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Devistation In The Catfish Tank!

Started by ice, Jun 10 2011 06:02 PM

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19 replies to this topic

#1 ice

Forum Member

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18-January 07

Location: Huntingdale, WA

Posted 10 June 2011 - 06:02 PM

Got home today to find a huge mass of dead bodies in my catfish tank... great.

Type of fish: 8x L201 Juvies (3-5cm)

Symptoms: Sudden death of all L201 juvies, came home this afternoon to find all 8 dead, lifeless and rigid.

Other tank mates: 3xL104, 2x L397, 5x Golden Halfbeaks, Cherry shrimp and 5 B Grade CRS

Tank size / capacity: Standard 3 foot.

Type of Food fed: HBH Shrimp Pellet, Sera Viformo Tablets, Flake for halfbeaks

Feeding frequency/amount: Small abounts of each once nightly.

Substrate: Black crystal sand.

Type of filtration: Internal Otto sponge powerhead filter.

Frequency of filter cleans: Sponges are sqeezed out in tank water when dirty.

Frequency and % volume of water changes: 25% every 3rd or 4th day.

Last water change: Monday afternoon.

PH: 7.8
KH: Not tested
GH: Not tested
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0 - 5
Ammonia: 0.0
Phosphate: Not tested
Water temp: 24 deg C

Medications used recently to date: None

Any recent changes..new fish/filters/power outages etc etc: Purchased at the auction two carbon bamboo caves and a bag of 5 CRS, added the CRS on tuesday night and the two caves last night. I suspect it was the caves but i have no idea how or why they would kill off an entire colony of healthy + happy catfish? Anyone got any ideas at all? Im fairly devistated and angry about it.

I thought it could have been the CRS or the water in the bag but i doubt it because they are fairly sensitive little buggers and they all died today too, along with half of my cherry shrimp.

Weird thing is, all the other fish in the tank are perfectly fine so far.

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Devo..

Edited by ice, 10 June 2011 - 07:57 PM.

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#2 Neddy

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24-November 10

Posted 10 June 2011 - 06:16 PM

my sympathies mate. Sounds like those bamboo charcoal caves are no good:(

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#3 Cawdor

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26-December 05

Location: Byford

Posted 10 June 2011 - 06:29 PM

very sad, sorry to hear that

From what you describe it does point to the caves being the culprit. maybe during transport the caves came into contact with something poisonous and absorbed some, then once put in water it was released. Just a theory though.

Has anything survived or are all fish in that tank dead? Usually with mass deaths it's ammonia/temp/oxygen. Since these all seem to be ok the caves are the only thing that was different.

I would verify the water test results with a second kit.

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#4 ice

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18-January 07

Location: Huntingdale, WA

Posted 10 June 2011 - 06:38 PM

All the other fish are fine, is was just all the 201s and lots of shrimp. I havnt got a second kit to check with but i have just cycled my big new display tank recently and the kit was working great throughout the process. Oxygen levels would be good due to the amount of surface water movement the otto makes.

I even washed the caves quite thoroughly before putting them in, although they floated and needed to be weighed down with some wood from the tank which would suggest they still had plenty of surface area to harbour something nasty. They were packaged in their boxes and wrapped in plastic so i'd say they came with whatever it is from the manufacturer....

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#5 ice

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18-January 07

Location: Huntingdale, WA

Posted 10 June 2011 - 08:14 PM

Have set up an experiment involving 2 guppies, a bucket and the carbon caves out the back. It didnt kill the half beaks though and it might already all be leeched out. Worth a shot though...

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#6 Fish Antics

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Location: Ellenbrook

Posted 10 June 2011 - 11:03 PM

Sorry to hear about the disaster, Not sure it would be the caves considering the number of those caves sold and the fact they were new from the box and you did rince them. Cant help with a solution though, possible external contamination?

Tony

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#7 ice

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18-January 07

Location: Huntingdale, WA

Posted 10 June 2011 - 11:07 PM

I thought it could be also, but its got me completely stumped as to what. The tank is in a seperate room that we only ever go into to feed the catfish, we never spray any bug spray and havnt used any cleaning stuff anywhere near it? Plus the other fish all survived, you would think the little half beaks would be the first to die if it was a contamination issue too. Its got me completely buggered!

Hopefully everyone elses caves havn't had any problems, i did already have one in the tank from a few months ago and never had an issue with it...

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#8 sandgroper

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24-April 06

Location: Near Malaga

Posted 10 June 2011 - 11:41 PM

Sorry to hear that Ice, did you rince it under tap water or tank water. If tap water maybe it absorbed something from it (chlorine perhaps), i've just chucked mine in and it's still floating.No loses yet fingers crossed, keep your chin up, somethings good just around the corner. cheers steve

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#9 bigjohnnofish

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02-August 10

Location: Banjo Country aka just past Mundaring

Posted 11 June 2011 - 09:32 PM

i've never been a fan of them charcoal bamboo caves.....

hmmm i never put other peoples tank water into my own i always open the bag into a bucket then add cups of my water to the bucket then when fish are acclimatised take them out by hand usually and drop in the tank....

must of been something really nasty to kill 201's so quickly...... has to be something toxic.... my advice is anything that comes from china should be washed cleaned boiled(if possible) and then maybe tested outside your prize fish.....

what other fish were in the tank????

i'd recommend a 50% wc asap and a slow trickle fill back up with maybe some prime added also....

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#10 bigjohnnofish

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02-August 10

Location: Banjo Country aka just past Mundaring

Posted 12 June 2011 - 11:23 PM

normally anything wood that comes into australia is fumigated with some pretty powerful chemicals.... after some thought i'm thinking the caves are the origin of the problem....

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#11 Fish Antics

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Location: Ellenbrook

Posted 12 June 2011 - 11:42 PM

The charcoal caves are packaged in plastic, packing foam and individual boxes. I doubt any treatments would be absorbed through all this into the caves. If it was it would have been very unlucky to be the one in the thousands sold in Australia. Otherwise there wold be a lot of reports of sudden fish deatths after using them. Again I can offer no answer and cant rulr the cave out, but if new I see it as unlikely.

Tony

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#12 Happyfish

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11-September 07

Location: Forrestfield,W.A

Posted 13 June 2011 - 07:59 PM

I doubt about cave i used in my most of L catfish as well. probably the same cave you have.

it's very rare occasion to see so many of them died suddenly. i lost few that here and there all of sudden like that but not all unless disease out break that would be more understandable( i lost all my L like that once before).
I cann't see any sign of disease on your picture.
I would suspect water which came from CRS or other fish. i don't put other water in my tank unless really trust person. i had so many time had problem lose fish & $$$ that way.
it is important to have qurrantine tank for at least 2 weeks. it's better safe than sorry,

Anyway. i'm sorry about your loss.

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#13 Plecoking

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25-June 06

Location: Dianella

Posted 13 June 2011 - 08:48 PM

Sorry bout your loss mate..!!!!

But can you recall if you or any1 feeding them with hands, or have any hands been in contact with a sneezZ from human flu/cold.( unwash hands when handling or feeding in water )..!!?
It might sound odd but it can be brutal.!!!!

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#14 sydad

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31-October 04

Location: Jandakot

Posted 13 June 2011 - 09:15 PM

QUOTE (Plecoking @ Jun 13 2011, 08:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry bout your loss mate..!!!!

But can you recall if you or any1 feeding them with hands, or have any hands been in contact with a sneezZ from human flu/cold.( unwash hands when handling or feeding in water )..!!?
It might sound odd but it can be brutal.!!!!

Are you saying that you have evidence that human viruses could conceivably infect fishes?

Syd.

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#15 scarab

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Joined:

14-May 10

Location: Bullcreek

Posted 14 June 2011 - 01:42 AM

Considering CRS are sensitive little buggers I believe what cant kill CRS should not kill L numbers.

Just wondering...what were the remainder of the cherries doing when you discovered the death? Their actions at the point in time may point to something. if they were all at the surface then it may point to low oxygen levels / high temps. If they were standing at one point motionless it can point to poor water quality. If they are frantically swimming around and doing the flick of death it would to an acute poisoning. Are there anymore deaths of your cherries. If there are it would point to something toxic.

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#16 ice

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18-January 07

Location: Huntingdale, WA

Posted 15 June 2011 - 01:30 PM

They were all acting completely normal, still eating and everything. I wasn't too worried about the CRS water because as people are said they are very sensitive and it wasn't much water. I emptied most of it out. Its still got me buggered.

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#17 Ham

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19-September 06

Location: Hillarys

Posted 15 June 2011 - 07:59 PM

Have you checked all your perimiters of your water eg:nitrite- nitrate- ph
i used to live in osy park years back and noticed with the old pipe work
in the water works played havic sometimes with my water in tanks
tipicly after water changes after a big dry spell then a couple of big down
falls of heavy rain maybe just something to look at or maybe not i duno
maybe just a punt wish i could help ?

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#18 bigjohnnofish

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02-August 10

Location: Banjo Country aka just past Mundaring

Posted 15 June 2011 - 11:32 PM

wonder if 201's nibbled on the caves and consumed something off them....
perhaps 397's did too but being a panaque have a different stomach make up and may tolerate the substance...

still pondering on this one....

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#19 dazzabozza

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16-March 07

Location: Beeliar, Perth WA

Posted 15 June 2011 - 11:46 PM

How about contaminated vegies? Saw a thing on the news about the pesticides being used in Oz. Also what's the possibility of veg coming here from overseas?

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#20 ice

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Joined:

18-January 07

Location: Huntingdale, WA

Posted 16 June 2011 - 11:46 AM

Havn't fed them any vegies for about a week prior to it happening so that can't be it. Plus the 201s are carnys so they arent too fond of the green stuff anyway. All the water parameters were perfect, thats the first thing i checked. Did a 50% water change and now they all seem to be happy. Cant check them myself because im overseas at the moment (left about 8 hours after finding them dead). My old boy says they are all looking healthy though.

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