not know about this web site but went to my local library and found two books that I read religiously. The gouramis that I chose for my tank were ALL referred to as peaceful.
When I purchased the neon tetras I was told by my LFS that 27 are equal to 2 fish and that I shouldn't worry about over crowding as there's plenty of room. I also got told that there's no such thing as overcrowding just the more fish you have the more you clean!
When choosing my filter my LFS said that the filtration for this size tank had to be turned over 3 times the amount an hour, and as they did not stock many 600L/hr they sold me a 800L/hr and advised that it will be more than plenty even with my proposed fish list!
As for the cycle in the tank everything has been great up until this piece of bogwood and bristlenose was added.
There really isn't any aggression in the tank, it’s wonderful to watch, the Kissers are funny to and the 4 dwarfs (all males) swim freely around. The only aggression I see is at feeding time when one of the Gold Gouramis gets a bit pushy with a large female swordtail.
It's a shame when you think you are doing the right thing by what you have read/ been told.
Thanks for the input I will look into splitting the fish (new tank)
 
if you added the driftwood when you added the fish, that was silly. First off, if you had a drop in ph due to the drift wood, that means that there are tannins in the wood still. if its affecting the ph, who knows what else these tannins could be affecting. For all you know it could be some industrial runoff consisting of sodium hydroperoxide or something leathal.
 
The tetra are a low load fish and not the real problem, tho 27 are worth more than 2 fish :) They are just 27 small fish. The loaches are one of the bigger problems in the long run.

The issue with the filter is likely to be not enough biomedia for the fish load rather than turnover, but I don't know what it's like. But internal filters tend to be small without a lot of biomedia space.
 
Filter

Originally Posted by amosf
The issue with the filter is likely to be not enough biomedia for the fish load rather than turnover, but I don't know what it's like. But internal filters tend to be small without a lot of biomedia space
Click to expand...

I see what you mean

Maybe another filter in the 207ltr tank and maybe I'll move my loaches into another tank but I'm not sure on what size tank ???:confused:
I have a 20ltr in my kitchen but that is really for fry (Guppy and Swordtail) they get given homes to my childrens schools or friends etc.
The guy who sold me the loaches said that they can live to 50 years.Mine have grown since I got them they are really healthy and really funny the jesters of the tank so I don't want any harm to come to them.I will have a sort out and move some swordies and guppies as well.

Originally Posted by Daudzegier
if you added the driftwood when you added the fish, that was silly.
Click to expand...

As far as the bogwood is concerned,(again relying on the info provided by my LFS and being realively new to fishkeeping) then yes it was added to my tank with it's current occupants.I have since learnt a bit about bogwood and tannins and how it can lower PH etc if I was advised this or made aware of the risk of upsetting my tank by adding it then I may not have been so silly as you kindly point out :)
Thanks for the help on this one much appreciated to all
 
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