My fish are dying!

[CenturionElite]

Hey everyone, havent posted here for a while but I recently noticed a few things wrong in my tank.

Here is a pic from a few years ago but it still looks relatively the same:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/JoshTheBoss/PictureorVideo003-11.jpg?t=1258999677

Anyways my panda garra died last week, I found two of my cory cats dead (two are missing) and I just found my farlawella dead this morning. They had all been in the tank together for years (at least three that I know of) and had no problems. I thought it was a loach I just got to clean out a snail problem since he was really aggressive but I had since gotten rid of him last month.

My friend thinks its my flying fox, who, after my discus is the biggest fish in the tank and is attacking everyone. I honestly have never seen him attack any fish like I did with the loach.

Could there be a bigger issue with my tank, or should I try removing the flying fox and see how things go? I only have a 30 gallon tank so territory might be scarce now that the flying fox has gotten so big.

Current fish in my tank now are: discus, cory cats (2), cherry barbs (3), banjo cat, flying fox and a little catfish that looks like a flounder.

[bignellm]

I would ask, any changes in chemistry to the tank? Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate spikes?

The flying fox, are you sure it's a true flying fox?
You really could be dealing with a tight quarter's situation as you mentioned. When places to hide get scarce, the aggression can heighten.

[CenturionElite]

I would ask, any changes in chemistry to the tank? Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate spikes?

The flying fox, are you sure it's a true flying fox?
You really could be dealing with a tight quarter's situation as you mentioned. When places to hide get scarce, the aggression can heighten.I do water changes every other week and a 75% change every six months. Other than that I only add blackwater extract as the only additive. I actually just saw my flying fox attack another fish so I think he is the one.

What do you mean by true flying fox?

[bignellm]

I mean it's very common for a False Siamese Algae Eater to be sold as a Siamese Algae Eater (aka Flying Fox). The False one can be a bit more aggressive. I wouldn't say that's the deciding factor in determining if yours is true or false, but it's a symptom.

Google Search Results for False SAE (http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=crf&gs_nf=1&gs_mss=FSiamese%20Algae%20eater&pq=siamese%20algae%20eater&cp=2&gs_id=13&xhr=t&q=false+siamese+algae+eater&pf=p&safe=off&sclient=psy-ab&oq=FaSiamese+Algae+eater&aq=0c&aqi=g-c1g-b1&aql=f&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=d0f8cd49a0fc8cd2&biw=1280&bih=685)

In house search that mentions both SAE and False SAE
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/algae-control/siamese.php

[CenturionElite]

I dunno it looks like both of those, so who knows.

[bignellm]

I guess that's kind of the point. There are some tells. They are listed in the AC article page I added a link to.

[CenturionElite]

I have some bad news to report. Came home from work tonight (about five minutes ago) and found my discus dead at the bottom of the tank. Kind of bums me out cause he was the life and soul of my tank, everything I put in there and did was for him.

Now I know something serious is going on. Probably a disease but what?

Also I know this might sound farfetched, but is it possible I could have gotten a tainted supply of bloodworms? I was feeding them flakes for a good six months and than I went back to bloodworms a month ago because I had store credit and just decided to get them. Now this happens when I started feeding them bloodworms.

Ah Im so bummed! :( Whats the logical next step to take? Drain my entire tank and start over?

[mermaidwannabe]

You indicated you do water changes, but what exactly are the parameters of your tank? Do you have a test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH? If any of these are within unsafe levels, or have drastically changed in recent times, that could be your problem.

If params are normal, then I would say you have an aggressive fish attacking the others. I would remove the aggressor and house him separately.

What species of loach did you get that was so aggressive? Just curious ...

As for diseases, do you know if the loach you got (and later got rid of) had been quarantined? It could be he introduced a disease into the tank. Are your fish showing symptoms of disease, or just turning up dead?

Diseased fish usually, but not always, display symptoms of unwellness.

Sounds like your tank has become overcrowded . . . that in itself can lead to trouble. Too large a bioload can overwhelm the filter, and raise the levels of toxins in the tank.

What kind of filtration do you have? Is there enough for your current stocking situation?

-- mermaidwannabe

[CenturionElite]

No noticeable signs of disease on any of the fish, altho the discus was hiding from me all day today which is unlike him. Than I came home and found him dead.

Like I said before, I have had this current setup in my tank for years but I guess it just got too crowded since the fish were getting really big. The loach I had was a yoyo loach.

[ScottishFish]

Discus, unless a mated pair, should be kept in groups of 4+ really. having only one would stress the fish out and maybe make it more aggressive. As we all know stress + discus = dead discus.


I feel you gota get ontop of your water changes, you said you do a 75% every 6 months . . . thats not as big as you think. The vast majority of members here do 75% per week.

Also as far as discus go, to keep them healthy you need to be doing a 75% and a 30-40% a week water change.