why is this happening?

[topout24]

ok I have a 65 gal discus tank and its been up and running for over a month now. it consists of 10 rummys, 5(now use to be 8) cardinal tetras, 5 marbled hatchet fish (use to be 8) two cory cats and 6 juvie discus. my hatchet fish started dyeing off then a cardinal here and there and I cant figure out why. the water parameters are zeros across the board. water changes happen every 3rd day and that's at 40 percent. the discus are fine and eating well I just don't know why the cards and hatchets are dyeing every so often. filtration is a fluval 305 with a purigen pack and the rest is filled with ceramic rings. can anybody give me any pointers? thanks

[Warlock]

mixing fish with no qt.. poor stock.. discus killing the fish.. could be lots of things..

is there a substrate.. ?? also.. you should not have ZEROS across the board if tank is cycled.. what all did you test for?

[topout24]

I have never seen the discus picking on anyone else but themselves. the substrate is sand and I tested for nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, with the liquid API test kit that doesn't expire till 2015. all fish were qt'ed for 5 weeks before they were mixed together. I used water from a cycled tank to start this one off to cut the cycling period out. what should my readings be if there not suppose to be ZERO?

[Warlock]

well, you should have some nitrates.. if tank is cycled correctly..

qt is kind of two fold.. 1st.. you observe not visible illness.. 2nd. you should get to volunteers and put them together.. if nothing happens in a few weeks.. its safe to mix them..

so you had all the fish doing great for 5 weeks.. then you mix them.. and you start to lose some?! then i would say its mixing fish from different sources.. they carry different bugs.. it happens..

i would be more concerned with the discus.. as long as they are fine.. i would just let it go

also it could be the HEAT

[topout24]

ok thanks for your feedback. I suppose your right , if the discus are healthy then everything is ok

[Tautog]

What water temperature are you using and are you using tap water. RO, a mixture and are you buffering. Do you have any holy that may push your pH up?

[Tautog]

What water temperature are you using and are you using tap water. RO, a mixture and are you buffering. Do you have any holy that may push your pH up?

Holy rock.

[topout24]

my water temp is 83-84. im using tap water that has a ph of 7.5 and no holey rock, just driftwood pool filter sand and live plants

[Tautog]

I had a difficult time raising Discus in the beginning but my problems were with Discus. Everything you are raising is very similar to my stock. I have 7 mid size youngster Discus, 21 Marbled and Silver Hatchefish, 12 Cardinals, 4 Rams. 5 Trapajo Geophagus, 6 Neons, 5 Red Eyes and 18 Rummies.

I have a peaceful community with Driftwood and live plants in a 150G XH. I keep my temp at 87.4F and perform 1/3 WC once a week. I'm running 4 Eheims and an FX6 with 2 UV Sterilizer connected together. Most filters are bio and mechanical and I turned one Ehein into 100 chemical filteration. Using ChemiPure Elite although I'm evaluating Purigen.

In the beginning before I heated up the water I lost Discus. They were 2 in babies that turned black. Once I stabalized the water temp for Discus I introduced the remainder if my community from other smaller tanks. I Had some Apistos who died in a few months from the warmer water. My Rams also slowly reduced in population when I went from 80 to 87+. I found that If I raise the other SA species besides the Discus fro babies or Juvies in the warmer water rather than introduce them as adults then they do fine. Just my observation.

Regarding the various schooling fish you have lost everything you have mentioned seems in check. What are you feeding? I try to provide small bites for the little fish outside what I feed my larger cichlids. I make sure to float the small bites for Hatchets and I sink some small bites for other schooling fish in deeper zones.

I will say that when I travel, my wife sometimes leaves canopy open by accident. In this case during the night when it's dark I have several hatchets jump out of tank. This is natural behavior for them in wild.

Where do you get your stock? Local hobby or national chain?

[Tautog]

I had a difficult time raising Discus in the beginning but my problems were with Discus. Everything you are raising is very similar to my stock. I have 7 mid size youngster Discus, 21 Marbled and Silver Hatchefish, 12 Cardinals, 4 Rams. 5 Trapajo Geophagus, 6 Neons, 5 Red Eyes and 18 Rummies.

I have a peaceful community with Driftwood and live plants in a 150G XH. I keep my temp at 87.4F and perform 1/3 WC once a week. I'm running 4 Eheims and an FX6 with 2 UV Sterilizer connected together. Most filters are bio and mechanical and I turned one Ehein into 100 chemical filteration. Using ChemiPure Elite although I'm evaluating Purigen.

In the beginning before I heated up the water I lost Discus. They were 2 in babies that turned black. Once I stabalized the water temp for Discus I introduced the remainder if my community from other smaller tanks. I Had some Apistos who died in a few months from the warmer water. My Rams also slowly reduced in population when I went from 80 to 87+. I found that If I raise the other SA species besides the Discus fro babies or Juvies in the warmer water rather than introduce them as adults then they do fine. Just my observation.

Regarding the various schooling fish you have lost everything you have mentioned seems in check. What are you feeding? I try to provide small bites for the little fish outside what I feed my larger cichlids. I make sure to float the small bites for Hatchets and I sink some small bites for other schooling fish in deeper zones.

I will say that when I travel, my wife sometimes leaves canopy open by accident. In this case during the night when it's dark I have several hatchets jump out of tank. This is natural behavior for them in wild.

Where do you get your stock? Local hobby or national chain?

I keep pH 6.9 to 7.0. Using Discus buffer. I have go half and half RO and tap and treat tap with Prime. I put a handful of aquarium salt in with each WC.

[topout24]

I feed mine a mixture of frozen Mysis shrimp, blood worms, and beefheart with some tetra granules on the side. I feed the hatchets floating flake food also. it seems the cards and rummies dash in to catch the small floating pieces of whatever the discus are eating so I don't think they are starving to death.

[Tautog]

I don't know but since our aquarium livestock is so similar please let me know. Like I said I had a problem with some of my dwarf cichlids which I'm theorizing had to do with temp. Good luck.