Re: death tank? - long

["Colin Gorton" <colingorton@wanadoo.es>]

I would say that it is almost certainly not the H2S as there is no
reason, other than long exposure for this to kill any fish. My tank
regularly bubbles H2S (it's got a new soil substrate and I didn't have
time to let it 'bed in') without anything dying. Have a look at a normal
lake and you'll see it bubbling quite often. I think your first idea is
probably closer to the truth. Did you do an autopsy on any of the fish?
C:-)lin

-----Original Message-----
"snip"
>The problem:
>I had 7 (now 3) Laeticara curviceps in the tank.  I have owned them for
about two years and they had been in the tank about six months.  Shortly
after a water change with RO water, a pair spawned.  They raised their
fry for three days post free swimming.  I rescued none of the fry but
planned on grabbing some next time.  The day the last fry disappeared I
did my regular water change. The following day, there were two dead
Laetacara curviceps in the front of the tank.  The fish look a lot alike
but I am fairly certain that they were the breeders.  I took a good look
at the rest of the fish in the tank and I saw no signs of distress.  All
of the fish were eating and behaving normally.  In fact, two more
Laetacara had layed eggs.  The following day, today, I found two more
dead Laetacara.  This time I am less sure about whether they were the
breeders.  They are certainly leaving some fine looking bodies behind.
The bodies look robust and show no apparent sign of illness. Just this
Saturday, someone who was over remarked that the two fish guarding fry
were the best looking Laetacara that he had ever seen.
>I do have some clue to possible sources of disease.  Last friday, I
bought some cardinal tetras that have been steadily dying in their
quaranteen tank.  It is conceivable to me that I could have
inadvertently transfered some type of pathogen from the obviously ill
tetras to the heretofore healthy Laetacaras.
>
>I also have a theory that my sand substrate could have gone anaerobic.
I have seen a few small bubbles rise from the substrate since the first
deaths.  I assume that these bubbles would not be other than H2S.  I
would have thought that I ought to see some symptoms of this other than
sudden death of fish though.  Maybe the spawning fish were doing a lot
of digging and were somehow exposed to a pocket of H2S?  The substrate
is 3 inches of silica sand (#9 sandblasting sand) with substrate
heating.
>
>I am now worried about the other fish in the tank.  I am most concerned
about the aggies, (who are also now acting like they ought to spawn
soon) but I really would like to prevent any further deaths if I can.
>
>If anyone has any ideas and/or knows the correct solution, I would sure
appreciate it.
>Thanks,
>Doug
>
>
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