Gill Posted January 11, 2016 Report Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) Hi this morning I woke to find most of my clowns loaches ,one parrot fish , upside down cat fish all dead , two days ago I fed them a small mount of cucumber. Before this all water parms were good temp ok . I am wondering if it is poisoning perhaps there was some residue on the cucumber .Obviously water reading through the roof doing water changes and adding prime .Looked at fish no obvious signs of inflammation around gill areas… This is an established tank running FX6 and back up ehiem tank is 600L Stock levels Clown loaches x 15 Plec x 4 catfish x 2 parrot fish x 2 . Edited January 11, 2016 by Gill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexyay Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Hmm - what were the water parameters exactly? What species of Plecos are you keeping? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gill Posted January 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 last readings from weekend testing using API test kit pH between 7-7.6ammonia very pale yellow 0ppm nitrite very pale purple so around 0ppmNitrate pale yellow 0 ppm Now after water changes and removing dead fish ammonia yellow but not matching next shade on chart so above 0 will do another wc later nitrite slightly darker purple but not on next shade between 0- 0.25same with Nitrate yellow 0 - 5 too high but once i do more WC this should come down... i have added prime to help ... Ph all good Plec are huge just plain nothing special bristlenose around10cm long I am wondering if they were poisoned by eating cucumber ?? as no sings of red gills ,so sad though feel like getting rid of my big tank but wont make any hasty decisions... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexyay Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Hmm - Nitrates typically aren't 0ppm in the majority of tanks - it's very common for the API Nitrate test to be performed wrong (don't worry, we all do it) - some kits can also be duds, and they also won't work if they're expired. The Bottle #2 and Test Tube need shaking for the specified amount of time (30-60secs) - if your arms don't feel like they're about to fall off, it's probably not being shaken enough. They then need to be left for exactly 5 minutes - any sooner and it'll not be ready, and any later it'll continue going red. I'd expect Nitrites/Ammonia to be high at the moment simply because of the sudden increase in waste (dead fish), so as long as they were 0ppm before the incident that should be fine. Do you leave the cucumber skins on? There shouldn't be any issues from them (assuming they're fit for human consumption) but it is always worth rinsing them a bit first or removing the skins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gill Posted January 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Thanks i will re test later ...Nitrates have some colour but not as dark as 5.00ppm so in between . At the weekend the tests didn't give me any reason to be concerned ... i always do WCs weekly around 20% sometimes a little more .Both filters are working well and i only clean them using tank water and never do both at the same time...I am a bit lost this time round ....The remaining fish seem ok i can't see any redness near gills... so keeping fingers crossed i got the water down to ok levels . I left the skins on but rinsed them first.... its the only thing i can think off i fed them using flakes and pellets as normal ... Oh well onwards and upwards... Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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