Poison??

[marilyn1998]

OK. I am at my wits end!

I have lost 5 different bushynose cats in the last 2 weeks. I have gotten them from different places, and they are all dying in 24 hours or less.

The discus and harlequins are thriving. But these poor guys are hemorrhaging.
Today, I got a rubbernose thinking maybe the bushynose cats have some kind of need I am not supplying. Well, HE hemmhoraged in 3 hours and is gone.
And he was very healthy. I checked him out thoroughly.

I have a small amount of Doc Wellfish salt in the gravel. And I do a 50% water change every other day. I use Amquel Plus. The only other thing is I had been using (sp) piperazine?? for the last week but was told it was mild and wouldnt hurt fish or biofilter.

Levels are Ammonia- slight Nitirite-0 Nitrate- 0 PH 7.2 Hardness 300

Any ideas???

[tpl*co]

How are you aclimating your pleco's to the higher discus temps (water) they need to be introduced to new water parameters very slowly. Also, how much salt? Pleco's usually don't like salt. I've used prazi with pleco's no problem, but I've had problems with the heat and change of water parameters.

Tina

[marilyn1998]

Tina,

I am floating their bags for 20 minutes, then releasing them.

[Ardan]

Hi,
I agree with Tina.
the temp

I did this too.
the plecos were used to cooler water where they came from.
they have to be acclimated very slowly over time. days if going from real cool to discus temps
find out what they are used to (76F? at pet shop), then put them in a tank at that temp and slowly raise it over days.

hth
Ardan

[marilyn1998]

GREAT!!!!

Thanks you guys so much. My temps are kept at 86, though it feels cooler than that at times and actually hot at others. But the probe thermometer always says 86!

Thanks again! I feel awful killing so many of those guys!

[AmberC]

Also.. whenever I add any fish.. for acclimation,
I put them in a bucket in the water from the lfs.. then over an hour I slowly add water from the tank they are going to go into until I've double the water level in the bucket. This will help them to slowly acclimate to any changes in water parameters as well.

Good luck!
Amber

[marilyn1998]

Good idea Amber! How do you kee pthe temp from cooling down, tho?

[AmberC]

When I do it I dont notice too much of a drop. Adding the warm water every 15 min from the tank keeps it fairly warm. You could always add a heater to the bucket too if your worried about it. I dont and have never had a problem with it. My fish always seem to acclimate really really well this way.
Amber

[Jeckel]

Marilyn,

I'm curious...what exactly do you mean when you say the plecos are hemorrhaging? And are you putting the plecos right in your discus tank without a quarantine period?

Jerry

[marilyn1998]

When you look at the underside of the pleco, you can see bloody internal patches on the belly and area near it.

I didnt think about QT for plecos or cats. duh, do they carry diseases harmful to discus? I never thought about cats, plecos or plants, snails and that kinda thing causing troubles.

How dumb can I be?:o :o

[Jeckel]

I'm not sure that a gradual (20 minutes) temperature rise would cause the problem you describe (internal bleeding). So I think your problem is still sort of a mystery!

I'd say that although some discus parasites are somewhat species-specific, any fish could transmit some sort of infection to discus. I'd think scavengers like cats and plecos would be especially likely to harbor parasites of the digestive tract. I'd definitely quarantine new fish before putting them in a discus tank.

I've heard snails can pass parasites to fish, although I think many of those organisms use birds as a host for part of their life cycle, so they aren't likely to affect animals that have lived all their lives in an aquarium. I think anything, including plants, could harbor pathogen cysts or eggs, so they should be kept in a fish-free tank for a few weeks (?) to give the parasites a chance to hatch out and die.

Jerry