Dying Panda Cories?? Please help :(

[BenjiBear]

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 20 gallon long
How long has the tank been running? 6 months
Does it have a filter? yes, canister
Does it have a heater? yes
What is the water temperature? 26C
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
2 BNP
6 panda cory
5 female bettas
5 serpae tetra
kuhli loaches
bladder/pond snails
assassin snails

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? once a week
How much of the water do you change? 30-50%
What do you use to treat your water? tetra aqua safe
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? occasionally vac

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? yes
What do you use to test the water? api liquid test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
pH: 6.7

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? 5 times a week, once a day
How much do you feed your fish? a pinch? enough that i dont have a snail issue lol
What brand of food do you feed your fish? various brands (fluval/tetra/JBL)
Do you feed frozen? occasionally
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? no

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? for almost a year
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? this morning
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? gasping at the surface, lying on plants or the substrate awkwardly
Have you started any treatment for the illness? no
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? no
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? yes, listed above in symptoms

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

This morning I woke up to find 2 of my otherwise perfectly healthy panda cories dead lying side by side at the front of the tank. I've had these fish ever since I started almost a year ago now so it was quite sad to see that. I have 6 of them, down to 4 now, but i can only spot 2 of the remaining ones and theyre both lying around and panting or hanging weakly at the surface. I did a water change last night and I cleaned their cannister filter for the first time since i got it BUT i will admit i loosely washed the media and sponges in dechlorinated water because I only realised after id got rid of the tank water that i really had to clean the filter because it wasnt functioning to the full potential. Again, i didnt thoroughly clean etc and so I just hoped my bacteria would be alright etc. Because of this i immediately panicked and did water tests to see if id spiked or crashed something but as i said in the template, everything is perfectly normal.

All of my other fish are acting as normal, they all ate and my plecos are happy munching their veg right now so nothing seems amiss

The dead cories looked pretty regular too. One looked like it might have had internal bleeding?? So im really at a loss. Im just worried whatever is wrong will effect my other fish. Anyone have any idea whats going on?

PS. im also having a betta crisis at the same time you know when stuff goes wrong, it all goes wrong so if anyone wants to see if they can help there id much appreciate it! thanks

 

[carsonsgjs]

Sorry to hear about your fish. I dont think rinsing out the media in dechlorinated tap water will have caused this. However, pandas do like it a bit cooler - 25c and under usually. Wonder if the slightly higher temperature is causing this?

 

[BenjiBear]

Sorry to hear about your fish. I dont think rinsing out the media in dechlorinated tap water will have caused this. However, pandas do like it a bit cooler - 25c and under usually. Wonder if the slightly higher temperature is causing this?

I suppose it is a possibility? I've kept them at 26c since i got them but again, it might be contributing? I had lowered the temperature awhile back but most of the fish seemed unhappy so trial and error brought me to keep it at 26

 

[DoubleDutch]

I think the filter couldn't cope anymore and the Corys were the first to encounter ammonia / nitrites (red blotches coult be nitrites). Take care the filter keeps running well !!!

2 BN's in a 20G is a bit pushing the limits to be honest and could have caused things went over the edge with a filter that isn't doing its job.

 

[Ksway]

Agree with above post, if you have never cleaned the filter your nitrates couldn't be 5 ppm in that size tank with that stocking. Always test water before you do a water change and not after because you are testing clean water that you put in

 

[FishDin]

Always test water before you do a water change and not after because you are testing clean water that you put in

Can you clarify whether your tests results listed are before or after a water change?

 

[BenjiBear]

I do think this was probably caused by the filter being cleaned. I didnt have any issues for a very long time and only now I'm having water issues. Yesterday my ammonia and nitrite was 0ppm but today another cory was dead and my ammonia was up to 0.25ppm so im about to do a water change to get rid of that and hopefully soon it'll level back out...

 

[Ksway]

I do think this was probably caused by the filter being cleaned. I didnt have any issues for a very long time and only now I'm having water issues. Yesterday my ammonia and nitrite was 0ppm but today another cory was dead and my ammonia was up to 0.25ppm so im about to do a water change to get rid of that and hopefully soon it'll level back out...

The problem was not that it was cleaned, it is that it was left too long without a cleaning. I clean my cannisters every month. I clean the sponges in it every week but that is not necessary

 

[BenjiBear]

The problem was not that it was cleaned, it is that it was left too long without a cleaning. I clean my cannisters every month. I clean the sponges in it every week but that is not necessary

Oh, i see, so out of curiosity is it that something then builds up in the cannister? This is my first cannister filter so im still learning with it. Im also curious as to why this would have happened AFTER i cleaned it, in all seriousness

 

[FishDin]

I clean my canisters 2-3 times a year. No problems before or after. Which doesn't mean this issue wasn't caused by the filter maintenance you did. IDK. Large changes of any kind have the potential to upset the balance of your tank IMO.

I don't believe that cleaning the filter like you did would have hurt you BB. And removeing an ammonia source (gunk in your filter) shouldn't have caused an ammonia spike.

Why are we talking about ammonia if it tested 0? Was your test done before or after a water change? You listed 0Ammonia, 0Nitrite and low Nitrate. Those are good numbers and not the cause of health issues.

 

[BenjiBear]

I clean my canisters 2-3 times a year. No problems before or after. Which doesn't mean this issue wasn't caused by the filter maintenance you did. IDK. Large changes of any kind have the potential to upset the balance of your tank IMO.

I don't believe that cleaning the filter like you did would have hurt you BB. And removeing an ammonia source (gunk in your filter) shouldn't have caused an ammonia spike.

Why are we talking about ammonia if it tested 0? Was your test done before or after a water change? You listed 0Ammonia, 0Nitrite and low Nitrate. Those are good numbers and not the cause of health issues.

To clear it up, i changed the water and i cleaned the filter at night, the next morning i found dead cories so i then tested the water BECAUSE they died and it showd 0 ammonia and 0 nitrate and i was then down to 5ppm nitrate as its usually round about 10 or so in this tank. I then tested the water today as i found another dead cory and it was showing 0.25 ammonia this time but im also wondering is this because A. Theres been dead fish in here for hours at night and there could so esily be other dead cories i can't find because my tank is so heavily planted. I hope that cleared it up

 

[FishDin]

Yes, thanks.