• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Dead platy! Now otos are dying. Plz help!

K

Ks198

Member
Joined
29 Apr 2017
Messages
60
Location
Bromley
hi guys,


I have a low tech 180l planted tank and it has been cycled for 5 weeks. Last Sunday, we went to shop and we bought

5 platy
4 Otto
4 zebra danios
2 bamboo shrimp

Everything got on really well until yesterday. I found a trace of nitrate in water test, so I did a 40% water change. This morning I got a call from wife and she found one of platy is lying dead.

What could be wrong? What shall I do for the rest of fish?


Just remember something else, bought a tunze nanostream to bring more flow to bamboo shrimp, they seems love it and danios love it too. Last night was first night I left it on for whole night ( it was running pretty much whole day as well), could it be too much flow for platy? I didn't see them playing in the high flow as the other ones.

Many thx


Kai
 

Attachments

  • IMG_8527.JPG
    IMG_8527.JPG
    211.3 KB · Views: 190
Last edited:
What did water test's indicate for ammonia,nitrites?
Both of these values need to read zero and nitrates between 10 and 40 ppm.
Would want water conditioner such as PRIME to use with each water change.
If I did not have test kit for ammonia and nitrites,I might would perform daily small water change for a week.
Not uncommon to lose a recently purchased fish or two but if all fishes begin to become sickly,then water quality or lack thereof is primary concern, hence the suggested daily small water change and perhaps once a day or every other day feeding's by one person only.
Hope some of this helps.
 
Depends on how you cycled your tank?
Some people think just having a tank set up for a month before adding fish is cycling !

Stress is the main factor in fish losses

What could of caused enough stress for it to die ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
dean said:
Depends on how you cycled your tank?
Some people think just having a tank set up for a month before adding fish is cycling !

Stress is the main factor in fish losses

What could of caused enough stress for it to die ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


I have quite lots of easy growing plants growing in my tank for 5 weeks. I have also tested the water with ammonia, nitrate and nitrite periodly. I noticed the spike in nitrate and nitrite during the cycle. Because of plants, I thought I won't notice as much spike as non-planted tanks. Even last night, before I change water, to be honest, the nitrate was quiet small amount. If stress, can it be the high flow generated by nanostream?

I am going to test water when I get back.

Thx for all suggestions
 
dean said:
So have you used a substrate that leaches ammonia or added ammonia to the tank


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Nope, substrate is tetra complete and capped with black sands. No ammonia was added during the cycle. Just overdosed the plant food.
 
I think the Otos are dying too. They are just lying around and not active at all. I just tested the water. Nitrate is 0.25 ppm. Shall I do water change???

I have an unopened bottle of tetra saftestart, shall I use that?
 
Last edited:
Thx for all the suggestions. I did a 40% water change and put safe star in. I tested the water this morning. The nitrate are gone; however one of oto is not moving much at all. It just rests in a pepper. Could it because lack of oxygen?

Thx

Kai
 
Hki
The otos are not very active fish and are quite fragile when first introduced to new aquarium. Its a new tank setup and there for not very stable atm.The best U can do is to keep on top of the water changes one big 50% per week or 2 20% is up to U.Try not too feed too much(once per day or even every other day) as the bacteria is not established well to cope with much waste.Dont flap about Nitrate in the water.Normaly folks on here keep it 20-30 ppm plus the tests readings are widely influenced by many other things and thats why very inaccurate.
Just need time for the tank to mature.Try not to mess about with the tank too much(moving things and disturbing the substrate ) and stress the fish even more.
Will be good to increase surface agitation or add an air stone as U really want high oxygen levels in the beginning to speed up the bacteria buildup
All the best
Regards Konsa
 
Konsa said:
Hki
The otos are not very active fish and are quite fragile when first introduced to new aquarium. Its a new tank setup and there for not very stable atm.The best U can do is to keep on top of the water changes one big 50% per week or 2 20% is up to U.Try not too feed too much(once per day or even every other day) as the bacteria is not established well to cope with much waste.Dont flap about Nitrate in the water.Normaly folks on here keep it 20-30 ppm plus the tests readings are widely influenced by many other things and thats why very inaccurate.
Just need time for the tank to mature.Try not to mess about with the tank too much(moving things and disturbing the substrate ) and stress the fish even more.
Will be good to increase surface agitation or add an air stone as U really want high oxygen levels in the beginning to speed up the bacteria buildup
All the best
Regards Konsa
Click to expand...
Thx a lot! In terms of feeding, I only feed fish every two days, but oto never eat flakes. So I tried different vegetables and only cucumber they seems interested. I leave cucumber there for 24 hrs, I don't know how much they eat, but platy on the hand are consistently eating. They just eat everything anything. While the oto is staving, platy is over fed.

In terms of oxygen, my tank is moderately planted, do you think air bump is required?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_8407.JPG
    IMG_8407.JPG
    2.2 MB · Views: 108
As far as I can see you have not mentioned what type of filtration you have. Are you sure you have adequate filtration - as far as I know the tunze is just a water mover which should not be really required in a low energy tank with adequate filtration.
 
shrimpy1 said:
As far as I can see you have not mentioned what type of filtration you have. Are you sure you have adequate filtration - as far as I know the tunze is just a water mover which should not be really required in a low energy tank with adequate filtration.
Click to expand...

Thx for your question.

i have a TetraTec EX800 Plus External Filter. Actually the night before fish died, I opened the filter and washed the media in the tank water. I changed the white cotton media to a new one as well. Could that be impacted?

I am really not sure about tunze, it is quite powerful thing. While the bamboo shrimp and danios are definitely enjoyed it, really not sure if platy or oto likes it. It makes poos and other things floating in water.
 
So nobody think the high water flow could cause any stress for fish??
 
Not for fishes mentioned thus far.
Oto's and danios enjoy cool water with good flow.
Platy's also like cooler water and flow would not bother them.
Too much food .too often resulting in non zero ammonia and nitrite reading's would be bigger threat than good flow.
 
One of Oto is definitely dying. It sucks on the glass near to the top. Not eating at all.

Just a general question regarding oto, how are you guys feeding them? I tried algae wafer, cucumber, pepper and a few other vegetables. Oto never interested, whereas platy is almost like everything, nonstop eating and pooing. Oto seems only like eat brown algae on the plants, but most of them are gone now. Do I have to find a way to introduce brown algae?

Thx
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top