Lima shovelnose sickness

[Ryanm]

Last friday i woke up to find my lima shovelnose catfish (size 1.5 inches, had for 3-4 months) floating on the surface, when i looked closer he was still breathing and every so often he would try to swim back down. I noticed hed been doing some weird behaviour recently so i have ordered a water test kit. ( weird behaviour = swimming the sides of the tank, being close to the surface, moving around a lot. He would normally stay at the bottom and hide or stay still).

When i got back from college (same day) he had died.

Now my other lima shovelnose catfish (1.25 inches, had for 6 months) is floating at the top without showing any weird behaviour
my water test kit should be here soon

WHAT DO I DO? (he is still floating but t an earlier stage than when the other was floating ( more energetic bursts etc)

[Ryanm]

time is really of the essence here

[unblinded]

Do you do regular water changes? Have you changed anything in your maintenance just before the first one died? Is there a possible contaminant in the water? Contaminants won't show up on a test kit. Contaminants are like household sprays & cleaning products, something you got on your hands and put them in the tank. A water change would be a good place to start. There are other factors that may be causing the issue, though. Perhaps others who have Limas will chime in on inherent issues they have regarding their care.

[Viktor Jarikov]

What are your water parameters - at least ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and temp - and what test kit do you use?

Is the aeration of the tank's water and of the water that is pumped into your bio-filter adequate?

[Richard B]

As an immediate action i would do 50% water change with treated water & add an airstone - regardless of what filtration / aeration you already have.

It sounds like there is something up with the water quality - which could be many things with different causes - answer the queries already posted & maybe a pic of your set-up.

I've never encountered Lima's that small, ever - i'll bet they are delicate & prone to suffer at the slightest change to a stable environment