Mark H.

@Coluthe good news is that you saved ~20 fry from tank #2. They liked the 75% water change, didn't notice them while siphoning out the dead earlier. I had convinced myself that it was bacterial or parasitic. time to work on my water changed 🙂 I may have to go back to using my master test kit more often.

I have the kit, just got lazy. 0 ammonia in the only tank that hasn't had a change yet. Nitrate tested 100 with the liquid kit, despite the test strip reading very light pink. thanks for the kick, just surprised that the BN succumbed first.

3 months into breeding with minimal problems, even sold a few, and lost 3 separate tanks of fry ranging from 2 weeks to 3 months in age in the last week. all are from same male, 3 different females tank 1: 20 gallon long, ~40 3 month old fry. died over a 3 day period half before and half after a water change. temp 72, heater controller failure or too small. first winter with this tank. nitrates were high, perhaps 80 on the test strip, it was 40 after 50% water change. a different tank with this same spawn is fine. I did drop a mystery snail in right before this happened. I was trying to save him, having problems breathing after I had to medicate a different tank after some fool tried to get away without a quarantine, there were 50% losses in that tank. Snail is still alive. so I at least succeeded there. tank 2: 10 gallon, 30-6 week old fry all died today, no nitrates, 75 deg, I did water change yesterday and moved some corys in to help with food debris. tank 3: 10 gallon, 20-2 week old fry all missing a week ago, even noticed a few dead trumpet snails, no nitrates, 75 deg this was a week ago, chalked it up to infant mortality water is well, softened because of the dissolved iron, 0 GH, 300+ KH, PH 7.6, this is unchanged as far as I know. I don't test for ammonia, tanks have a lot of plants, so almost always next to 0. all tanks also have bronze corydoras and mystery snails that are alive What can wipe out BN that quickly and efficiently? Three other fry tanks and 2 breeders still ok.

the amano shrimp will hatch normally and float away, just like the wild. The zoe will die if they don't find brackish water to grow in. I would guess that they would survive in fresh water about 8 hours, much like baby brine shrimp. some will get eaten. the dead amano babies will have little effect on ammonia. If you're concerned, skip food that day. I have several females in 29 and 55 gallons, never noticed a problem.

great topic, a video somewhere on the walstad method reinvigorated my hobby. After having a single tank for decades.

you wouldn't need to, although a little air bubbling in wouldn't hurt. I've also seen some mini filters, not much bigger than a marshmallow that would polish the water a little.

I should add, that's kind of how my shrimp tank started, except I killed a lot of shrimp for the first 6 months.

for the short term, you could just leave it as a planted tank, fertilize, trim and top off as required. If you decide to add fish again, you'll have to re-cycle it.

thanks for everyone's input, I'll start the one tank over and medicate its lone inhabitant. Adding some guppies or other livebearers, perhaps.

definitely thought about restating, the first two I chalked up to bad luck, but the third..... it's only 6 months old, low use, none of my ammonia tests have even said 0. I'll check the shrimp tank too, well cycled. you got it, no torn fins, other than being dead, looked like a normal pleco. The three healthy (breeders) have never been in the same tank as the lone pleco. Separate lines, arrived separate and quarantined separately. being a carrier of something also crossed my mind. the 6 did not get medicated, the last dead one did, she was the lone survivor of the med trio that took out 5 other plecos. Which is why I had one odd one. they've only been with an established school of cory cats or snails, most of which I bred. Blood worms, maybe with the single pleco, if she happened to snag some from the corys. The only other thing frozen is maybe some snail jello, with some extra calcium, puréed greens, fish flake and gelatin.

even the RO is light green from master test kit, but it's the same water for everyone except shrimp. I knew that it was a bit of a long shot, thanks for trying. I don't have a ton of information. I would be more understanding if I killed everything that I put in that tank. I've seen other plecos spar and chase, nothing of the sort here, but they did have 12 hours of dark by themselves.

I always blamed the ammonia result on my master test kit, never thought of it as being accurate....I have a 100 GPD RO system, I've always intended to rig that to fill a barrel, but a wife without drinking water may be a problem. That was my thinking, hence the title of the post, but there are no visible odontodes(sp?) Could it harass enough to kill in <24 hours.

Tihshho, nothing else noted, no injuries, just the one pleco hanging out under the filter or in a specific cave, no bristles, so I assume that it's a female. All 3 dead appeared to be female also. nothing but water or food recently. Don't remember exactly when I added the wood, but I bought it all the same day, before the first 2 deaths. Maybe even before the plecos were moved. Just checked ammonia, 0.25, but even my well water tests at 0.25, which is why I quit testing it and just use the coop test strips. Brandon p, stomach was not bloated before the move last night. Went to bed, then work. Checked on them right when I got home. Don't know if it was dead a few minutes or all day. everyone gets something every day, a wafer, zucchini, green beans or repashy. The fish that was moved and quickly died shared a 20 long with 15 corys and a few snails, plenty of food there.

I bought 2 lines of super red plecos (3 fish each line) about 3 months ago. While they quarantined, I set up 2 new 40 breeders and decorated them similarly, sand, wood, caves etc. Each tank was aged a month with fritzyme-7 and 6 corydoras to keep cycled. Anyway, one tank is fine with 1-male, 2- females breeding away The problem tank: 2 of the three plecos died after about a month ( 2 months after I received them) I found one pretty quickly, but the other was buried and skeletal before I found it. The third pleco seems just fine, although maybe a bit lonely. Yesterday I add a "new" pleco that I've had for at least 9 months, which dies within 24 hours, just found her a few minutes ago, stomach bloated. This tank does have some BBA, but other than that I can't find any differences. All of my tanks test similarly, but Nitrates are low, soft, low GH, high KH, PH ~ 8. 75 deg F, HOB filter rinsed a few days ago in well water. Original lonely pleco is still ok. Ideas? was thinking of adding the Corys back in to displace aggression. It will be a month before any of my other fry are ready to go in that tank, but I really don't want to sacrifice them needlessly.