# Syno. petricola (x5) mysteriously died



## Guams (Aug 21, 2009)

I had 5 petricola (all approximately 1") in a 10 gallon tank with three 1.5" Psuedotropheus sp "Acei." The acei are fine, however over the past two days, all of the petricola died, one after the other. They were all alive and well, then started swimming all weird and breathing heavily. Then... dead. Seemed to be rather quick.

The tank is filtered by a properly seeded ATI sponge filter so cycling isn't an issue.

I did do a water change on the tank two days ago of approximately 50%. I treated the new water with Prime, and put it into the tank like I always do. Once I started noticing the fish acting weird, I did a double dose of Prime.

Today, I checked the water parameters. They are:

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite : 0 ppm
Nitrate : <20 ppm
pH : 8.0
Temp : 80*F

I don't have a test for hardness, but I have very hard water. My pH never changes.

And lastly, here's the strange swimming behavior shortly before death:






Please disregard the background noise. My wife and I were watching Outbreak on TV (the funny part is... the music kinda fits the video :lol

Any idea what could have caused this sudden... outbreak?

Oh yeah... feed crushed flake once per day.


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

That sort of behavior is usually a result of a water quality issue or Some kind of toxic chemical poisoning, but your tests all seem fine. Was the temperature of the new water drastically different than the tank temp? Do you mix around the new water with prime before you add it?


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## Guams (Aug 21, 2009)

The temperature of the new water never changes the overall temperature of the tank by more than 1*F. This occasion was no different.

And yes, the Prime is added to the water prior to the water being added to the tank. I figure the Prime gets mixed around enough to work properly because I add it to the water shortly before the bucket fills up.

The weird thing about it being water quality or chemical poisoning or what-have-you is that all 3 ace are still alive.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Sorry for your losses!  
Different fish are sensitive to different environmental conditions, and some will die much more quickly. It does sound like poisoning, did something accidentally get added (by small children?), or was some of your equipment possibly contaminated?

One of my tank die offs was caused by a well meaning boyfriend who used the mop bucket instead of the fish bucket for a water change!

Try doing a few smaller water changes in the next few days to dilute what might have gotten in there.


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## Guams (Aug 21, 2009)

No small kids running around here... yet (first child due in January, though). I used the same bucket I always use.

I wonder if maybe the hose I use got contaminated somehow. I siphon 5 gallons into the bucket, dump it, refill the bucket and add Prime. Then I put the now full bucket on a stool and siphon from the bucket into the tank (with how it's set up, I can't just pour the water in ). But I use that same hose on the 10 gallon tank right next to it... and that tank is fine as well. Overall, I did absolutely nothing different this time around.

I wonder if maybe they formed a cult.


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

Yeah this is very strange. Synodontis are notorious for being very sensitive to low levels of ammonia or nitrites. I have one more idea.

Would you mind testing your tap water for ammonia and nitrite? Let the water sit for an hour or two after coming out of the tap before testing. I once found small levels of nitrite in my tap water that coincided with a period of regional flooding. I'm guessing that abnormally high levels of farm-runoff caused fertilizers from farms to enter the drinking water supply. It's a long shot, but based on your tests and descriptions I don't know what else it could possibly be.


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## Guams (Aug 21, 2009)

I will do that. I have a glass of water sitting out (I pulled it from the tub - where I normally take the water) right now. I'll report back with the readings in a couple of hours. If there was something in the water, I'm guessing it's gonna be gone by now. But you never know I suppose.

I also live in the area of several farms (cattle and swine), but we haven't had any floods, heavy rains, etc that would push fertilizer and/or manure into the water supply.


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## Guams (Aug 21, 2009)

Just ran the tests on the water... ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all zero.


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