SAE drops dead during water change...

O

Obsidian

AC Members
Dec 13, 2004
115
0
0
Pacific Northwest
Grrrrrr......

Yesterday, my siamese algae eater died suddenly during a water change. He was just fine, grazing happily on the banana plant right before I started the water change. But about half way through the process, he was dead. :rant: :sad

So I ended up ripping out all the hornwort in my tank and vacuuming the gravel thoroughly, did about a 50% water change. My tank is a lot less dense... vegetation-wise... and some of the fish were not happy about losing so much cover. But it is less messy. Anyone have any clue as to why my SAE just keeled over? Was it poisoning from stirring up the substrate? Stress? Bad genetics?

Then my kids reported that one of the otos was dead... lying on the bottom of the tank. But later when I went to net it, it was gone... it wasn't dead after all. :rolleyes:
 
How much water did you change? Had you done a recent water change? I suspect (though don't have anything to back it up) that SAEs are more susceptable to osmotic shock than other fish. If the water from the tap is different from the tank water (b/c of not doing frequent water changes), a large water change could result in the fishs inability to regulate the influx of ions resulting in...death.
 
Yes, what do you do during a standard water change? Did you forget possibly to add dechlorinator?
 
Nope... he died before I was finished siphoning water. Let's see... last water change was Friday, 30%, nitrates at 10ppm. My guess is that I stirred up too much from the substrate. I have a heavily-planted tank, and I ripped out a bunch of hornwort, vacuumed the gravel under where it had been. So while I do twice weekly water changes, there are areas of my gravel that do not get vacuumed.

During a standard water change, I drain off 20-40%... usually about 25%... twice a week... Amquel added to tap water, carefully adjusted for temp. Traces and chelated iron/potassium added weekly, substrate fert tabs added under gravel as needed.

On a brighter note, that oto that was playing dead finally died too, and I can't find the receipt to return it. Bah....
 
THere seems little wrong with your setup and practices. But one thing I would suggest is to stop using root tabs. If you accidentally break them up in the water column they tend to lead to major algae breakouts. I am sure if you do a search in the plant forum section you will find out about that.
 
Solid tabs of fertilizer that you place under the gravel or substarte to allow the plants to grab nutrients directly through the root system.
 
so you're saying it died before the new water was even added? and that it died while water was being removed and substrated was being kicked around?


if that's the case maybe it just died of shock or a sudden release of nitrates from stirring up the substrate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom