intern1 Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 I have been pretty unlucky when it comes to these. On Saturday morning i noticed one of my big females 10cm had died i thought it might have been old age or sick i checked all the parameters pH 7.5 ammonia 0 nitrite .25. The .25 i believe wasnt that much of a deal i though because the bristlenose may have been dacaying for a while and therefore causing and increase in nitrite. I done a 50% water change. Saturday afternoon another big female 9cm died this to me seemed suss, i looked to me like new tank syndrome but this tank has been running for over 4 months so wasnt really sure. Sunday i looked at the tank and there didnt seem to be any problems with fish being distressed or anything. The fish werent fed at all in this period. Monday morning went to feed the fish looked around and saw a female around 7cm had died. Checked parameters and nitrite was still .25. To me this seemed suss. On saturday i also put in another sponge filter. The tank now has 3 filters its a 2 ft. 1 hang on filter with matrix and camaharden mesh. A corner sponge filter with matrix and wool and now a normal sponge filter. In the 2 ft there were 2 females 9-8cm 3 females 7cm 1 male 7cm and 3 fry around 4cm. Today i moved out the remainder of the of the fish except for the fry to see what is going to happen. Anobody have ideas or comments ???????????????????????????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fin350 Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 hi, in my experiences with bn cats in my opinion i wouldnt be doing 50 % water changes as i dont thing bn cats like a big fluctuation in ph .... Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marrick2204 Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 Peter is right. big water changes are not the way it seems. I have a colony of 5+, and they are all happy with less water changes ( longer period ). hope this helps. cheers Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intern1 Posted November 1, 2009 Author Share Posted November 1, 2009 Peter is right. big water changes are not the way it seems. I have a colony of 5+, and they are all happy with less water changes ( longer period ). hope this helps. cheers Simon I only done the 50% water change to get rid because the fish were dying maybe there was something wrong with water quality normally i only do 20% water change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaholic Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 You havent listed your nitrate reading so I presume you dont have a test kit. Try and lower your PH as ammonia and nitrite are more toxic at higher ph levels. Do you have any Prime, use it when you water change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intern1 Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 You havent listed your nitrate reading so I presume you dont have a test kit. Try and lower your PH as ammonia and nitrite are more toxic at higher ph levels. Do you have any Prime, use it when you water change. I do have a test kit but the nitrate was low as well i dont use prime i use another brand of water conditioner and i put stability in the tank also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foti Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 this is more a question than me stating anything just because iv never kept comon bn cats just peppermints. but a 2 foot tank with 2 females 9-8cm 3 females 7cm 1 male 7cm and 3 fry around 4cm. thats 9 fish! all in a 2 foot tank mostlikley a 2' x 18" do they get teritorial ? is the tank not to small ? or is the male just the aggressive one ? only because it sound like they were in a diffrent tank before was it bigger ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPM1976 Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Problem maybe the nitrite any reading i'm sure can kill fish, this needs to be 0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Does the tank have a heater? Maybe the heater is stuffed and the water's too hot for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intern1 Posted November 4, 2009 Author Share Posted November 4, 2009 Does the tank have a heater? Maybe the heater is stuffed and the water's too hot for them. tank temp flactuates from 25-28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intern1 Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share Posted November 5, 2009 lost another bristlenose today not sure if its associated to the other deaths that i had but i have lost already 5 fish in the period of 5 days really need some help The Fish 1. How old is your breeding male? The male im not sure how old he is but hes roughly 8-9cm around that mark 2. Is there more than one colony in the same tank, if so what ratio Male to Female? The colony was had 6-7 fish which were of 7-9cm 3 fish which were 3-4cm 3. Have you added any new food to their diets and what is there usual diet? The only new food i added was zuchini but that would have been at least a month or longer ago 4. Are there any other fish in the tank with the Bristlenoses? no other fish The Tank 1. Size cm and lts? 51cm long 26.5cm wide 24cm tall 32 L Tank moved to 45cm 45cm 45cm 91 L The new tank exactly same pH and temp It has 2 albinos females and a young 6cm male common and a 3-4cm calico the fish which were left to put in the new tank were 4 common bristlenose 7-8cm 1 male 3 females 2. Heating? temp is b/w 25-28 degrees 3. Have you added any new objects to the tank e.g. Dridtwood, Breeding Caves, Plants etc.? no new objects recently have a new cave which i added the weekend of the major auction so it was a while ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Where is the tank in the house? Whats near it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intern1 Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share Posted November 5, 2009 I think i worked out the problem the Kh was 3 and i didnt notice it go down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 I would have thought that Kh 3 was pretty suitable for a BN, I'm with Foti think its territorial, are the fry from these breeders or purchased? are you positive they were all sexed correctly? What other decor than the breeding cave is in the tank? Nothing they could have sucked off fake plants or rocks by any chance? Must really suck mate not being sure whats caused the problem in the first place, 5 fish in 5 days is terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intern1 Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 I would have thought that Kh 3 was pretty suitable for a BN, I'm with Foti think its territorial, are the fry from these breeders or purchased? are you positive they were all sexed correctly? What other decor than the breeding cave is in the tank? Nothing they could have sucked off fake plants or rocks by any chance? Must really suck mate not being sure whats caused the problem in the first place, 5 fish in 5 days is terrible. i dont think its territorial because the 2 females were more agressive than the male and all fish were sexed properly. Nah no fake plants just bog wood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YAL05T Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Do you have sandstone in the tank? It is a sponge for toxins so to speak due to it's soft sedimentary make up it is porous and will over a day or two return nitrate, nitrite and ammonia to dangerous level. While I was helping out at a friends lfs we often had people come in with fish dropping off and a number of times we found they had self collected pieces of "bush" rock being sandstone. Once it was removed the fish seemed to recover and no more deaths occurred. Also some rocks collected close to home may have pest/herbicide that has been sprayed on them of wafted onto them, not good in a tank at the best of times, worse with cats due to their grazing natures. I do MASSIVE water changes on all my L cats and BN, I am talking at times 80-90% direct from the hose. Sounds nuts but after witnessing a mate do it with his discus and having success (he has been keeping them since 1975 before anyone declares he is a newbie with no clue) I gave it a shot with my catties and have had some sweet results and no major losses of adults or fry. Sorry if the above is a little disjointed, I will read it properly after I get some sleep and try to reword bits if it isnt all that clear. Nighty night, Brett. p.s shift work sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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