HELP please!!!

[bullisbm]

Ok, I am at my wits end. I cannot figure out what is going on in my 20 gal tank.

I have lost 4 hillys in the past month and there seems to be nothing wrong with them.

I lost 1 Beaufortia kweichowensis
2 Gastromyzon scitulus
and today 1 Gastromyzon ocellatus

They all looked fine just dead. I don't see any spots or patches or anything on them. I find them just dead at the bottem of the tank. They are all young smaller fish.

Ammo 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5-10 ppm. pH 7.4

Any ideas.. I am scared I might start losing my Sewellia's..

Just incase I started using Jim's suggestions in the disease area. Today I started with Maracyn-two and maracyn.

[Jim Powers]

Boy that's a head scratcher.
I don't recommend just treating a tank without knowing what you are treating, but this may be your only choice. Lets hope it works.
Maracyn and Maracyn 2 generally work quite well together on gram positive and negative bacteria and don't do much filter damage.
Good luck and keep us posted.
By the way, how long did you have the fish that died?
Also, if you can, you might want to increase the aeration of the water. It certainly can't hurt.

[bullisbm]

I have had the scitulus for about 2 months and the Ocellatus for about a month and a half.

I lost the first scitulus about 3 weeks ago. It was never as active as the others so I was not all that surprised. Then a few days later I lost the kweichowensis .. it was another not too active fish.

Yesterday I lost the last scitulus that seemed to be fine and active the day before. This morning I find the Ocellatus dead. These were both very active and seemingly healthy.

It seems to me that something is going on so, I started the treatment just as a possible precaution. I really enjoy my hillys and don't want to lose anymore.

I just don't know what else too do and the lfs are not a whole lot of help with hillstreams. They have them and know nothing about them.

[newshound]

I am guessing that you've read up on this site the perfect requiremnets of these fish?
are you doing 50% WC weekly?
any suspect rocks in the tank?
what are you feeding them?

Most plant eatinganimals need to feed regularly. I have read that otos are in a fragile state after shipping. The bacteria in their gut die off and isn't replaced due to a lack of food.

[Jim Powers]

Sometimes hillstreams just don't thrive. That seems particularly true with smaller fish. I think that probably has something to do with what happens during shipment. What we can do to keep that from happening, I don't know. It may be an infection, it may be parasites or it may be oxygen depravation. The treatment you are giving can't hurt. Lets just hope it helps. Good luck!!!

[bullisbm]

"Sometimes hillstreams just don't thrive."

I am really hoping this is the case. My 3 adult Sewellia's seem to be ok.. so far it seems to be affecting the smaller ones.

"I am guessing that you've read up on this site the perfect requiremnets of these fish?
are you doing 50% WC weekly?
any suspect rocks in the tank?
what are you feeding them? "

Yes, I understand what they need and have tried my best to supply them a 'river' environment in the 20L they are in. Plenty of current and plenty of O2.

I religiously do water changes every Sat. All the rocks are the same that have been there since I had my Sewellia's in the original 10g I had them in. I adore hillys and want them to be as happy and healthy as I can get them to be.

They have a varied diet. Algae covered rocks when they get re-covered. Frozen blood worms, shrimp pellets, algae wafers, variety wafers and sometimes live black worms.

None of them were skinny when they died.

[bullisbm]

I know it is early in the treatment.. but I have noticed that all the rest the 3 Sewellia, 2 kweichowensis and 2 Ocellatus all seem to be much more active.

So I think the treatment might actually be doing some good even thought I really don't know what is wrong.

[Jim Powers]

That sounds good.
Be sure to do the full treatment. In fact, I would do a ten day treatment rather than the five day, just to be safe.

[bullisbm]

Thanks for the advice I will go with a 10 day treatment.

They all seem to be doing well still, actually better than before the treatment started. They all also seem to be eating better. If they keep this up I may have some competition for your giants Jim.

[jones57742]

I cannot figure out what is going on in my 20 gal tank.

Any ideas.. I am scared I might start losing my Sewellia's..

bullisbm:

My experience around here with respect to loaches positions me below the bottom of the totem pole.

I have had limited experience in raising Sewellia fry but was having very good luck with them growing until I was out of town for several days and unfortunately had not trained up my "away keepers" appropriately.

No one (I do not believe) has mentioned water temperature and my water temperature was 78F.

I had an airstone positioned such that a significant current was generated along the face of two walls in the 5G hex which they seemed to enjoy.

Also, if you can, you might want to increase the aeration of the water. It certainly can't hurt.

The current generated some turbulence on the water's surface and hence I believe that the oxygen concentration in the water was at saturation for 78F.


I believe that pristine water conditions were critical to their growth.
I was performing 90% daily WC's from my main tank.
The 5G hex had very rudimentary biowheel filtration which was significantly insufficient for mechanical or biological filtration but did contribute to oxygen saturation in the tank water.

You did not report Gh, Kh or TDS.
Do you have a water softener as this "softening" would generate the deaths which you are observing.

TR

[bullisbm]

The temp is and always has been 74. The GH is 8, I don't know the kh or tds.

No, I do not have a water softener.

[jones57742]

The temp is and always has been 74. The GH is 8, I don't know the kh or tds.

No, I do not have a water softener.

This is out of my league now except for current along the sides of the tank and oxygen saturation!

TR

[bullisbm]

There is a lot of current at the top and in the water it self. I run power heads and multiple air bars all with 40+ gal air pumps for each bar. I think I have enough movement at the surface to have good 02 exchange.