Black Ghost Knife - why do they keep dying?

[sbrown64]

Hello everyone

About 2 months ago, I bought a black ghost knife and an elephant nose, everything seemed fine then one day the elephant nose jumped out of the tank a few days later I accidentally poisened the ghost using whitespot treatment. So I bought another black ghost a month later he lasted 3 days, he looked like he had broken his back or had lost his balance.

Three weeks ago I decided to buy another set of the above and we noticed the ghost knife was very friendly and would come to your hands when feeding, but during the last week he became a bit of a recluse. This morning I found him dead next to the heater and the floating plants.

My levels are all zero and all the other fish in the tank seem healthy and fine. Can someone please tell me or point me in the direction of what I am doing wrong with this particular fish?

P.S. I feed my fish a varied diet every day from flakes, brine shrimp, krill and cichlid pellets.

Regards

Stephen

 

[Gunnie]

Stephen,
When you say all your levels are zero, does that also include nitrates? How long has your tank been cycled? How much do you know about the needs of each species of fish you have in the tank? What other fish do you have in the tank?

 

[sbrown64]

My Nitrate is about 15, but most of that is due to the poor water in our area. I have quite a few different species but feed accordingly. In theory based on what I have read the most aggressive fish would have been the elephantnose and the black ghost knife. The tank has been up and running over 6 months, with weekly checks and water changes, temp is 78f.

The rest of the fish are perfectly happy, the only problem I have is with the black ghost knifes' not lasting a month!!!

I hope someone can help with any help they may be able to give.

Regards

Stephen

 

[inuyasha_lover_21]

Other than your nitrates everything seems perfect. I too have a black ghost knife and I had him since june. I feed him bloodworms which he loves the most then any other fish food.

Edited to add: Usually some people have bad luck with a species of fish. For me its the figure 8 puffers. I can't get them to last about a month or 2.

 

[sbrown64]

Is there any reason why they keep dying on me? As I said earlier all my levels are ok, the rest of my fish seem happy, no signs of distress. Could it have anything to do with having an elephantnose as well?

I thought these two got on ok as they are related?

Regards

Stephen

 

[susitna-flower]

I have a Black Ghost Knife which I have had for about 8 months. I do not know about their cohabitation with eleqhantnose, but they get along very well with all the fish in my tank. I agree, they eat bloodworms, and I make sure they are available every day, as well as shrimp pellets which are not gobbled up by the fish that usually feed higher in the tank.

The BGK also needs Plenty of hiding places to go when it is light. What size is your tank? Since the BGK does not have scales medications used on other fish in your tank can be fatal. NEVER use medications or salt at the full suggested application if you keep these fish. Best of luck.

Fish in the Frozen North

 

[inuyasha_lover_21]

I agree with susitna-flower. They can be stressed out if they don't have proper hiding places. I had tall plants and driftwood for mine

 

[Butterfly]

What size is your tank and what other fish are in the tank.
Carol

 

[sbrown64]

The tank is 220 litres.

5 GLOWLIGHT TETRAS
8 ASSORTED MOLLYS
1 ORANGE SPOT PLEC
1 ALBINO RAINBOW SHARK
3 SUCKING LOACHES
2 POWDER BLUE GOURAMI
2 ROBIN GOURAMIS
3 SILVER DOLLARS
1 CLOWN LOACH
6 NEON TETRAS
2 HONEY DWARF GOURAMI
3 ASSORTED ANGELFISH
1 SILVER BALA SHARK
1 Red Irian Rainbow (Glossolepis incisus)
1 ParkinsonI Rainbow
1 Melanotaenia Lacustris
1 ELEPHANT NOSE
4 HARLEQUIN RASBOROS

all very happy together.

Regards

Stephen

 

[inuyasha_lover_21]

Google black ghost knife fish

I don't know if it will help but its worth a shot.

 

[bbfeckawitts]

Your tank is severly overstocked. He could be getting stressed and dying.

 

[susitna-flower]

HI sbrown64, What brand of test kit are you using? If you are just using strips they might not be accurate. With the fish you have in this tank I would be VERY surprised if the nitrates were only 15 with only water changes every week. My tank approximately the same size is way overcrowded also, and my nitrates go up to 20 overnight after a 50% change! I have to change water every day or every other day at 50% each time! I aI'm to keep it around 10 for the health of my fish.
I just invested in a new 50 gal to relieve my overcrowding, and pledged to all these caring folks on fishlore that I will not buy any more fish until I get a Big tank to hold them.....
The rule of thumb on stocking is calculated on (expected full grown size) 1" X gallon. Your tank is approx 55 - 58 gal, so you can have say 58" of fish, IF none of them are large around, in that case you can't stock so heavily. What kind of Loaches do you have? If they are clown loaches they get very large. A bala shark grows very large also. The "orange spot plec" may also fall into this category. I know the BGK grows to 18", so if you want to successfully grow a BGK it can not be in a tank that size with more than a total of 40"s of fish. I wish you the best of luck!

Fish in the Frozen North 8)

 

[Richard]

Dude, your tank is roughly 58 gallons, and it's so overstocked, it's a wonder any of the other fish in it are still healthy.. there is no way short of a miracle that a Ghostfish could survive in those conditions.. I'd seriously recommend you getting another tank at least 50 gallons and doing a strategic transfer (species friendly to each other) once it's finished cycling, before you even consider getting any more Ghostfish.