RoasterToaster
Member
Morning guys. I have a bit of a head scratcher here. My large system (approx 750L) has been running for around 5 weeks.
It is planted with a good amount (I believe) of plants which are now doing well (they were all grown emersed I believe so a few had some setbacks with a few initially).
I have it stocked with 30 green rasbora and 30 five banded barbs (NH4 and NO2 were both consistently reading zero before adding them).
I also have 12 otos, 3 Hillstream loach and a load of cherry shrimp & Ramshorn). The last 2 days I’ve lost around 6 barbs - I’ve found 4 and can see a bit of another and when counting I can only get to around 24 (they’re almost impossible to count!!). All other livestock seems fine.
The barbs were all happily swimming out in the open over the last week and a half but today seem reluctant to leave the safety of the plants.
The dead ones showed no sign of disease that i could see and the remaining ones all look nice and healthy and are eating.
The rasboras are all acting normally and swimming happily in the open water.
I’ve run some tests this morning and both NH4 & NO2 are still zero, NO3 is around 2.5 (I know this is on the low side for planted) and KH is 2 and GH is 4-5.
Tank temp is 23C and substrate is aquasoil (built up with crushed lava rock for height), capped with aquarium sand. There is a reasonable amount of flow but I don’t think it’s excessive.
So the question is, what’s going on with the barbs? There doesn’t appear to be any bullying that I’ve seen.
Just for the record, I’ve been keeping a reef tank for the last 6 years so this isn’t my first rodeo! Just not hugely experienced with schools of fish.
I would expect to lose possibly one or two out of 30 but for 6 to disappear in a few days seems a bit more than I thought would be normal.
I know it’s a ridiculously hard thing to diagnose without any outwardly obvious signs but thought I’d throw this out there to you guys in case someone else had a similar experience?
I carry out 50% weekly water change and use TNC complete for now, with liquid carbon - are these guys hyper sensitive to liquid carbon? Thanks for taking the time to read my longwinded essay!!!!
It is planted with a good amount (I believe) of plants which are now doing well (they were all grown emersed I believe so a few had some setbacks with a few initially).
I have it stocked with 30 green rasbora and 30 five banded barbs (NH4 and NO2 were both consistently reading zero before adding them).
I also have 12 otos, 3 Hillstream loach and a load of cherry shrimp & Ramshorn). The last 2 days I’ve lost around 6 barbs - I’ve found 4 and can see a bit of another and when counting I can only get to around 24 (they’re almost impossible to count!!). All other livestock seems fine.
The barbs were all happily swimming out in the open over the last week and a half but today seem reluctant to leave the safety of the plants.
The dead ones showed no sign of disease that i could see and the remaining ones all look nice and healthy and are eating.
The rasboras are all acting normally and swimming happily in the open water.
I’ve run some tests this morning and both NH4 & NO2 are still zero, NO3 is around 2.5 (I know this is on the low side for planted) and KH is 2 and GH is 4-5.
Tank temp is 23C and substrate is aquasoil (built up with crushed lava rock for height), capped with aquarium sand. There is a reasonable amount of flow but I don’t think it’s excessive.
So the question is, what’s going on with the barbs? There doesn’t appear to be any bullying that I’ve seen.
Just for the record, I’ve been keeping a reef tank for the last 6 years so this isn’t my first rodeo! Just not hugely experienced with schools of fish.
I would expect to lose possibly one or two out of 30 but for 6 to disappear in a few days seems a bit more than I thought would be normal.
I know it’s a ridiculously hard thing to diagnose without any outwardly obvious signs but thought I’d throw this out there to you guys in case someone else had a similar experience?
I carry out 50% weekly water change and use TNC complete for now, with liquid carbon - are these guys hyper sensitive to liquid carbon? Thanks for taking the time to read my longwinded essay!!!!
Attachments
Last edited:
