L091 Loss

[Arimus]

After the loss of my entire previous stock due to a power cut while we were away (when we got back some fish still lived but we couldn't save them - power had been off for 4 days ) I've restarted our tropical tank, it had been running for two weeks doing a fishless cycle till the parameters showed the cycle was done...

Over the last few weeks we've slowly introduced new fishes to the tank (which has now been re-running for about 8 weeks) - the last fish introduced was an L091 Triactis; sadly he died about a week after being introduced - no obvious signs of any illness, water temp is 26c, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20.

Other than the odd 'missing' platy (Suspect they've been eaten) and 1 missing scissor tail since restarting the tank we've not lost a fish... anyone have any ideas as to what may have caused my lovely '91 to move to the great aquarium in the sky?

 

[ikongoni]

@Arimus - I am really sorry to hear about your L091.
One of my LFS have a couple, and they are a great looking Plec.

I lost an L260 last night, and I only bought her on Thursday...

Depending upon the make of your Ammonia test, this story might be something for you to think about.

When I returned the dead L260 today, a member of staff tried to fob me off by suggesting my water parameters were at fault, but when he did all the tests on the sample I had taken along, everything was in good order and he said he would replace the fish for me.

With that, his supervisor called him over and had a quiet word, then came over to me and said that the fish probably died due to high Ammonia levels and did I know that these type of fish are sensitive to poor water quality. (red flag to a bull)

I pointed out that I test for Ammonia every 3 or 4 days, this morning my reading was zero, and that her colleague had also just got a zero reading for Ammonia, not to mention that I have other L number Plecs and Discus being kept in that same tank, but they were OK..

She then asked me if I had fresh or salt water Ammonia test kit, and explained to me that the Nutrafin freshwater test is a complete waste of time.
Unless your Ammonia is sky high, you will always get a reading no higher than 0.6, when the test shows higher than this, its too late as your fish will already have been exposed to dangerously high levels of Ammonia for too long.

Instead what you should be using is the saltwater Ammonia test which is far more sensitive, and in all fairness, using that kit my Ammonia reading was surprisingly high.

Anyway, in conclusion, I am now testing with a saltwater test kit, and I got a full refund on the L260...

 

[Arimus]

I'm using the API Freshwater master kit, which is the same kit (well a subset of the same kit) as my LFS uses

Which I suppose could mean that both tests are invalid....

Argh...