110 Gallon South American Biotope

[eaglesaquarium]

My BN digs and redecorates in my tank as well.  I had a large piece of mopani on the sand and he dug out a quite sizeable cavern for himself under it.  The cories moved in too, of course!
 
 
 
Latest update:  Since the current illness continues to plague my household, this time catching me, I will be unable to go to work today.  But, being ever the hard worker, I went in at 2:30am to put things in order for the day in my absence.  Anyway, I couldn't help but check on the tank while I was there.  Here is what I found:
 
Left to right:

image by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
 

image by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
 

image by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
 
I am very pleased with exactly how great the tank looks with the darker substrate!  It really makes a HUGE difference.  I wasn't sure how big a difference it would make... it is STRIKINGLY better, and for anyone reading this and considering whether to go with a darker substrate or not, DO IT!  WOW!!!  The colors of the plants and the fish just POP.  I'll need to replant a few stems of cabomba again, but overall the tank looks good.  I had a hard time seeing how the bottom looked when putting the substrate in, so it isn't smoothed out yet.  Some of the cabomba has nice root growth, after being allowed to sit in the sand undisturbed.  Others have been uprooted so much that they still have no roots on the bottom of the stem.  I'm hoping that the new substrate stimulates the growth of the roots a bit faster.  It is frustrating to keep having to replant them.
 
 
 
As you can see, the water has cleared up COMPLETELY.  The cories starting checking things out to show off for me, so I took a quick video of them: LINK HERE.
 
 
Like I said, these guys have been settled in great since I first put them in.  They continue to just go along with anything, although, they did freak out a little as I tried to catch them and put them into the temporary tank while I worked on the main tank.

 

[greenmumma141]

WOW, eagles this looks amazing. I love the darker substrate.  There is a huge difference... now I wish i went with the black lol.  I've read a lot of good reviews on the petco sand, so i don't think you'll have a problem with it. I really like the way the floramax blends with the sand as well... hmmm.....
 
I really like the rescape as well, everything looks very natural. Your cories seem very happy, and might i say, their barbels are quite impressive  
 
I hope the rocks were the cause of the problems and you'll have nothing but great results from here! When will you test out the hypothesis with new fish ?

 

[snazy]

The corys have so much room to play Hopefully the rescape has resolved the issues with chemicals or whatever was killing the fishies.
It looks lovely.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Thanks.  I've worked very hard to give the fish everything they need to thrive (which is just another reason that these whole mass death experiences are very upsetting)!  These fish have been kept in clean water, with a soft sand substrate for nearly two years now.  My home tank where they have been for the vast majority of this time has a mix of play sand and flourite, which is actually quite sharp by comparison to the substrate that they are in now.  I've never had a problem with their barbels though, which would indicate to me that the idea that the fish "cut" themselves is less of a concern than we generally think.  I think the barbels are just very susceptible to infections when you have poor water quality, certainly a sharper substrate could make infection more likely, but I think the key for the cories' barbels is water quality more than substrate.  With that said, the substrate NEEDS to be small enough that they can sift through it easily.
 
 
If all is well tomorrow (with me, not the fish), the plan is to run out and grab about 6 bloodfins (hopefully) during my lunch break and acclimate them during my in-service tomorrow.  Then I will release them into the "new" tank and I'll stick around for about two hours to check on them.  If they start to show signs of stress, I will put them into the 20 gallon tank - which I suppose is the QT at this point.  If they can't survive in the 20 gallon, then there is REAL problems, as that tank is bare.  I doubt there would be an issue with the 20 gallon though, as another teacher has a 30 gallon tank in the room next to mine, and he's got several tetra species, red eye and black neon, last I checked.  And they do fine. 
 
 
Assuming all goes well (big assumption at this point), we will begin the black water acclimation soon.  I'll update the thread with our black water process when the time comes, with a quick video and short description.  Obviously, we will start slowly and keep a close eye on the pH as we go.  Ultimately, we don't want to cause more stress than has already happened.  The idea of the black water is actually to REDUCE their stress, so hopefully it will work out the way we expect.

 

[snazy]

I've never had a problem with their barbels though, which would indicate to me that the idea that the fish "cut" themselves is less of a concern than we generally think. I think the barbels are just very susceptible to infections when you have poor water quality, certainly a sharper substrate could make infection more likely, but I think the key for the cories' barbels is water quality more than substrate.

 
There is a difference between providing fully non-sand and sharp substrate and mixed areas. The corys will have no chance, but dig in a sharp substrate when they are starving, but when there's both, they aren't stupid and will dig in the sand instead and just skip areas they don't like.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

While that may be true, I've seen my cories, both these leopards and my panda cories, digging in the areas with only the flourite.  They move the stuff easily with their barbels.  They don't sift it through their gills like the sand, but they do shuffle their snouts into it.

 

[daizeUK]

Looks really good. Best of luck to you and your new fish; and hope you feel better soon too! I know what it feels like right now to have a tank you want to play with but are too ill.

Just a thought, could it be worthwhile splitting your new fish so that some go into the 20g? That way if some die it might help narrow it down to rocks, water or the fish themselves etc.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, I feel fairly confident that I can eliminate the fish variable.  I will try them in the main tank, ultimately, that is where they will end up, so putting them in the 20 gallon won't determine anything.  I will have the 20 g ready to go at a moment's notice, in case I notice any signs of distress.  Two+ hours should be enough time for me to see them showing any tell-tale signs of distress like we've had before...  the primary keys are rapid gill movement and not shoaling.  If they stick together and their gill movement remains normal for 2+ hours, I feel confident that they will be fine and that we've fixed the problem.  If they start to show any signs of distress, I will be able to move them immediately (or nearly so) to the 20 gallon and go from there.
 
Honestly, I have a VERY good feeling about this next attempt.  I think we truly have identified the problem, whereas before we were more or less flailing at ghosts, now we have a more plausible explanation.  So, we feel reasonably confident that we won't have another disaster on our hands.

 

[greenmumma141]

Good luck eagles! 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

So frustrated!
 
Let's just leave it at things aren't going well with the newest arrivals.  After roughly 6 hours in the tank, they started exhibiting the behaviors we noticed in the others just before they died.  I have moved them into the 20 gallon standing by, but there's no guarantee that they can last the night.
 
 
There was a MAJOR acclimation issue, caused by the LFS, not us, but they seemed to settle in fine once they got into the tank...
 
I am at my wits end.  I've pulled ALL the stone out of the tank now.  Not sure what else could be causing the trouble except maybe some airborne cleanser that's getting into the tank during the cleaning staff's routine.  Whatever it might be, why it isn't affecting the cories is beyond me.  It might be that it doesn't get as deep in the water, but I can't figure it out.
 
 
It isn't the sand. That's been removed.
It isn't ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate.  None of these are such fast killers anyway. 
It isn't the pH.
It isn't the hardness.
It isn't the temperature, the acclimation process or excessive circulation.
It isn't a lack of oxygen in the water, although oxygen depravation seems to be the culprit, given the gasping for breath.
 
So, whatever it is, it is something that is impeding the fish from extracting oxygen from the water through their gills.

 

[snazy]

I don't know what to say. I'm sorry to hear that. It's strange that it isn't affecting the corys. Only the rocks are left but then again the corys aren't bothered. But then you said one died. If they make it in the small tank, then it isn't some highly infectious disease that the corys could be possibly immune to. I don't know.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Based on the rapidity of death, we are leaning towards toxin, not disease.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Silicone sealant?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'm interested... Can you explain this some more?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Well, after reading this whole thing, it appears you've eliminated almost everything except the silicone, either the tank sealant or whatever is holding your rock pieces together. Maybe that's epoxy. I do know there's an additive to silicone that's supposedly dangerous to fish. Just wish I could remember what that is. 

 
EDIT: Any kind of silicone with a mold or fungus inhibitor is toxic to fish.