~Newbie help!~Plecos Keep Dying
- Thread starter Nightangel486
- Start date
Thanks guys! I'm at work at the moment so I will give specifics on the water later. The tank is more of the boyfriend's hobby but as I'm helping pay for the fish I figured it'd be a good idea to figure out why they are dying before we decide whether to get another or not! Even if we don't, it's such a mystery to me that I'd like to figure out what's going on anyway!
But as far as the filter goes we keep 2 of the filter pads in there without the carbon (not sure if that's good or not so let me know if that needs to be changed) so that if we need to change it, one can remain in there with all the bacteria. Hopefully having a filter on each side of the tank will help too.
I can also tell you we usually do a 20-30% water change every other week at least, using the gravel vac to get stuff up off the bottom, then add the water treatments/stability/stress coat as well as some nutrients for the plants (though perhaps using too much is what's causing the algae?). When we first got the tank set up ammonia was a problem, so we removed the fish and did a massive water change (about 80%), since then everything has been stable, tonight I'll have him use the test kit so I can get exact numbers on everything and what brands of water treatments we use.
Aside from the few Glofish we've had from the very beginning dying off all the other fish I listed above have been the only things in the tank, and have been doing fine, when we bought this last pleco we also added 5 guppies that were in the same bag w/the pleco, acclimated the same amount of time and added with him, and while he died they are all doing fine, so I'm really stumped here!
But as far as the filter goes we keep 2 of the filter pads in there without the carbon (not sure if that's good or not so let me know if that needs to be changed) so that if we need to change it, one can remain in there with all the bacteria. Hopefully having a filter on each side of the tank will help too.
I can also tell you we usually do a 20-30% water change every other week at least, using the gravel vac to get stuff up off the bottom, then add the water treatments/stability/stress coat as well as some nutrients for the plants (though perhaps using too much is what's causing the algae?). When we first got the tank set up ammonia was a problem, so we removed the fish and did a massive water change (about 80%), since then everything has been stable, tonight I'll have him use the test kit so I can get exact numbers on everything and what brands of water treatments we use.
Aside from the few Glofish we've had from the very beginning dying off all the other fish I listed above have been the only things in the tank, and have been doing fine, when we bought this last pleco we also added 5 guppies that were in the same bag w/the pleco, acclimated the same amount of time and added with him, and while he died they are all doing fine, so I'm really stumped here!
We don't normally remove the fish to do water changes, but when the tank was first cycling ammonia was a huge issue and the tank wasn't being cleaned thoroughly enough, so we removed them to the cooler once to do a massive water change and vacuum the gravel better. Since then the tank has been stable.
Nerite snails are a perfect algae eating machines and do not require much in the way of care. Olive snails are a U.S. native snail and very effective.
You definately have some issues with your tank though that you need to address prior to getting more fish. The water parameters are necessary. Also, can you tell us specifically the names of the filters that you are using? In skimming over your postings I didn't see them, sorry in advance if you have already put them in here but tending to my filter/tank and running in and out of here.
You definately have some issues with your tank though that you need to address prior to getting more fish. The water parameters are necessary. Also, can you tell us specifically the names of the filters that you are using? In skimming over your postings I didn't see them, sorry in advance if you have already put them in here but tending to my filter/tank and running in and out of here.
Just to add to what everyone else has said, if the sales girl could reach in and grab a small pleco it was practically dead when you got it. Normally they are a real mission to catch and buying a healthy one usually involves a lot of muttering and moving of ornaments in the tank. They are shy fast and will take cover behind anything in the tank to avoid being caught. So in that case I think you got a sick one.
As for picking them up by hand, thats actually the best way to move larger ones as their spines can get snagged in the net, If you have ever picked up a large pleco you will realise that handling them does about as much harm as handling a piece of sandpaper. Your hand will wear down before their skin does.
Sorry thats not an exact answer to why they died, but they are normally very hardy and usually the last to die if you have water quality problems.
Ian
As for picking them up by hand, thats actually the best way to move larger ones as their spines can get snagged in the net, If you have ever picked up a large pleco you will realise that handling them does about as much harm as handling a piece of sandpaper. Your hand will wear down before their skin does.
Sorry thats not an exact answer to why they died, but they are normally very hardy and usually the last to die if you have water quality problems.
Ian
Yeah that was the image I had always of pleco's that they were pretty hardy fish, which is why this is so strange to me to have them die, when I was younger we had one in a smaller tank that got to be huge and lived forever!
As for the water I'm pretty confident that the ammonia/nitrates/nitrites are all at 0 or within the lowest/safe levels when we test the water w/the master kit, which is another reason it's prerplexing to have them dying...as I said we did start out the tank with 6 Glofish, they survived the cycling process just fine and only within the past week-2 weeks have been dying off, not sure if it's for the same reasons, but like I said, none have appeared sick in any way, they just began looking slow/droopy before slowly dying off, and the 2 we have left are still fine. So with those I'm assuming they were pretty old when we bought them.
As for the water I'm pretty confident that the ammonia/nitrates/nitrites are all at 0 or within the lowest/safe levels when we test the water w/the master kit, which is another reason it's prerplexing to have them dying...as I said we did start out the tank with 6 Glofish, they survived the cycling process just fine and only within the past week-2 weeks have been dying off, not sure if it's for the same reasons, but like I said, none have appeared sick in any way, they just began looking slow/droopy before slowly dying off, and the 2 we have left are still fine. So with those I'm assuming they were pretty old when we bought them.
Meh, in a 29, stick with a couple ottos, a couple nerrites and a 6-pack of cory cats and give you a more interesting tank with less bioload then a single 6" pleco. They'll keep everything pretty much spotless (as much as fish can do outside of mechanical glass and filter cleaning/gravel vacuuming). You're really not going to have much algae anyway, you'll just get your diatom spike after a few months after it's full cycled that will last for a while, and ottos and nerrites are supreme at cleaning that stuff...
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Originally Posted by Nightangel486
Sooo we did about a 20% water change as usual, changed the filter, <-- changed all the media (sponges, etc)? you removed all the good bacteria that had been building up in the filter and now your tank is back at square one, un-cycled. daily testing for ammonia and nitrites and large volume water changes to keep those test results at zero. don't add any new fish until you are consistently getting zero readings for ammonia and nitrites.
:iagree:
How thick is your gravel?
At one point i had a similar problem, which was the bi-product of build up of 'stuff' under the gravel. Despite my frequent vacuuming, because i had recently decided to try planting the tank to some extent, it resulted in accidental poisoning of all the fish. I resolved the problem by thinning out excess gravel and removing the fish for a few days and placing them in a bare tank to recover - placin them back in the old tank after two more water changes and a significant amount less gravel.
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Though you haven't mentioned any existing fish in your tank dieing...so perhaps this isnt the problem; but figured id share just incase.
At one point i had a similar problem, which was the bi-product of build up of 'stuff' under the gravel. Despite my frequent vacuuming, because i had recently decided to try planting the tank to some extent, it resulted in accidental poisoning of all the fish. I resolved the problem by thinning out excess gravel and removing the fish for a few days and placing them in a bare tank to recover - placin them back in the old tank after two more water changes and a significant amount less gravel.
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Though you haven't mentioned any existing fish in your tank dieing...so perhaps this isnt the problem; but figured id share just incase.
