The best mistakes are the most expensive

[Taratron]

Or nearly the most expensive.

A while ago I decided to try my hand at the oil catfish (C. perugaie) again. My last batch did great...and then I moved them to another tank, they all fell ill with what appeared to be ich, and died during medication. I chalked it up to me sucking and moved on, finding ONE survivor in the initial tank. He's still there, as far as I know. I recently bought 10 more and put them in a QT tank. All things great for a few weeks. I added them to the normal 20 gallon semi-planted and cherry shrimp and assassin snail infested tank.

And then I got stupid. I won an auction on Aquabid for some very expensive plecos. I really really didn't need them, but buyer's remorse and all...they were added to the 20 gallon oil cat tank after QT, as a growout.

And then the problem started. One tatia was found dead. Okay, he was the smallest one...and then another. Then the next was found covered with tiny yellow and white specs. Oh crap. I just DEALT with this problem in another tank some months ago, and this tank had never ever had the issue. Started medicating with meth blue, upped the temperature...and lost all but two tatias and 1 of the L260.

I suck.

I wrote the tank off for completely dead until last night, when I found the survivors swimming around hunting for food (I suspect the other dead fish became prompt chow for the snails and shrimp). The plan, prior to finding the survivors, was to dump everything out, bleach the tank, and start over. Now I can't quite do that. I feel so insanely stupid over this mess, killing all these fish, especially the plecos, which are so damn rare these days.

So how long do I need to wait before I break down the tank, or is that needed? Bleach it clean, or would the issue I had (no spots on any survivors) possibly only affected the 'weaker' fish? What is the next step here?

Goddamnit and here I thought after ten years of keeping fish I knew better.

[MatsP]

Sorry to hear about these problems - it's never nice, but I think we all do it. Sidguppy had some really bad illness in his tank a few months ago, and he's certainly no novice. Others who "should know better" have also been known to "mess up". It's just one of those things. Of course, it hurts worse when we either loose expensive fish, or fish we have had for a long time (or both!).

If you have no symptoms on the fish, I wouldn't break the tank down and clean it - not unless you have somewhere else (safe for other fish) to move the survivors. Just make sure you don't transfer nets from this tank to any other.

And I would probably not use bleach. Just remove sand and other loose items, and let it all dry out for a few weeks.

--
Mats

[Suckermouth]

Man, I'm sorry to hear that. Did you buy that L260 group from Plecocrazy? I've watching his subsequent auctions after I bought 6 from him. I'm really sorry to hear that you lost your L260. It's odd how symptoms showed up after you got the L260, as it's unlikely they would've been sick beforehand.

[Richard B]

Awh, really really sorry to hear that.

Not that it'll make you feel any better but no-one knows it all & even people with 30-40 years fishkeeping under their belts still make stupid mistakes - i know - i'm one of them!

[2wheelsx2]

I feel for you. I just lost a small L114. I got a 2" one and it competed very well with the other plecos and I thought I would just get one more. The vendor had one that he discounted because it was being beat up by some hypans and I got it and it taught me a lesson again. Don't get weakened fish. They need more attention, tank space and time than I have to invest.

Hopefully, your one L260 survives and you can get more.

[andywoolloo]

sorry to hear about ur losses.

Don't feel too bad, we all lose fish. even our most cherished ones.

[Richard B]

Don't get weakened fish. They need more attention, tank space and time than I have to invest.

Yeah, don't feel sorry for the fish & pity buy them - it just isn't worth it. However if the fish are free.... then it's a different thing altogether.

[2wheelsx2]

Yeah, don't feel sorry for the fish & pity buy them - it just isn't worth it. However if the fish are free.... then it's a different thing altogether.

Sometimes that's not worth it either. I bought an L239 which was healthy and put him in quarantine in a 15 gallon, but when I got him, the seller said, these 2 aren't eating, so if you want to try and save them, you can have them for free. I took them all home, and after a week, the 1 was doing great, but the other two were dying and one morning I woke up they were all dead because the 2 dead ones fouled the water badly enough that it killed the healthy one.

[Suckermouth]

Indeed, I agree with RichardB on the free thing, but only if you QT the fish by itself!

[racoll]

Sounds like velvet. Fancy Plecos are often carrying this.

The stress of moving brings it on, and then it can spread to the other fishes.

I always tried to buy healthy stock, and I never suffered from it, but this was perhaps more luck than judgement.

[Suckermouth]

Sounds like velvet. Fancy plecos are often carrying this.

Even captive bred ones? If these were from the same batch of L260 as mine (this is a bit of an assumption, as there appears to be someone else selling L260 fry right now also) I'd be surprised, as none of my L260 have shown any signs of these spots. They have been alone for the past two weeks, although I was going to put Larry's L333 I'm getting tomorrow in the same tank; the tank will be divided to prevent direct contact, but I can't imagine either batches having disease for any reason!

[racoll]

Even captive bred ones?

You're right. Probably not as likely.

I don't see many captive bred fancy loricariids though, either here or in the UK.

[Taratron]

yeah, I don't think the plecos brought in anything. The tatias had to have.

[Harry94]

I'm really sorry to hear that...slightly off track, but what treatment did you use for the whitespot? - the common one (malachite green) is poisonous to all scaleless fish, so maybe that was why you lost the C. perugaie?

[Richard B]

I'm really sorry to hear that...slightly off track, but what treatment did you use for the whitespot? - the common one (malachite green) is poisonous to all scaleless fish, so maybe that was why you lost the C. perugaie?

Malachite Green is indeed a substance that scaleless fish are sensitive to, but i've never lost any synos, pims, bagrids or loaches using treatments that contain it - that said, i only half dose but treatments have been effective.