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Help dead/dying killies


paul_r

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I set up a 30l tank specifically for breeding nothobranchius korthausae yellows. Had it cycling for a week doing water changes, then done 95% water change useing water from their old tank. I set temperature at 22degrees, chacked ph. It was all fine. Woke up in the morning to find 5 dead and one dying...died 5 mins later. He seemed to be swimming okay, then loosing balance and going upside down, tail end of body seemed to be sinking, then back to swimming okay, then loosing balance etc again

Ive got no idea what went wrong, has anyone experienced this with killis, or any other species. I now need to get some more nothos so i can breed, but dont want the same thing happening again.

Paul

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the tank is quite a few years old, i bought it from a friend approx 2 weeks ago. had been sitting in his garage for a couple of years collecting dust.

I quarter fill tank with boiling water to rinse stones and wipe sides of tank, did so about 5 times before use.

My two remaining females are still alive so it is very strange

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I wonder if the boiling water softens up the silicone or has made it leach. Funny I am at the better half's place. I read out what you have done & what I typed is the first thing she said & she isn't into fish.

I also wonder if you may of missed parts of the tank? Couple of years in a garage, could of collected anything amongst the dust too.

Just for fish to drop that quickly, I think that poisoning is the only thing that could of kill fish off that quick. Especially if you used old water etc.

Frenchy :D

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That could very well be a possibility, as i can remember a couple months ago we sanded and painted my friends car in the same garage, also over the years who knows what else may have settled in with the dust. And although i put tank in the bath and scrubbed many times i may have missed spots. Also the stones were just soaked in boiling water, could still have toxins.

Is there anything i could do such as tests to find out if anything is actually wrong with the water? My 2 remaining females seem to be doing fine, and im not going to let a few deaths stop me from enjoying my fish and having a go at breeding. I just want to avoid (if possible) buying more fish and having them die on me

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Hi Paul

you have a strange situation

i dont have an answer just some thoughts on it

if it was poisoning, i would have expected all your fish to have gone the same way. Unless the 2 females were a different strain, younger or the most robust fish in there as they are still alive.

can you try some young guppies or other fish in there to see if they die, it will possibly let you know if tank is alright.

From memory i had a similar situation a few years back, i used new charcoal in an air filter and lost approx 10 fish in the tank then it all settled down and i didnt loose anymore. in the end the only thing i came up with was i didnt wash the carbon media first and thought maybe really fine particles were suspended in the water and clogged some fishes gill asphyxiating them.

sorry there is no answer just more questions

cheers mark

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Just woke up this morning and found the last 2 females upside down at bottom of tank :(

I think what i may do is take everything out of the tank, remove the stones and replace all the water then put some guppies in and see what happens.

Still feel sorry for using fish as an experiment to see whether they will die or not, but i guess that is the only way.

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Paul, come round to my place and pick up some guppies.

Some of my young ones to act as sacrificies.

No cost for these, just want to see you get this straightened out.

Make sure that you have scrubbed down the tank with salt and water, so as the salt is still there, like a paste.

Try them in the bare tank first. If they survive the bare tank for a couple of days, then try boiling the stones for twenty minutes and once cool, try them with the guppies.

See if anything happens to the gups.

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