Four dead catfish!

[Waterlife]

I was medicating my 75gal with one pack of maracyn, and one pack of paracleanse because I had some fish acting weird.  That’s not close to a 75 gallon does either.    I let it dissolve for 10 minutes and then poured it in.  In the morning, my 3 Hoplo cats and one banjo cat were dead or dying.  One leopard bush fish mouth is white and stays opened hopefully will recover. It looks like medication burned?

Maybe I needed to dissolve it for 10 more minutes before putting it in at a slower rate???

[Fish Folk]

On 6/26/2022 at 12:37 PM, Waterlife said:

because I had some fish acting weird.

Can you explain this? What behavior led you to treat with these medications?

Very sorry for your losses…

[Colu]

Have have you got picture of the sick fish it will help with a diagnosis and what are your water parameters and did you add an extra air stone after adding the medication 

[Waterlife]

No pics sorry.  I was just upset and forgot.  There is an air stone going.  I think I just needed to let the meds dissolve longer and add them slowly.  Water presenters were great.  No amonia, no chlorine, ph 7.5, temp 78-79

[Minanora]

Just gotta say... I dump meds in all of my tanks without dissolving them and even fail to do water changes as directed and fish do just fine (not saying this is the right way to do things because it's not....) relating to .... Paracleanse, Maracyn, etc.

What I'm saying is that I don't think you dosing meds is the issue. So you're good there. What are your tank parameters? Are you running CO2? What symptoms are you trying to treat?

[Waterlife]

On 6/26/2022 at 6:10 PM, Minanora said:

Just gotta say... I dump meds in all of my tanks without dissolving them and even fail to do water changes as directed and fish do just fine (not saying this is the right way to do things because it's not....) relating to .... Paracleanse, Maracyn, etc.

What I'm saying is that I don't think you dosing meds is the issue. So you're good there. What are your tank parameters? Are you running CO2? What symptoms are you trying to treat?

Presenters are all good. No amonia, no chlorine, ph 7.5, temp 78-79 But they all died  in one night after meds being the only change.  No CO2 in my tank.  Air stone going good.  It’s a mystery I guess.  

[Minanora]

On 6/26/2022 at 5:52 PM, Waterlife said:

Presenters are all good. No amonia, no chlorine, ph 7.5, temp 78-79 But they all died  in one night after meds being the only change.  No CO2 in my tank.  Air stone going good.  It’s a mystery I guess.  

I'm so sorry for your losses. How long had you had them? If they were relatively new did you quarantine them? I still feel like I'm missing why you were medicating.

Also what about nitrate and nitrite? Nitrates can really do a number on catfish.

[Waterlife]

On 6/26/2022 at 10:42 PM, Minanora said:

I'm so sorry for your losses. How long had you had them? If they were relatively new did you quarantine them? I still feel like I'm missing why you were medicating.

Also what about nitrate and nitrite? Nitrates can really do a number on catfish.

Thank you.  I had another fish looking sick or docile and thin.  I thought parasites?   Nitrite was at 0, nitrate at 50 still acceptable for live plant growth and not toxic to fish. Buffer and hardness about 150 each.  My community uses well water.  Very well managed and treated for 300 households.  I have auto water change system.   I had the fish for about 4 months putting on great growth rating and very active in community tank.  Loved having them so I will replace but still sucks.  It’s ok.  Thank you for the support.  I think it was them bottom feeders accidentally sucking up meds at meal time and got chemical burns inside.  
 

[Minanora]

On 6/26/2022 at 9:18 PM, Waterlife said:

Thank you.  I had another fish looking sick or docile and thin.  I thought parasites?   Nitrite was at 0, nitrate at 50 still acceptable for live plant growth and not toxic to fish. Buffer and hardness about 150 each.  My community uses well water.  Very well managed and treated for 300 households.  I have auto water change system.   I had the fish for about 4 months putting on great growth rating and very active in community tank.  Loved having them so I will replace but still sucks.  It’s ok.  Thank you for the support.  I think it was them bottom feeders accidentally sucking up meds at meal time and got chemical burns inside.  
 

Hmm. Has your feeding schedule changed at all, or food changed? What were your nitrates at while they were putting on good growth? 50 is about the top end I'd sit with for cats. I have noticed aberrant behavior and lethargy in various species of catfish I've kept above 40ppm Nitrate.

How often are you checking your well water? Depending on the time of year, your water will change as the rains change how much water is sourced from the upper levels of the water table and underground stream/rivers. I keep a log of my tap water and each tanks water so I can trend things through the year. Insane, yes, but our water changes enough, and I enjoy it.

 

Excuse all of the questions and thoughts. I'm still thinking that meds are not the root cause.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Minanora

[Brandon p]

Maybe the fish where to sick and the added stress killed them. It happens to people in the hospital all the time. Not everything can be saved. I also think we can often over treat and do more harm than good. The more I do in my tanks the more issues. 

Edited June 28, 2022 by Brandon p

[Minanora]

The only species of fish that I've had 0 losses.... Harlequin Rasboras, clown loaches, angels.

[Waterlife]

On 6/26/2022 at 11:32 PM, Minanora said:

Hmm. Has your feeding schedule changed at all, or food changed? What were your nitrates at while they were putting on good growth? 50 is about the top end I'd sit with for cats. I have noticed aberrant behavior and lethargy in various species of catfish I've kept above 40ppm Nitrate.

How often are you checking your well water? Depending on the time of year, your water will change as the rains change how much water is sourced from the upper levels of the water table and underground stream/rivers. I keep a log of my tap water and each tanks water so I can trend things through the year. Insane, yes, but our water changes enough, and I enjoy it.

 

Excuse all of the questions and thoughts. I'm still thinking that meds are not the root cause.

Sure, it’s a large community, I don’t do all that monitoring of the well water, I just filter what’s coming in but yes we’ve been having some random flash rain storms. If it wasn’t the meds, I’ll never know.  Thank you so much though.  

[Brandon p]

Sometimes things just happen. We’re the fish of the same age. My best tank is bigger and gets much less monitoring of that tank. It could have been the meds. I can say this for sure but would guess that there has not been a lot test of how meds act in hoplo catfish. Rain can change well water but if  the water is filtered it should not be a big difference. My water changes greatly in the dry season. Minerals and salts(specially in Southwest US) can change. In my area home are Required to have small RO system in newly build homes since the 1980’s. Its for drinking water and to fill a fish tank it would take may days bethe systems only filter about a gallon at a time. . You probably will never know. I have had issue with banjo cats but over all I have had most types of fish. I haven’t keep Kili-fish yet.  I’m sorry about the lost of the fish and you probably will never know. You can try with them again.  Lost a Leopard fish after meds but I’m not sure if was because of the meds or if it was a gram-negative bacteria. . 

[Brandon p]

On 6/27/2022 at 12:18 AM, Waterlife said:

Thank you.  I had another fish looking sick or docile and thin.  I thought parasites?   Nitrite was at 0, nitrate at 50 still acceptable for live plant growth and not toxic to fish. Buffer and hardness about 150 each.  My community uses well water.  Very well managed and treated for 300 households.  I have auto water change system.   I had the fish for about 4 months putting on great growth rating and very active in community tank.  Loved having them so I will replace but still sucks.  It’s ok.  Thank you for the support.  I think it was them bottom feeders accidentally sucking up meds at meal time and got chemical burns inside.  
 

Watch them when you replace them. Not all water allows for all fish even if the literature says they should, just like people keep fish in water that it says the should not. I’m not saying it won’t work but to watch and you don’t want to keep replacing the same type fish. I have several tanks and they have pretty much the same environment but I can keep upside down catfish in one but another I have tried more times than I would like to admit.