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2 zebras dead

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 9:22 am
by AJ
lost two zebras over the last two days. It appears that the two which died had small red blisters on the stomach of the zebra. Any suggestions please?

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 11:58 am
by Dr. P
Sorry to hear that mate :( . Can you tell us a little bout the frys set up? Feeding etc?

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:30 pm
by Adam
Hi AJ,

Sorry to hear about the loss of your 2 zebras :cry:. Your problem is more than likely linked to the anchor worm infestation you currently have. As Dr P says though, some more details of your tank setup and water parameters would help in pinning down the problem.

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:20 pm
by AJ
The setup conditions are ph 7.3, Nitrite 0.1, Ammonia 0, Temp 82, The tank is a jewel aquarium 350 ltrs, it has 2 external filters, one of which is a fluval 404 and an ehiem thermo, With two aquaclear powerheads and about two inches of sand. Any other information needed? thanx

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:27 pm
by Barbie
Any nitrite reading at all is a sign you're having filtration failure. How long has it been set up? Can you see dark spaces in the substrate? What other fish are in the tank? Any new additions?

Barbie

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:37 pm
by AJ
well i have had the fish in there for about a month or so maybe longer but i bought a few zebras on sunday and added them to the tank, the guy in the shop said i should lower my ph to 6.5 and gave me some acid. So i added that and it was lowered to 6.7, i then added fish could that be the problem? If it is something with filtration how could i solve it? Thanx

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:43 pm
by McEve
What was the PH before you lowered it?

I'm sorry about your loss too AJ :(

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:51 pm
by AJ
my ph was 7.3-7.4

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:56 pm
by McEve
I'm talking about things I'm not 100% sure of now, but isn't that a rather large drop if it's from one day to the next? Somebody else will be able to give you a definate answer to this I'm sure.

It was just a thought..

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:03 pm
by Adam
Hi AJ,

You really shouldn't be lowering your PH like that It's far better to acclimatise new additions to you tank water than the other way round. Why stress a whole tank full of fish on account of a few additions.
You must also remember that the PH scale is logorithmic, any decrease/increase is actually tenfold. Example: a drop of PH from 7.0 to 6.5 has made the water 50 times more acidic, get my drift. I still think that the anchor worm is to blame but the drop in PH would also have been a contributing factor in their deaths.

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:03 pm
by jerms55555
Mceve I was on that same assumption as well. I was always told you shoudn't drop your ph no more than +-.2 a day. I also felt that zebras do pretty well with different ph as long as you acclimate them well.......I do a 3 hour drip system and I never lost one!

Sorry about the lost :(

Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:11 am
by Des
AJ,
I do not think that lowering the ph would be the cause, since my ph drops pretty quickly and then rises immediately on a water change,with no problems.
I would like to correct Adam though, he is right when he says that ph is logarithmic, but from ph 7 to ph 6.5 is only 5 times more acidic not 50 times. Ph 7 to ph 6 will be 10 times more acidic. ph 7 to ph 5 is 100 times more acidic and the same the other way around.
My own view is that it might have been Ammonia in the tank since it is prevalent above a ph of 7, if I have read your post right.
As I have said before I always put all new stock through a quarantine process, normally using one dose of TetraPond Medifin which is a combined bacteriacide and parasite killer.
I hope You did not remove the anchor worm alive from the fish as this normally leaves part of the worm still on the fish. Medicate first , then remove the dead worms after a few days.
Regards,
Des.

Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 9:15 am
by Adam
Sorry for the duff info on the PH scale AJ, thanks for puting me straight Des.