Tank Journal - Hillstream Temperate River

[thereverendturtle]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Biulu]

What a pity! It is always a shame to lose fish but especially when they are special and hard to replace.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Just a quick update. I found three dead WCMM last weekend (two gold and one white). They had been hanging around at the top of the tank for a few days so I suspected the worst. Since that, the rest of them have been active and are eating well so not sure what caused that one.

I also found my last remaining Sewellia Lineolata dead yesterday. I am still not sure what has killed them all, but all of the other fish seem to be ok. I am pretty gutted though as they were gorgeous and cost quite a lot for the group. All of the other loaches are eating and seem to be happy enough. I have also changed the LED lighting for a T8 to try and increase the rate of algae growth. It is currently on for 16 hours a day and it seems to be working.

I'm so sorry to read about your new losses

I know you swapped the powerhead and filter output back around, albeit with the filter output modified for more flow, but given your Sewellia losses a few weeks ago with this configuration and to now to lose the last Sewellia and some WCMM something cannot be right...

• Either keeping the powerhead deeply submerged and the filter output high is not getting enough oxygen into the water.
• Or more worryingly, you have something contagious that is wiping out the fish.

Ultimately its your call, but I personally would effectively quarantine that tank (i.e. no new purchases) for at least a month and go back to having the Koralia 2800 giving major water rippling. You could always reshuffle the hardscape so at least some of the rocks go into the line of fire from the Koralia.

Are the fish showing any external abnormalities? Are their stomachs looking unusually thin or bloated? Any signs of worms protruding from their behind?

 

[fishprotector]

There should be enough oxygen in the water as there is an airstone near the powerhead aswell now. I am also planned on getting an external filter very soon to replace the internals. The fish seem visually ok and are swimming and eating normally. I got my last minnows from pets at home so the only thing that I can think off is that they had something wrong with them. All of my Myersi and my spotted Sewellia are ok as are the rest of my minnows now (the three died nearly 7 days ago). I am going away in 6 weeks to sail a yacht back across the Atlantic so will not be buying any fish until I gat back from that little trip.

 

[fishprotector]

A mate who came round this morning said that perhaps the Lineolata died off because the temperature was too low for them on a constant basis. It is set at 20 degrees. He reckons that the water is well oxygenated and could not think of anything else as a disease or species only disease would have affected other fish, especially the Sewellia Spotted. Everything has been fine recently and the Myersi are thriving. They have grown significantly in length and are now quite broad. My Spotted Sewellia has also grown from what she was. Algae wish, the biofilm is establishing nicely. I have a layer of algae forming on most of the rocks and the wood is coated in a green algae of some kind.

 

[mikev]

Yes, 20C (68F) is problematic with Sewellia. 72F as minimum, better 75F+. My hillie tanks are backed up by a heater set for 72F but the room is usually warmer than this.

Notice that P.Myersi's originate from South China (subtropical) rather than warmer Sewellia's Vietnam.

 

[fishprotector]

Ah well we live and learn I suppose. As long as we do learn hey. Loaches.com reckon that 20-23.8 is the Lineolata's desired range. I suppose by having my heater set at 20 degrees it was on the bottom end of that, and that is without any fluctuations throughout the tank.

I bought two Candi River Gobies today (Rhinogobius Candidianus) who are currently acclimatising. They had been in the shop for over 5 months apparantly and I had been eyeing them up for a wee while. There is a male around 2 inches long and a female of similar size who seems to be carrying eggs. They only had two left of I may have got a second female.

 

[fishprotector]

Here are a few pics of my new Gobies ...

The one that I think is a male:

The one that I think is a female:

A cute one of the male next to a P.Myersi:

They seem to be settling in well up to now and have been exploring the tank and playing in the flow.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Ah well we live and learn I suppose. As long as we do learn hey. Loaches.com reckon that 20-23.8 is the Lineolata's desired range. I suppose by having my heater set at 20 degrees it was on the bottom end of that, and that is without any fluctuations throughout the tank.

I bought two Candi River Gobies today (Rhinogobius Candidianus) who are currently acclimatising. They had been in the shop for over 5 months apparantly and I had been eyeing them up for a wee while. There is a male around 2 inches long and a female of similar size who seems to be carrying eggs. They only had two left of I may have got a second female.

I've noticed that the temperature profile for my Aborichthys elongatus has a big conflict between Loaches and Seriously, 21-25.5C versus 15-21C, the minimum value of one is the maximum at the other! Once I am pretty sure my "tank of death" crisis is over (probably read as one month after final death and and no signs of any spots), I plan to turn either my 48x12x15 or my Rio240 (probably the latter) into a 20C setup for my more temperate fish [Ilyodon xantusi; Aborichthys elongatus; Megalechis thoracata; Puntius denisonii; my new yesterday Chaetostoma milesi).

The gobies look geat, fingers crossed your tank crisis is over.

 

[fishprotector]

Sounds like a plan! I particularly like the Aborichthys elongatus and the Puntius denisonii. I really enjoy watching the later when ever we go to the Blue Planet. I would love to keep a shoal one day if I get another tank big enough for them.

 

[fishprotector]

Update on the Gobies - They seem to be doing well. I fed them tetra prima early this morning but they did not touch it. The female munched on a few bloodworm tonight, but the male did not touch it. It is only their second day in the tank so plenty of time for him to come round. I know that the fish shop kept them at 25 degrees so he is probably still getting used to the cooler temperature. They do seem to be spending a lot of time close to each other so fingers crossed for a pair

 

[fishprotector]

Here is video of last nights feeding session. I gave them some bloodworm to make sure that the Gobies were eating properly as all fish seem to love it. The female was right on in there, but it took the male a while to get going (he ate after I stopped filming). The female was also quite territorial over the food, but I guess that she is just trying to work her way into the pecking order of the tank. Even the P.Myersi had a go which I have not seen before. It was quite funny to watch as they slurp it up like spaghetti lol.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHMoLdbuLdg&feature=youtu.be}

Oh and before anyone asks, the only way to keep the bloodworm in one spot was to turn off the powerhead and filters for a couple of minutes. Otherwise the bottom dwellers would have no chance

 

[fishprotector]

I have replaced the two internal filters with an Aqua One Aquis 1250 external filter. This was running as a second filter on my 300l tank, but I managed to get another Fluval 405 to replace it with. This should greatly improve the filtration and the general condition of the water. It has also increased the turn over to just over 3600 lph, which was not really required but it is a nice by product. There is also a nice bit of algae starting to grow in the tank. Once it all settles down, I will get a new video uploaded.

 

[fishprotector]

Just been to feed some bloodworm after work and noticed that something had disturbed the sand and pebbles underneath my largest stone (right infront of the powerhead). It looked like a cave had been built. Neither of my gobies were around for feeding, which was strange as they love it. It turns out they were under the rock together in the cave they have made. I saw the male for a few seconds and the female poked her face out briefly. The male was extremely colourful with lots of metallic blue and yellow in his fins. I thought that they were very close recently and the one I thought was a female looked like she was carrying eggs. I am very excited as to what could be happening

 

[mikev]

This is how they reproduce: eggs are deposited into a spawning pit, and ---- if you are lucky ---- fry will show up in the tank in perhaps 10-12 days. I've not documented p.myersi fry development, but did this for another pseudogastromyzon here. Parents and Sewellia are not dangerous to the fry, but the gobies are.