Nearly all of my hillstream loach fry have died off after a big water change

[DrFunky]

This last Sunday I returned home from a week long vacation, and when I woke up the next morning I had the flu. I'm still fighting it, but I have a job coming up that'll be keeping me away from home for another week and my 20 gal was looking messy, so I did the water change today. The tank houses my black mystery snail, my two adult hillstream loaches, and their eight kids. The fry are about three months old. I heard it's pretty difficult to get these guys to mate, so I was amazed when I came home one day to a bunch of little guys swimmin about. I was able to find a buyer for them when they get a bit bigger.

Today it took me longer than normal to clean up the sand substrate, and I ended up siphoning about 60-65% of the water out. Then I totally misjudged the heat of the tap water I was putting back in, which brought the temp to about 85°F. I tried to put in a bit of water on the colder side to even it out, but it was going down slowly. Normally afterwards I just put in water conditioner and liquid fertilizer for the plants, but I thought I'd also add a bit of Pristine and Algaefix to help keep the tank clean while I'm gone.

I'm an idiot. Couple hours later and now four of the eight fry have died, and everyone else is staying close the top of the tank. I'm heartbroken, and I'll admit I cried pretty hard for them. I love my fish and I try to give them the best life I can, but I made several bad decisions during this one water change that most of the little ones just couldn't weather. I'm still worried for the others too. I put out a bit of food but none of them are eager to go to the bottom of the tank.

I'm still pretty new to fishkeeping, and I know that this is a learning experience, but this hit me pretty hard. I wanted to write down my heartache and share it with some people who might understand. Any sympathy or advice would be appreciated. Thanks yall.

[Tony s]

Sorry for your loss. It’ll be okay in a while. We all screw this up at some point. We all lose fish because we mess up. We learn, and then we do better. It really hurts more when you’re emotionally attached to your animals. Losing schooling fish is one thing. Losing wet pets like big Oscar’s or goldfish or fry you’ve raised from scratch hits a lot harder. Sometimes instead of rushing something from lack of time, it’s better to just wait for the right time. Patience is a hard lesson that this hobby can brutally teach. As for the water temperature, that happens. Unfortunately hillstream like cooler water to begin with. So no, you haven’t done anything new that nobody else has done. But for now, it still sucks. Sorry.

[DrFunky]

Thank you. Between me writing that and now three more have died, and I'm not optimistic about the last one. I'm going to throw out the algaefix and pristine, I can't imagine the help they give is worth the harm. And yes, you're probably correct about not trying to rush everything. This was a hard lesson to learn for sure, but I hope to do better going forward. For now I'll be grateful if my Old Guard survives.

[Tlindsey]

On 6/7/2024 at 10:56 PM, DrFunky said:

Thank you. Between me writing that and now three more have died, and I'm not optimistic about the last one. I'm going to throw out the algaefix and pristine, I can't imagine the help they give is worth the harm. And yes, you're probably correct about not trying to rush everything. This was a hard lesson to learn for sure, but I hope to do better going forward. For now I'll be grateful if my Old Guard survives.

Welcome aboard

Sorry for your loss. I've personally made mistakes beginning of this hobby. Did your lfs recommend the algae fix and pristine? @DrFunky

[DrFunky]

Hello, thank you! The store didn't recommend them, but I did see them while buying fish food one day and thought it would be an easy fix to the things that naturally build up in an aquarium. Big mistake on my part. I don't put them in often, and this was my first time doing both together. @Tlindsey

[DrFunky]

For an update, this morning I woke up to find the last fry dead, along with my adult male loach. Only my mystery snail and female loach are still kickin. I reached out to the woman who was going to buy the fry and told her what happened, then asked if she'd be willing to take my last two critters. I already know her to be a good fish owner, and she even adopted my male mystery snail a while ago when he wouldn't stop mating with my female, lol. She's awesome and said she'd swing by after work to pick them up.

By the end of the day I'll have an empty tank, save for the plants. I might siphon all the water our and re-cycle it, but I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it afterwards. I might leave it as a sort of aquascape for a bit while I figure it out. Thanks for listening guys.

[Tony s]

Just one more thought if I may. I know it stings now. But up until then you must have done a really good job. Not many get baby hill streams. Even the big boys have tank crashes. Every one does at some point. So miss your guys for a while. Take a break if you want. It’s okay and understandable. But remember you’re like all of us. Still learning. When you’re ready you can try again 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Sorry @DrFunky, that really is a shame. Remember you had a great start so you can definitely do it again! I'm sure you feel bad, I don't think a person on here wouldn't feel the same, but it was a mistake that any one of us could have made. I sympathize entirely. We learn from these hard lessons, and I can 100% bet you are NOT likely to ever do that again. I hope you find joy in the tank's new version when you decide it's time.

Edited June 8 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[DrFunky]

@Tony s@xXInkedPhoenixX Thanks you two, you're awesome. My female loach just passed, hopefully my mystery snail can make it until she's picked up. I appreciate the help, and I'll likely come back here when I'm ready to repopulate the tank for suggestions. You guys are great!

[Markp2483]

Oh man, so sorry. I’ve had issues with temp and treatments before. And nothing sadder than sick hillstream loaches.  Only advice, get a new trash can, preferably on wheels.  Fill the trash can with the new water. Check the temp, add dechlorinator, run an airstone to add back oxygen lost by dechlorinator.  Check for chlorine and ammonia. Then change water. I’ve taken it one step further by getting a carbon filter inline so don’t need to worry about chlorine or chloramine or adding dechlorinator. I also try to add the least amount of stuff to a tank. No flocculents, no conditioners, no algaecides . Some fertilizers are ok but some turn straight to ammonia. Less is better water is fish air. 

[DrFunky]

@Markp2483 Thanks for the advice! I saw a couple of videos by Father Fish on youtube that really go by that "less is more" method. It was interesting to see how well his tanks were operating with minimal water changes, and I think I want to adopt some of his teachings going forward. I've always used leafzone as a fertilizer, and I would always dose right after a water change. Do you think that could have been contributing to ammonia?

[Markp2483]

I wouldn’t go full father fish. I do believe in water changes and they can be big ones. I haven’t used leaf zone so no comment there. I’ve tried a bunch of setups from high tech, high light, co2, auto dosing ferts, mixing my own dry ferts, water change 50% every week. Now I try to do less. No co2 , lower light, lots of emergent plants, occasionally does ferts depending only on what the leaves look like and if I have <20ppm nitrate, water change like every month or 2.  
 

I’ve had hillstreams jump out of the tank when temp was too different during water change. Luckily I heard his little splat and got him back in the tank. 

ive had city water full of ammonia even after dosing normal dechlorinator and killed one hillstream and definitely made the other lose a couple of years.

hillstream don’t like new tanks. Cost me a Borneo. 
 

hillstreams are not great with meds. Some will react badly and get really stressed out.

basically my advice for hillstreams is a low maintenance tank. Lots of oxygen, don’t change to many parameters. Established tank. Lots of big smooth river rocks. Helps Keeps down aggression. Then  play with light to control algae. Also keep the tank around 72-75f . Don’t put different species together unless it’s a big tank.  The little Borneo can’t compete with the reticulated 

 

 

[Tony s]

On 6/8/2024 at 11:42 PM, DrFunky said:

I saw a couple of videos by Father Fish on youtube that really go by that "less is more" method

Yeah. For the moment I’d stay with traditional keeping methods. Father Fish works fine. But it is a highly regimented method. To have success you have to follow the rules almost exactly. Just take some time and figure out the basics that work for you. You’ll get it. There’s a learning curve. It’ll come. And, unfortunately, you’ll still make mistakes. That’s normal. That’s what we all do. We screw up. Then we do better.