scavengers to eat dead fish

[toledosun]

Just wondering.. anybody knows what type of shrimps/scavengers will eat dead fishes etc?

My tetras die at the rate of maybe 1 a day. Tired of scooping them out. Also, do tetras die easily? My planted tank is very simple, with just stones, riccia and hair grass. Only my tetras and shrimps seem to be dying, the rest are doing fine.

[Simon]

fishes do not die overnight, there bound to be something wrong with your tank.. kindly leave down your tank configuration, water parameters down

[madans]

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On 12/5/2002 9:54:21 AM

My tetras die at the rate of maybe 1 a day. Tired of scooping them out. Also, do tetras die easily? My planted tank is very simple, with just stones, riccia and hair grass. Only my tetras and shrimps seem to be dying, the rest are doing fine.
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Scavengers will not help you control fish death. The rotting carcases will kill even more fish as you wait for the scavengers to eat them.

Look for the solution elsewhere. Check water parameters etc.,
Remove all fish from the tank for a week. Do repeated water changes to rid the tank / kill the pathogens then reintroduce fish slowly a few per week.

Tetras are very senstive to water quality.

Madan Subramanian
Bangalore, India.

[toledosun]

what sort of tests do I need to do?

[bclee]

Test for KH, pH & NO2.

You change water regularly? How old is your tank? What fishes do you have?

BC

[chongj88]

For a start, you may want to test the water for NH3/NH4, NO2 and NO3 levels... Do you also know the pH of your water? Perhaps some recent additions to your tank that might have introduced some disease? In any case, you should change your water ASAP. Not all at once but maybe 50% first then another 50% 2 or 3 days later.

Hope this helps.

[toledosun]

Thanks guys. My PH is ok, about 6-7 but my KH is high, the last time I checked, it was about 8. That may be because of the coral sand that I added into the filter. Will remove by today. The Ammonia level is ok I think, becauses I bought one of those "stick on the glass" type of ammonia test kits and the colour is yellow.

Changed 1/3 water this morning. Will go back and monitor!

[Allen_1971]

Just wondering how big your tank is and what your fishload is?

[bclee]

Toledosu, why do you add coral sand in your filter?

BC

[toledosun]

My current tank size is about 50cm x 30cm x 40 cm. Fish load is about 40 fishes with 4-8 shrimps. Mainly tetras, some coloured fishes (those with bright colours along the top) and 2 fishes with orange/black stripes.

Coral sand were left overs. Not much, took out one sponge and replaced it with coral sand in my external eheim filter (2227).

[budak]

Your bioload is rather high for a 50 cm tank, so natural attrition is to be expected. If ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels are ok, it could be excess CO2, esp since your KH is high, so more CO2 is needed to get your 6-7 pH level. Otherwise, could be general stress as the fish jostle for fin-space, with the weaker ones dying in succession.

[Allen_1971]

Depending on the size of your tetras, I would say your fish load is med-v.high... could be that your fish load is the issue.... fish in cramped quarters tend to be stressed, and as such tend to die easier... I agree that you should check your NO2/NO3 levels.

[chrissia]

I'll reduce the fish load to half; max 30.

[toledosun]

thanks guys. I'll change water, monitor the fish load, turn off the CO2 and add in an airstone for the time being.

[CK Yeo]

Is your tank new?
It your tank cycled?

Dunno how your "stick-on-the-glass" ammonia test works... is there such a thing?

Read here about ammonia toxicity
Anyway, the gist of it is that you need very little of ammonia to kill.

Also, from your KH/pH, you have between 24-240ppm of CO2. Are you sure they are correct?

ck

[DEA]

even at pH of 7.5 you have about~2% of unionised nh3
since your pH is 6~7, i suggest you test for NITRITE, not ammonia
i suspect that's why your fish are knocking out

[David]

I will agree with yimin that it should be NO2 (Nitrite) that you should be testing....are your fish always at the or near the surface and very heavy breathing movement of the gills and are they very brightly more colorful than normal.....? these are usually the visual signs of nitrite....coupled with the fact that your fish are knocking off so fast.

[CK Yeo]

Well, it can be nitrite too... that kills also. All part of the nitrogen cycle. In a new tank, ammonia is the first thing that peaks. Nitrite comes later.
Whatever the case, it is the dangers of not cycling a tank with high bio-load.

The point in ammonia toxicity is not how much is ionised or un-ionised (who cares?); it is the fact that you need very little of total ammonia to kill.

ck