From day one he was always in hiding; I never saw him out at all nor did I believe he was eating. Whenever I checked up on him, he looked rather scrawny and unhealthy. Anyone have any ideas for possible cause of death? I didn't see any redness; NH4 toxicity is ruled out, NO2 is 0, and NO3 is below 2.5ppm - thus DOCs weren't the case. I believe he died of internal parasites. What do you think? 
Tank: 20G longBarbie wrote:What temperature was the tank? What else is in it? How large is it? What were you trying to feed? I assume ruled out means there was no ammonia at all? What is the pH of the tank? Do you modify it in any way? I seriously doubt it was parasites. I've received wild plecos just loaded with parasites and had them perk right up with proper food and temps. It's possible, but it's not a common problem with plecos.
Barbie
I know all about the nitrogen cycle; I even used a bag full of substrate from a mature tank to "jump start" the bacteria colony. Even if they are sensitive, there should be signs of distress - the other clinged onto the glass so I knew something was wrong, but the one that died stayed inside the hollow driftwood. I mean why did one die from nitrite toxicity while the other one wasn't affected? Why was one of them noticeably eating while the other one wasn't? DOCs could be a problem, but I took precautions (carbon and Purigen) to prevent such things from getting out of hand. I mean Zebra's aren't that fragile compared to other fish such as Licorice or Chocolate gouramis. Especially given the fact they are tank-bred and not wild.Barbie wrote:And you're sure the ammonia and nitrite levels were 0 the whole time? IMO that tank is WAY too young to have baby zebras. Do you have another mature tank in the house? Zebras are very sensitive to the cycyling process and either ammonia or nitrites present in trace amounts would keep the fry from eating and weaken his system, IMO. This article might help your understanding of what happens during that process a bit. If I had to guess, I'd say you used just enough stuff from an established aquarium to jumpstart the cycle a bit, but a spike from nitrites as it finished the process finished him off. Many people see 0 nitrite and find dead fish because it's that last hump that kills them, basically keeping their blood from carrying enough oxygen.
Barbie
I'm not doubting your expierences; your knowledge on Zebra's can't compare to my general fish knowledge. But your analogy isn't a fair comparison, pneumonia is caused by pathogens - similar to ich, worms, etc.; but DOCs (NH4, NO2, NO3) are toxic, similar to putting people in a room full of H2S and forcing them to breathe it in. In that case, all of them should die.Barbie wrote:Substrate from a tank without an undergravel filter will do very little to actually "jumpstart" the tank. Filter media, along with some water from an established tank to not shock the bacteria and also already have food in it so it doesn't starve are much more effective methods, IME.
Why do some people die of pneumonia and others don't? The weaker of the two obviously succumbed, while the other was just very stressed. Carbon and purigen and DOC are the least of your worries when you're dealing with fish one generation from the amazon in a not established tank.
I'm not trying to rain on your parade. You asked for help figuring out the cause. I realize this is not the cause you would like to hear, but it IS very likely the one that you need to look into. New tanks and young, sensitive fish just aren't the best of combinations. While you're right, these fish aren't chocolate gouramis, they're also not a fish I'd personally recommend as bulletproof, either.
Barbie
They were fed Hikar Carnivore; but I did notice rasping marks on the driftwood.aquaticclarity wrote:Do you know what the babies were being feed before you got them? The first several spawns of zebras I had kicked off after 45-60 days due to a "meat" only diet. I realize your fish are/were much older then this, but they may still have needed a large portion of veggies in their diets.
