Unexplained deaths in established tank

S

skinnyfish

AC Members
Jun 5, 2015
13
1
3
Canada
I have a 90G freshwater setup been running 2 years with no issues. Stock list: pair Red Severum, 1 Featherfin cat, 1 pleco, 7 BuenosAires tetras. All was good until Friday when I fed zucchini for Pleco and Sevs. Saturday the pleco was on his back, alive but in distress. He died overnight. Did a 30% water change and vaccumed gravel on Sunday (which I do weekly). Monday morning my male Sev was just sitting on bottom refusing food. This never happens. Today (Wed) he now unable to stay upright, laying on his side in distress, will likely die today. All other fish seem fine.
I tested water with test strips (I know they suck but thats what I have) Levels read GH60, KH160, Ph7.5 (no changes, I have very hard well water my fish are acclimatized to) Ammonia 0, NO2 0.5, NO3 reading 15 (this is only level that changed).
Whats going on and how can I correct this before I lose all my fish?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wild West
Very unlikely your parameters changed enough to make that happen.

Did you introduce anything else into the tank? Clean with anything new? Perform any other actions or maintenance?

In my experience, scenarios like you describe are usually induced by an event of some kind.

I would do several large water changes until things seem back to normal. If you introduced something into the tank you want to it out. The other possibility is some type of disease, but seems unlikely in stable tank.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wild West
Did you wash the zucchin? Did you cook or Microwave it?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wild West
tanker said:
Did you wash the zucchin? Did you cook or Microwave it?
Click to expand...
Good questions. Even scrubbing with a sponge could be bad. Most sponges and some soaps contain anti-microbial agents which are dangerous to a tank. You will actually see fine print on sponges with anti-microbials state "not safe for aquariums" right on the package.

All my buckets and such only see tank water.
 
That is a stuff one to call but I would think the Zucchini may have a bacteria, or fungus. The really seem to be the only 2 fish that really consumed it and are the only 2 in trouble.
 
Good questions! Re tank maintenance: nothing new added to tank or used during maintenance. All maintenance equipment is dedicated to only this tank. I even use seperate buckets (different colors) for water out and water in.
Interesting that some of you question the zucchini. The same thoughts have crossed my mind. I feed it raw but always carefully washed, never fed if it is getting soft or slimy. As for pesticide or chemical contamination I believe that may be the culprit. Like Smitty said, it seems suspicious that only those that ate it are having problems. BTW my male Sev died yesterday evening. My female seems fine, but for whatever reason she did not eat the zucc, she waited in her usual spot for pellets.
I am doing extra water changes to balance out the chemistry, which seems to be working. For now the crisis seems to have passed. It just sucks that I lost 2 of my favorite fish.
As for the zucchini I threw it out. There is no way for me to know for sure what if any contamimation was present. But it opened my eyes to the hazards of "chemical farming". From now on nothing but certified organic will be fed to my fish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom