Please help me!

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paulopaulo89
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 4:29 am

Please help me!

Post by paulopaulo89 » Tue Jan 21, 2014 9:32 am

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can shed any light on the situation that i am experiencing with my tank at the minute.

I have a 3x2 foot tank with a variety of fish including 4 green tiger barbs,2 corys, 2 gouramis a leopard bush fish and up until Saturday morning 5 clown loaches.

I regularly clean my tank, change the water fortnightly and always feed my fish daily on some days feeding them flakes and others days frozen food like blood worms

I have had the 5 clown loaches for over a year now and they have relished in the tank with lots of hiding places for them, plenty of air bubbles, where very dark in colour and seemed to be very healthy fish and my definite favourites in the tank.

Nothing had changed, no new fish where introduced and I hadn’t changed the water for a week. I woke up on Saturday morning to see that 2 of them had suddenly died but still looking very healthy (for a dead fish) with no markings on them. I couldn’t believe my luck when I woke up this morning only to find another clown loach dead as well with again no marks on it? I have no explanation as to why this has happened with 3 of the 5 dieing within 4 days after looking so healthy and having no problems with them for over a year. Does anyone have any idea how or why this may have happened?

It may sound silly but the only possible reason I can think why this has happened is because the fish have suffered a heart attack caused by the leopard bush fish but is this even possible? I have had my leopard bush fish for over 2 years now and she has grown quite large and has admittedly in the past eaten some of the small fish in the tank. On occasions at night you can hear her thrashing about and chasing fish and one of the dead clown loaches was found in the cave where the leopard bush fish lives. It is impossible for her to eat any fish in there now because they are all too big for her but the noise of her chasing this morning was that loud it woke me up and I could hear lots of flapping around in the tank which I can only assume was the clown loach suffering. This is the only explanation I can think of but even if this is the case then why has it coincidentally chose to do this to 3 fish within 4 days after doing nothing for over a year?

This is my only theory anyway and I am at a loss as to what else could have caused there death. Any theories/suggestions/ideas/thoughts you may have I would love to hear your responses

Many thanks!

Paul

Dojosmama
Posts: 219
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2010 11:37 pm

Re: Please help me!

Post by Dojosmama » Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:32 am

You obviously have a bully fish that has been harassing the others. Your loaches may have had plenty of places to hide, but they can't hide all of the time. They have to come out to eat and some species of loach become very active after dark. It sounds like your leopard fish has grown too large for its environment, and is taking its stress out on the loaches and others. I would rehome it as soon as possible.

Also, do you have a test kit, so you can be absolutely sure your water chemistry is where it should be?

Have maintenance crews been working on the water lines in your area? Flushing them out with chemicals, perhaps, that may have gotten into your water system?

Finally, did you remember to use dechlorinator with your last water change? One that neutralizes both chlorine AND chloramines?

Any one of these, if present, could be a contributing factor. Most likely, though, it's the leopard fish. I think you'll see things calming down once it has been removed.

-- Dojosmama

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