Bristlenose catfish died.

[michael.qian]

Sadly came home today at 4.50pm and my smallest bristlenose is dead flat on the gravel, most of its body has gone white.

I thought 3 of them on 26th June at 3cm size, the one died is the smallest one, the other two seems fine and one of them is growing really big.

I've noticed though all of them seem a little less active for the past few days, the one that died was the least active not moving at all for long periods of time.

Ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 30ppm (too high?).

Any suggestions on how it could have died?

Thanks

[michael.qian]

here is a list of fish i have

[markoshark]

30PPM Nitrate?

wow

[michael.qian]

Is that too high?

Actually few weeks ago I added fish too fast caused an ammonia spike but that's gone now, but I guess nitrate will start to climb after the ammonia is gone. I never got any nitrIte.

[Rozski]

when did you last do a water change?

[michael.qian]

Tuesday. 25%

That was just when ammonia was 0ppm.

I mainly suspect the nitrate spiking, as the water change was just 2 days after the ammonia has gone down to 0ppm.

Think I'll do a water change again tomorrow morning.

More suggestions appreciated.

[Rozski]

Check the nitrates a day after you do a water change, if they haven't gone down enough, you need to do more frequent water changes. If its at 30 only 3 days after a WC, I would think that is a bit high

[michael.qian]

I've got quite a bit of plants in there as well, they should help to keep nitrates down.

I hope it'll be ok after a few water changes, because now I think it's spiking because all the ammonia has just been converted not long ago.

Here is a picture, gives you an idea of the amount of plants, how much will these help?

5X Blue Hygrophias

1X Orisis

2X Timulas (added today)

5X Amazon Swords

4X Val grass

also some ambulia and cabomba

[dimebag]

nitrates at 30ppm wont kill your fish.

in my experience b/n are very resilient once they get to 4cm and over, but until they get to that size they can be quite sensitive to changes.

tank looks good too, nice healthy plants, hope things settle down for you.

[michael.qian]

Thanks, wanting to get some more lighting, maybe another 18W or even 36W.

Currently the 36W Arcadia not really doing it for my amazon sword, they are sort of just surviving and growing slowly, want to make them grow better.

[michael.qian]

Terrible new my biggest male has also died.

Its stomach was bloated last night and this morning I found in dead on the side at the bottom of the tank.

Still have one remaining. Will do a water change now.

But what could be killing them specifically? All other fish are looking great.

[Adrienne]

hi, just checking - you do have driftwood in the tank? Thought I could see some at the left of the tank shot. What are you feeding them?

[Ianab]

Bloating in plecos is usually a diet problem.

Have you tried feeding them some fresh veges as well as commercial pleco tablets.

If they are just eating regular fish food it can cause digestive problems. Too much protien and not enough roughage.

Cheers

Ian

[michael.qian]

I am feeding them spirulina discs and courgette pieces, but I don't feed fresh courgette every night, roughly 2-3 times a week, not enough?

But since they havn't been active for the past few days I hardly saw them eat at all.

There is a piece of driftwood in my tank, before when they were active they would always chew on the wood.

Feel really disappointed now since I was responsible for them and now two of them died, and this one died today has been growing especially well and has already developed some bristles.

[evilknieval69]

I dont always have wood in with my Bristlenose (some have it some dont.) and i dont feed my bristlenose anything special, just what all my other fish eat (colourbits and flake) and every now and again they get trout pellets and/or shrimp pellets. I have had great success with BN, i have multiple full grown males and females and have at least two pairs breeding :-?

Im not sure what has happened to yours, but i dont think it could be anything to do with lack of wood, lack of proper food, pH or anything similiar. I have BN breeding in a tank with a pH of around 6.2, and i also have them breeding in a tank with a pH of 8....

Keep us updated. id suggest keeping the water changes up! every 3-4 days preferably, they dont need to be big, just 10% or so

[sharn]

Maybe try feeding some peas? Has the added bonus it will get things moving so shouldnt cause any bloating etc.

[michael.qian]

Guess what, this morning I checked in my tank and my last bristlenose is gone, so there goes all of them

Ammonia is 0ppm, nitrite is 0ppm (I assume), I stopped testing for nitrite 4 days ago because before that everytime I test it for the past 3 weeks, everyday, it turns out to be 0ppm, nitrate is still about 30ppm after the water change.

I was wondering, when comparing the test tube against the colour chart, am I suppose to hold the tube right against the white part of the the colour card so it's in contact with it? Or does it not have to be in contact with it. Because when it is in contact, the colour looks a lot darker then when it's not, 30ppm reading is for the dark colour, but if not in contact the colour looks lighter about 10ppm.

Cheers

[DutchKiwiCowboy2]

I just tested my water tonight and that very same notion actually came across my mind as well. Wonder what others would think of this. might try posting it on another section to get it into the general arena.

If you dont have any driftwood you could try JBL Novo Pleco tabs, that is what I am using untill I can find some. B/N need fibre which they get from driftwood and these tabs have it as well.I also feed them a piece of Zuchini or cucumber which I weigh down with a piece of lead.

Hope this helps to keep the survivor alive, good luck.

[Caryl]

I have always held the test tube against the white background.

[me love fishy]

me too Caryl.

[paekakboyz]

my sympathies michael.qian, I've just lost my second BN in the last couple of days too!! strangely(?) its the two biggest that have gone to fishy heavan (7cm and 8cm).

They didn't appear bloated and testing has ph at 7, ammonia and nitrates at 0. All other fish (community tank) are active and happy - no warning signs/behaviour from them at all.

There is a large piece of driftwood that the 4 (now 2) BN's have been happily munching on in addition to pleco chips.

sigh - I'm sure one of them had just laid eggs too!!

[herefishiefishie]

Yeh but evil, you are probably lucky more than anything. It is the same as someone feeding bloodworms to tropheus & not giving them vegie matter. More luck than good management.

Point is you should have wood & add some from of vegie in diet. Bloat is likely to be something it ate. You have to remember in this case vegie matter is given, but bristlenose will eat anything that hits the ground that it comes across. ie; if bloodworms reach the bottom.

The other problem is the ammonia spike could of caused an internal problem. Just took a period of time for the catties to die.

Frenchy

[michael.qian]

Yes that is a possibility, the ammonia could have killed the fish slowly and they never really recovered even when the ammonia was zero.

But I think they were still active after the ammonia was gone for a while before they all became slow.

Now every night at about 11pm I take out as many baby malayan trumpet snails as I could, I took out all the big ones before and they've all laid eggs and they hatched. So now god knows how many little ones I got in my tank.

I took out about 50 in total for the past three days.

So any the point is they could be unwanted bioload contributing to my slightly high nitrate levels.

[anthony law]

iv got b/n.iv had them in a cold water tank with gold fish before.so to kill one is very hard.ive got some in my turtle pond which is out side.it must being some thing they ate.my breeding pair being in tank freshly set wtih out a probley.one of my males hes coming up to seven years old and he be though hell and back.