I have a 79 gallon freshwater aquarium that has been operational with fish for approximately one year. I had a large pleco in the tank for approximately the first four months. This pleco came from my 39 gallon tank where he lived comfortably for about two years. This pleco shared the tank with neon tetras, cardinal tetras, rummy nose tetras and corey cats. Suddenly my pleco developed what appeared to be lesions on his tail area. Shortly thereafter he appeared to have a major nervous system problem and this pleco did die. All six corey cats died one by one. All tetras remained healthy. I've since tried to re-introduce plecos and coreys into the tank several times and always with the same results. Within two weeks they are dead. The same tetras live on with virtually no loss of life. I have algae in the tank. I change the water once per month (approx 80% change). I keep the temp a steady 78 degrees. The tetras are quite healthy. Why can't I get the algae eaters to live? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Help! My Algae Eaters Keep Dying!!
- Thread starter Ninham
- Start date
Just to throw in my opinion (and keep your thread high up on the board until someone with more experience can write back), I would say it could be your water change habits. The corys are probably spending all their time at the bottom while the tetras are up in the open space of the tank. If you are only changing water once a month, you are probably getting a lot of ammonia buildup on the bottom of the tank. The coreys are down there, so they take the hit. You should probably be doing about a 20% change per week via gravel vac and not 80% once a month (or ever).
*Edit: I didn't address the pleco and his tail lesions because I have no experience with them.
*Edit: I didn't address the pleco and his tail lesions because I have no experience with them.
I'd hazzard a guess your tank 'crashed'. Ammonia spikes can be deadly for some types of fish. Tetras are very hardy (some use them 4 cycling) but even they have their limits. Have you checked your parameters? What are they? What kind of filtration? What kind of substrate & how often do u vacuum? The more info you provide the better your chances 4 :help:
We need to know what the readings are in the tank: pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
Also a pH reading from your tap water -- take a cup of water and let it sit 24hours. Then test the pH.
Post all the results.
Your problem sounds like classic OTS -- Old Tank Syndrom. If you are doing 80% once per month you have a high nitrate/TDS/DOC build up and your massive water changes could be sending the fish into osmotic shock. This will usually affect bottom feeders first.
Ideally you need to change the water 25-50% per week.
Here's some reading on water changes and OTS:
http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/small/ots.html
http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/water/waterchange.html
http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/water/waterchangemath.html
http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/water/otswater.html
Roan
Also a pH reading from your tap water -- take a cup of water and let it sit 24hours. Then test the pH.
Post all the results.
Your problem sounds like classic OTS -- Old Tank Syndrom. If you are doing 80% once per month you have a high nitrate/TDS/DOC build up and your massive water changes could be sending the fish into osmotic shock. This will usually affect bottom feeders first.
Ideally you need to change the water 25-50% per week.
Here's some reading on water changes and OTS:
http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/small/ots.html
http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/water/waterchange.html
http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/water/waterchangemath.html
http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/water/otswater.html
Roan