Have a 90L tank with about 20-30 fry in it, varying from 1-3cm. Maingano and Mpanga, with a small male bristlenose who i put in initially to help with leftover food (completely forgot that pleco poo is basically worse haha, not the best idea ive had)
Tank has a decent sponge filter (biggest i could buy @ Morley aquariums) and an airstone, so aeration is pretty good, been set up for several months so i didnt think it could be bio filtration issue.
Over the past 2 weeks or so have had some of the larger fry die, am not usually concerned when some of the newborns (only 1 or 2 of a 15 batch) die as but its getting to some of the ones that are almost 2cm are dying off. This is also the first time fry who aren't basically fresh out of the mums mouth have been dying on me.
Changes so far have been me having to change heaters from a 150W Elite, to an eheim 150w to accommodate some small tanks and all my 50w heaters doing nothing when i have em in the 10gals.
This has meant that even though i have the eheim set to 26 degrees (recently put it down to 24 to try and get it down) the tank doesnt move from 29 degrees (measured using a glass thermometer over several days)
I have been feeding 2-3 times a day. Hikari first bites in the morning, then crushed seraflora flakes (sometimes NLS pellets) in the afternoon and evening with daily water changes of a bucket full, so like 8-9L, vacuuming out leftover food and Pleco poo.
Previous deaths were some of the biggest i have in the tank, and i just found them sitting at the bottom, one of them had a bit of nibbling near its face but likely happened after his death. Just now one has died and a 2nd appears to be like spiraling? as it swims, nose pointed downwards and unable to swim away from nets etc. They all seem to eat and i make sure the bigger ones get a decent flake or two. Both times deaths have been following big water changes on the weekend, i cant precisely measure the heat of the water going into the tank, but i make sure it isnt cold and is as close to the temp of the tank (estimated by using my hand) , last water change i saw the deaths and dosed a bit more water conditioner (I condition water in the buckets before it goes in the tank, aswell as add malawi buffer) and that seemed to stop some deaths, but not even sure if it was conditioner that helped or just the time passed since the water change.
So yeah if anyone could give me any insight to possible causes? Just reinforcement of it being the temp too high, and any ideas why the heater refuses to keep it lower, or if its a faulty thermometer (if that can happen) or if its food idk, im at a loss so any help is greatly appreciated. Apologies for the wall of text and pretty annoying to read explanations ahha
- Chris