I'm totally bummed!

Looks like I killed my Panda Garras. Wednesday I did a ~40% water change and now my Pandas are gone. I have a 3 gallon bucket to which I siphon water from the tank but use a pan that holds probably 1.5 gallons to replace the removed water. The only thing that I can figure is that I forgot to condition some of the new water and chlorine killed the Pandas. Oddly my rope fish and cichlids are still fine and active and eating normal. I figure that the cichlids and rope must just be more tolerant to chlorine as nothing else makes sense.

I have since dumped enough water conditioner to cover the entire water volume of the tank (20 gallon) and all seems fine but too late for the Pandas. I just feel really guilty as I'm pretty sure that the Pandas died due to my negligence. If all stays fine with the other fish I will probably replace the Pandas as I totally love the beasties.

I hope all the other fish and the tank can recover!

Sgooosh said:

I hope all the other fish and the tank can recover!

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I really believe that the actual tank is fine as the rope fish and cichlids are just doing their every day normal stuff without showing any stress or discomfort. I really believe that I just got dumb at the wrong time.

Bummer!!! Happens to the best of us. Sending peace to your Garras

Ellie Potts said:

Bummer!!! Happens to the best of us. Sending peace to your Garras

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Ya, I know things happen but it isn't supposed to happen to my Pandas.

On a lighter side it was sort of funny when I fed my cichlids this evening with Tubifex freeze dried worms. I normally just press a chunk on the inside glass and the Pandas would swarm and tear the chunk apart with the cichlids feeding on the left overs that were floating around after the Pandas swarmed. Without the Pandas breaking the worms up it was like the cichlids didn't know what to do. They eventually figured out that they could actually feed off the glass but it took a while.

As to other feeding the cichlids and rope fish did normal. My cichlids are small even when totally mature being under 2 inches but they still like meal worms. They acted totally normal grabbing a worm and swimming around with half a worm hanging out of their mouths until they were able to get the whole thing ingested. Same with my rope fish as to eating his meal worms. All was totally normal including the cichlids chasing each other around the tank.

I mean the tank and occupants are acting totally normal and active except for the Pandas being dead. Since the Pandas had been in the tank since August 2022 without issue I figure it had to be my error. While I can't prove I figure I must have missed conditioning some of the water when doing the water change causing some chlorine to be in the water which likely killed the Pandas. It is likely that the Pandas were just more sensitive to chlorine than the cichlids or rope. To me it is the only thing that makes sense as all was well yet a day or so after a water change the Pandas died. Unless my town's water supply added something weird my screwing up is the only thing that makes sense.

I really DO feel guilty as I truly do feel that having a critter is a responsibility, not a privilege. I feel that I failed in this responsibility. It does not matter that it was fish as it is just as much a responsibility as if it were a dog.

On the offchance that the water company did something or something happened to the water supply down the line from you such as a burst water main etc.....I would go to the water company website and get yourself onto their water emergency email list. That way should any maintenance or an emergency situation arise in your area regarding the water supply, you will automatically receive an email telling you exactly what is going on and then you can not only be aware of it and take steps to prevent issues but you will understand what might have happened if fish perish or become sick suddenly. They also notify you when the maintenance or issue has been sorted out.

I did it on mine when I initially restarted keeping fish and tbh I was getting so many emails with warnings of impending maintenance or issues with the supply, its what pushed me to using bottled water for my aquariums in the end.

Having that information from the water company gives you a chance to perhaps delay the water change for a few days or if its an emergency such as a burst main, then you can go get some bottled water or make another arrangement that will get you over that timespan safely.

Just something to perhaps think about doing.

wasmewasntit said:

On the offchance that the water company did something or something happened to the water supply down the line from you such as a burst water main etc.....I would go to the water company website and get yourself onto their water emergency email list. That way should any maintenance or an emergency situation arise in your area regarding the water supply, you will automatically receive an email telling you exactly what is going on and then you can not only be aware of it and take steps to prevent issues but you will understand what might have happened if fish perish or become sick suddenly. They also notify you when the maintenance or issue has been sorted out.

I did it on mine when I initially restarted keeping fish and tbh I was getting so many emails with warnings of impending maintenance or issues with the supply, its what pushed me to using bottled water for my aquariums in the end.

Having that information from the water company gives you a chance to perhaps delay the water change for a few days or if its an emergency such as a burst main, then you can go get some bottled water or make another arrangement that will get you over that timespan safely.

Just something to perhaps think about doing.

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Very sound input! Thank you.

I'm happy to say that my cichlids and rope fish are still fine and acting normal. I WILL replace the Pandas but will wait until I do another water change which will not happen until a few days from now as I need more water conditioner.

Actually what I have left of water conditioner is a large part of my belief that I neglected to condition some of the new water as I really should have none left but do. I could go out right now and get Prime but, as all now seems fine, I don't want to hit my savings to buy the stuff. Military disability hits my bank on the 1st of February and I figure that is soon enough.

On the plus side my plants are still doing well. I know some of my plants like Anubias and swords but some I have no clue as to what they actually are. Since I still have the packing list of the plants I ordered I'm sure that I could search and find what they are but that just isn't all that important to me as long as they are doing well.

Anyway here is the plant that I'm referring:

Sorry for your losses! Might not have even been your fault. If it were a huge chlorine OD, I think it would have affected your other fish somewhat. Puzzling. Glad all seems to be well otherwise.

Luckily none of this have impacted my panda gara and they are still spending all day long fighting.

WhistlingBadger said:

Sorry for your losses! Might not have even been your fault. If it were a huge chlorine OD, I think it would have affected your other fish somewhat. Puzzling. Glad all seems to be well otherwise.

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Possibly but I think it was chlorine as that is the most simple answer... kind of going with Occam's Razor on this. I mean it just makes sense considering that the Pandas were totally fine before the water change and dead the next day when I woke up. The cichlids and rope did seem affected but not to the point of death. They did go into hiding with the cichlids going in to lower plants and the rope hiding out in the pump chamber. I consider it probable that the Pandas are just more intolerant as to chlorine. It just not seem likely that a species specific disease or parasite would kill all four of the Pandas overnight and I also find it unlikely that a change in my tap water would take out just one species. Also cannot see either my rope or cichlids taking out all four Pandas overnight.

Looks like it may be a while before I replace my Pandas as Dan's Fish (local warehouse) is out of stock and I don't like the idea of having shipped during winter.

anewbie said:

Luckily none of this have impacted my panda gara and they are still spending all day long fighting.

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Hey, Pandas don't fight, they play tag. Actually I know what you mean as to looking to be fighting but I don't think they actually are.

Bummer.

Another thing that points to the Pandas being more susceptible yo chlorine is that they seen to be mostly wild caught. Both the rope and cichlids are tank bread. From articles I've read it would seem that, usually, tank bred fish have a wider tolerance as to water conditions.

As to not seeing Pandas available right now I it likely that this may also be due to being mostly wild caught and out of season. Along with Dan's Fish Wet Spot is also out of stock not that I would have Wet Spot ship during winter anyway. Petco has them in stock but only through shipping but there are two problems with this. 1) Just NOT going to get live fish through Petco even if I were willing to have fish shipped during winter. 2) I don't think that what Petco is selling are actually Panda Garra, Garra flavatra. First image below is a true Garra flavatra. The second is what Petco is selling as Garra flavatra.

Just thought I'd add a bit of funny. One of my cichlids was just TOO funny this evening. A few posts back I showed a plant that had thrown out a runner with two new plants forming. It just happened that a meal worm landed at the bottom just on the wrong side of the plant runner for the cichlid that wanted the thingy. I watched this beasty trying to get this worm for like a half hour. The danged fish would keep trying to get the worm and was even smart enough th swim around and go for a different direction but ended up just pushing the worm to the other side of the plant runner before it got it in it's mouth. It was actually rather funny to watch.

The final result was that another one of my cichlids seemed to say that if you are going to be this dumb.... The normally submissive cichlid ended up with the worm. May seem dumb but I like it when a submissive beats out a dominant.

While not so much so as my Pandas the cichlids are still very entertaining.

jaylach said:

Hey, Pandas don't fight, they play tag. Actually I know what you mean as to looking to be fighting but I don't think they actually are.

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Two were definitely fighting. They changed colour and went after each other for at least 30 minutes until they more or less wore themselves out. It was kind of amusing to watch - i didn't notice any real damage but they refuse to give ground.