cabfish

Happy new year to all

A poor start to my 250litre aquarium's new year though with a dead bristlenose cat fish... with all other fish (barbs and platys) looking extremely healthy, one of my 2 catfish first looked lethargic and 2 days later was dead on the bottom of the tank? No outward signs of disease or bloating. a water test showed ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to be 100% spot on pH was 7... We have had some hot weather lately and I did record a tank temp of 29' on a day that was 37' outside. That day I left the lights off to keep the tanks as cool as poss and turned the airstone up to max to keep oxygen levels up.

I know from articles that the bristlenose can take some time to aclimatise to a tank, but it has been happy and active for 3 months in this tank - any ideas on what has killed it? My gut feeling is bad luck as I can see no sign of disease on its body or on any of the other fish? Are bristle nose catfish prone to heat stress? Is 29' for a day enough to get them stress do you think?

Any suggestions will add to my growing confidence in keeping healthy fish - so far, with this exception, since reading the threads on this forum I have had a thriving cycled tank with very happy looking fish! Thanky you all and happy new year!

Butterfly

What has he been eating? Bristlenose are vorocious feeders. They will clean algae right up but need fresh veggies as well as veggie or algae rounds. Bristlenose are pretty tough fish. Sorry you lost him
Carol

cabfish

The other fish get flakes twice a day - I wait until lights out to feed the bristlenose algae pellets so that the other fish dont eat them. I tried them on various veges - squashed peas, cucumber, zuchini but always found the food untouched in the morning so gave up so as not to pollute the tank. Both catfish have grown well in the 3 months in the tank so I figured that they were getting enough food? 2 catfish + 1 apple snail = 16 algae pellets/day plush the flakes for the other fish?

Very sad...

Butterfly

What were your water test readings?, thats a lot of food every day.
Carol

0morrokh

Sometimes it takes a while for catfish to notice fresh veggies. Also they like them to get nice and softened in the water. So, it is usually advisable to leave them in the tank longer than overnight. They can sit in the tank for several days before they are a danger for pollution.

cabfish

I'll try again with the fresh veges and leave them in longer.

The 9 other fish get 2 small pinches of flake food twice a day - its all eaten within 2 mins and none is left on the bottom of the tank. The 2 bristle nose - now only 1 :-( - and 1 apple snail got 12 algae pellets once a day at lights out - they were all eaten by the morning. Does this sound like a lot of food?

There was no ammonia, no nitrite and no nitrate levels to record - all test charts showed zero. The water gets a 30% change every month or so and the filters rinsed in this water at the same time. These levels never seem to be a problem and I guess the live plants absorb all the nitrate before it becomes a problem anyway - the water changes are more habit than needed, at least from a nitrate point of view?

In the bristlenoses last days it hung around its favorite hiding spot in the tank, not coming out at lights out. When it did venture out its skin and colour looked fine, it had put on steady weight since we got it 3 months ago and didn't look bloated at all. i've been surfing the WEB for more anwers and cant put my finger on anything at all that explains its death. Either I starved it, which sounds like I haven't from your responses, or the heat stressed it out perhaps and it simply gave up? Normal tank temp is 25'.

Thanks for the responses.