ArcticLancer
Fish Fanatic
Hopefully I'll address all of the basic questions right off the bat, and then we can go from there.
Particular breed: Aphyosemion australe
Tank PH - approximately 7.1-7.2, though it has traditionally been higher. Lowered during the inclusion of other blackwater fish.
GH/KH - middle of the road softness. GH about 100ppm, KH about 80mg/L.
Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates - Tested minimal - all well within acceptable ranges.
Thank size - 33Gal, well-established
So, here's how it breaks down. I've hatched and raised these killis myself, and they would be about 1.5 years old presently. They live in a community tank with several glass catfish, 2 angelfish, and a shoal of rummy-nose tetras. Generally, I figured that of all the inhabitants, the killis should have been the hardest to kill ... They have been fine the entire duration that I have had them, and things only start getting odd recently.
The glass cats were brought into the tank at the same time as 3 juvenile angels (2 of them, I assume, had internal parasites from the pet store as I could not coax them to eat anything. The 3rd is quite healthy, and another equally healthy one was added last week). Nothing besides the angels that died showed any issues. 5 tetras were added last week and no problems were encountered - everything was fine. The only out-of-sorts thing I did was clean the driftwood I have in the tank 4 days later, but it was cleaned in tank water removed during a water change. 2 days later, after feeding the fish in the morning (frozen bloodworms are the norm for me), the tetras started acting very weird and lost much of their nose coloring. One died about an hour later, and this was in the filter intake so I wasn't sure it hadn't just wandered too close. The others, while still looking pale, were swimming fine and I had a class to attend, so I turned off the lights and went. I came home 5ish hours later and 2 more tetras were dead, with 2 more still looking sickly. I fished out the dead ones and turned on the lights. Within the hour both remaining tetras were back to red-nosed active wonders. I did nothing whatsoever to intervene ...
So we move to last night. I replaced the dead tetras and picked up 5 more. When I arrived home I found one killi dead at the bottom of the tank. I had no idea why - none of them were acting out of sorts - so I just assumed it had died of age, knowing they have had varied living conditions while I have moved between apartments. This morning when I woke I found 3 more laying dead the the tank's bottom, and as I type this one more is on it's way out. There is still nothing identifiably wrong with the tank, and none of the angels, cats, or tetras have shown any signs of illness either. The most perplexing part of this is that every killi that has died has been female. All of the males (to this point) are still alive and well.
So I've been left with a few possible conclusions, but no real indications if any of them could be correct.
The most obvious, is that the new fish have brought something into the tank, but if this were the case I would expect something OTHER than the killis to be experiencing problems too.
I would consider some kind of issue with the females carrying eggs and having complications, but to lose 5 in 2 days is far too coincidental when they've clearly been impregnated for months.
Old age pretty much has the same issues as the pregnancy theory ...
Anywho, being that the issue is fairly isolated to the killis, I figured I would start here and see if anyone has had a similar experience, or has a better explanation. If you need any more info I'll be happy to provide it. In the meantime, I'll continue to monitor the tank.
Regards,
Nick
Particular breed: Aphyosemion australe
Tank PH - approximately 7.1-7.2, though it has traditionally been higher. Lowered during the inclusion of other blackwater fish.
GH/KH - middle of the road softness. GH about 100ppm, KH about 80mg/L.
Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates - Tested minimal - all well within acceptable ranges.
Thank size - 33Gal, well-established
So, here's how it breaks down. I've hatched and raised these killis myself, and they would be about 1.5 years old presently. They live in a community tank with several glass catfish, 2 angelfish, and a shoal of rummy-nose tetras. Generally, I figured that of all the inhabitants, the killis should have been the hardest to kill ... They have been fine the entire duration that I have had them, and things only start getting odd recently.
The glass cats were brought into the tank at the same time as 3 juvenile angels (2 of them, I assume, had internal parasites from the pet store as I could not coax them to eat anything. The 3rd is quite healthy, and another equally healthy one was added last week). Nothing besides the angels that died showed any issues. 5 tetras were added last week and no problems were encountered - everything was fine. The only out-of-sorts thing I did was clean the driftwood I have in the tank 4 days later, but it was cleaned in tank water removed during a water change. 2 days later, after feeding the fish in the morning (frozen bloodworms are the norm for me), the tetras started acting very weird and lost much of their nose coloring. One died about an hour later, and this was in the filter intake so I wasn't sure it hadn't just wandered too close. The others, while still looking pale, were swimming fine and I had a class to attend, so I turned off the lights and went. I came home 5ish hours later and 2 more tetras were dead, with 2 more still looking sickly. I fished out the dead ones and turned on the lights. Within the hour both remaining tetras were back to red-nosed active wonders. I did nothing whatsoever to intervene ...
So we move to last night. I replaced the dead tetras and picked up 5 more. When I arrived home I found one killi dead at the bottom of the tank. I had no idea why - none of them were acting out of sorts - so I just assumed it had died of age, knowing they have had varied living conditions while I have moved between apartments. This morning when I woke I found 3 more laying dead the the tank's bottom, and as I type this one more is on it's way out. There is still nothing identifiably wrong with the tank, and none of the angels, cats, or tetras have shown any signs of illness either. The most perplexing part of this is that every killi that has died has been female. All of the males (to this point) are still alive and well.
So I've been left with a few possible conclusions, but no real indications if any of them could be correct.
The most obvious, is that the new fish have brought something into the tank, but if this were the case I would expect something OTHER than the killis to be experiencing problems too.
I would consider some kind of issue with the females carrying eggs and having complications, but to lose 5 in 2 days is far too coincidental when they've clearly been impregnated for months.
Old age pretty much has the same issues as the pregnancy theory ...
Anywho, being that the issue is fairly isolated to the killis, I figured I would start here and see if anyone has had a similar experience, or has a better explanation. If you need any more info I'll be happy to provide it. In the meantime, I'll continue to monitor the tank.
Regards,
Nick
