sadly yesterday i lost my silver shark and i was wondering if anyone could tell me what i done wrong? i moved him from one tank, to another tank because i thought the new tank would be better for him because its longer he was fine for about 4 hours then he died? i feel terrible!! he has jumped out the tank before and survived, ?

Hi

Can you post pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings for both tanks please? Also, sizes of tanks and other occupants. That will help us work out what went wrong.

Hi magosha, sorry to hear about the death

Quote:

Goodness That's quite a stocking list.

Some species will need to have more specific ID, but that is one heck of a load of stock. Some of your fish suite softer more acidic water, others when ID’d, may need much harder more alkaline water.

Given the fish you have I’m sure the death is water quality related. Post here, as Noodle suggested and giving pH, KH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings and this should clarify the problem.

Stocking issues, readily seen from the tanks would be:

The red finned shark in tank 1 is going to get fairly aggressive and needs 180 litres alone.
http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... sheet.php?caresheetID=121

Plecs will grow up to 2 foot, sometimes bigger and needs 300 litres alone
http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... sheet.php?caresheetID=172

The clown loach in tank 2 need 500 litres
http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... sheet.php?caresheetID=101

The lone Goldy, needs more room than 20 litres I’m afraid. I’m not sure how long you have had him but I would certainly be concerned in relation to stunting. 180 litres is recommended.
http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... esheet.php?caresheetID=61

There is no mention of silver sharks in your profile, do you have any more? These fish are suited to public aquaria only really given they are shoaling and the size they get to. FK recommend 700 litres.

Care sheet here: http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... esheet.php?caresheetID=89

Fire away with any questions though.

thankyou for taking the time to reply to my question [topic silver shark death] i have done all my tests and here are my results...
Tropical tank 1...
P.H 7.6
NITRATE 0 ppm
H.R.P.H 7.4
AMONIA 0.25ppm
NITRATE no3 5.0ppm


Tropical tank 2...
P.H 6.6
NITRATE 0.50 ppm
H.R.P.H 7.4
AMONIA 0.25 ppm
NITRATE no3 10ppm
both tanks are 150 L ,but tank no 1 is L 3FT,W 1.5 FT and H 1.9 FT..
tank no 2 L 4ft,W 1ft H 2ft
i hope this is of help thankyou kindly xx

Hi

Looking at the test results I would think the death has been cause by the ammonia and nitrite in the tanks, combined with the sudden shift in pH when moving him from one tank to the other. The jump between 6.6 and 7.4 is quite a lot more than it appears as the pH scake is logarithmic. That basically means each full scale increment is 10 times more acidic or alkaline than the previous one.

There shouldn't normally be any ammonia or nitrite present in a cycled tank, but I think probably due to the amount of stock you have, and them being quite large/dirty types of fish your filters aren't coping.

It's also a little strange that the pH is so different between the two tanks. Do you alter the pH in any way in one of them? Do you know what the pH of your tap water is?

I'd suggest a 40% emergency water change on both tanks, then 25% daily until readings are safe i.e. nil ammonia and nitrite.

The filters do appear to be struggling given the stock you have and this problem will only increase as the fish grow, so re-homing the tank busters, will really help

Seems like some decor may be pushing up the pH in tank 1?

thankyou for all the advice you have given to me i shall get started right away on the water changes and start testing. thankyou kindly s.magosha xx