[MadTurtle23]

So I have a 40g planted community tank with
16 red eye tetras
1 kribensis
I just added 6 small Snakeskin barbs, amd two very small Siamese Algae eater. I lost 1 barb on day 2, and on day three I lost another one plus one of the siamese algae eaters. My water is as follows
Ph 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10ppm
I am wondering if my kribensis is murdering my fish. She did chase them a little when they were intoduced, but nothing too crazy. Since the barbs are lower level and so are the SAE, could she be killing them? The tetras never deop below mod level so don’t come into contact with her. I seriously don’t know why they would be dying.
Has anyone had this problem with a kribensis killing their other fish? She had a male in there in the beginning and she DID NOT like him. She chased him relentlessly, and one morning I found him dead

 

[Plinkploop]

If she's already displayed aggressive behaviour (though that could've been from attempting to get him to spawn) I wouldn't put it past a cichlid to kill off some tankmates. Cribs are generally peaceful, but you may just have a feisty one. This is when it's helpful to have a qt tank. It's harder to say what killed them as they are new and it could be something like disease or infection. Do you have anyway of quarantining the barbs for observation?

 

[MadTurtle23]

So I have a 40g planted community tank with
16 red eye tetras
1 kribensis
I just added 6 small Snakeskin barbs, amd two very small Siamese Algae eater. I lost 1 barb on day 2, and on day three I lost another one plus one of the siamese algae eaters. My water is as follows
Ph 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10ppm
I am wondering if my kribensis is murdering my fish. She did chase them a little when they were intoduced, but nothing too crazy. Since the barbs are lower level and so are the SAE, could she be killing them? The tetras never deop below mod level so don’t come into contact with her. I seriously don’t know why they would be dying.
Has anyone had this problem with a kribensis killing their other fish? She had a male in there in the beginning and she DID NOT like him. She chased him relentlessly, and one morning I found him dead
[/QUOTE
I unfortunately do not. This was my first tank I set up since starting back into the hobby. It is something I know I should have, so I ‘ll work on it. All of the fish acted normal when I first introduced them, ate well, and swam around looking okay. after I acclimated them. The fish store guy thinks that the acclimation may have been to blame. I floated them and added 1-2 ml of water ever 5 minutes for an hour. It’s how I acclimated the krib, and the tetras. The fish store guy said I shouldn’t acclimate for more than 20 minutes but that doesn’t sound right to me.

If she's already displayed aggressive behaviour (though that could've been from attempting to get him to spawn) I wouldn't put it past a cichlid to kill off some tankmates. Cribs are generally peaceful, but you may just have a feisty one. This is when it's helpful to have a qt tank. It's harder to say what killed them as they are new and it could be something like disease or infection. Do you have anyway of quarantining the barbs for observation?

I unfortunately do not. This was my first tank I set up since starting back into the hobby. It is something I know I should have, so I ‘ll work on it. All of the fish acted normal when I first introduced them, ate well, and swam around looking okay. after I acclimated them. The fish store guy thinks that the acclimation may have been to blame. I floated them and added 1-2 ml of water ever 5 minutes for an hour. It’s how I acclimated the krib, and the tetras. The fish store guy said I shouldn’t acclimate for more than 20 minutes but that doesn’t sound right to me.

I unfortunately do not. This was my first tank I set up since starting back into the hobby. It is something I know I should have, so I ‘ll work on it. All of the fish acted normal when I first introduced them, ate well, and swam around looking okay. after I acclimated them. The fish store guy thinks that the acclimation may have been to blame. I floated them and added 1-2 ml of water ever 5 minutes for an hour. It’s how I acclimated the krib, and the tetras. The fish store guy said I shouldn’t acclimate for more than 20 minutes but that doesn’t sound right to me.

 

[Plinkploop]

Nah, doesn't sound right to me either a I've taken a half an hour at times with more delicate species and I honestly think it's better that way. IMO the guy you talked to might know that there's a problem, or he just wanted to get you off his back. Qt tanks are incredibly helpful. They don't even have to be a proper aquarium, a clean fish safe plastic bin with a diy sponge filter can serve its purpose here. Keep it seeded by feeding it the same way you would your fish so there's a source of ammonia and do water changes on it. It's not really a necessity and can be a pain to maintain a tank for what seems like nothing, but when you come across an issue like this it's worth its weight in gold for peace of mind.

 

[Discusluv]

No, I dont think it was your acclimation. But, of course the fish store wants you to believe you are the problem.
Stress related illness from an aggressive fish takes time - more than 1 or 2 days.
If the fish was so aggressive it killed fish, I think you would have had a front row seat of this eventuality happening. Most of the time, you will see the constant chasing prior to the other fish dying.
Most likely weak or ill fish. Watch for the most common issues: Ich or bacterial infections. Make sure all fish eating, swimming strongly with no weakness, no external parasites, white areas or excess mucus, etc...
If the fish are not compatible- may need to re-home some fish when sure illness is not the culprit.

 

[MadTurtle23]

So this morning I wake up and the kribensis is dead😯!? She has been in there for months and been completely fine and healthy. I am at a loss for words. What in the world is going on? I don’t know what could possibly be going on

There were absolutely no signs of illness on any of the fish what so ever. So since Sunday this is what has happened.
Monday am-1 dead barb
Tuesday am- 1 dead barb and 1 dead SAE
Wednesday am- 1 dead kribensis
???

 

[Plinkploop]

I'm hoping those barbs didn't introduce something into your tank... Something seems fishy to me... Is there anything weird looking with them? Is it possible that your female didn't necessarily kill the male but instead it was perhaps a pathogen?

Are you running co2 by any chance?

 

[MadTurtle23]

No. I have 4 small swords, some floating water sprite, water wisteria, 1 annubias, and a small java fern. Thats it for plants.

It crossed my mind that maybe lack of oxygen, but I don’t see how that could be happening. The stock load is not too heavy at all.

 

[Plinkploop]

Ok, so that's not the issue... With your parameters I can't really think of anything besides disease but you say there's no signs of anything being wrong. I'm at a loss. Maybe try bumping up the temperature a degree and adding some aquarium salt? It's hard to say what's going on so I don't think medicating the tank is the right answer at this point. I wish I could help more.

 

[MadTurtle23]

You and me both. I appreciate your replies , so thank you. I just don’t know what to do.

No, I dont think it was your acclimation. But, of course the fish store wants you to believe you are the problem.
Stress related illness from an aggressive fish takes time - more than 1 or 2 days.
If the fish was so aggressive it killed fish, I think you would have had a front row seat of this eventuality happening. Most of the time, you will see the constant chasing prior to the other fish dying.
Most likely weak or ill fish. Watch for the most common issues: Ich or bacterial infections. Make sure all fish eating, swimming strongly with no weakness, no external parasites, white areas or excess mucus, etc...
If the fish are not compatible- may need to re-home some fish when sure illness is not the culprit.

That’s what has me scratching my head. There are absolutely no signs of anything. During the day, they eat, swim around normally, with no signs of aggression, or any type of sickness. They look and act like You would expect them too

The only other variant is when I bought the barbs and SAE, I bought some frozen bloodworms with them. Could it be something with those?

The kribensis has been eating micro pellets but wouldn’t eat frozen brine so I picked up some frozen mini bloodworms and she(and the barbs) devoured them.

 

[Plinkploop]

I doubt it, but at this point I think I would ditch using them until you can figure out what's going on. If you raise the temperature a degree it might help or it might drive whatever potential infection/ disease to show itself. Maybe try adding any airstone over night just in case.

 

[MadTurtle23]

Okay. I do have a small airstone so I’ll try that. I didn’t think the bloodworms would be an issue. I am just extremely frustrated.

 

[Plinkploop]

I don't blame you at all. It's worth a shot and an airstone isn't going to hurt anything.

 

[jellopuddinpop]

If they look fine during the day, but die at night, then O2 is a definite possibility. Plants take up oxygen at night, and if there's no surface agitation, it's entirely possible that they're suffocating after lights out. I would either run an airstone at night, or find a way to increase your surface agitation to cause a slight ripple over the length of the tank. This can be done my adjusting filter outlets, lowering water level, adding powerheads, etc etc...

 

[MadTurtle23]

How about adding a wave maker to get some more surface agitation and movement in the tank? I want to add one anyways to get more flow in the tank. I do have a pretty big water wisteria floating. Maybe thats sucking up a ton of oxygen overnight?

Can it happen that fast? I have never seen any signs that they were starved of oxygen. Never gulping at the surface or lack of movement. During the day they look like normal fish. The Kribensis would go about his business picking at the substrate , cruising around. Same with all of the barbs and tetras

 

[jellopuddinpop]

You added 8 fish to your tank, so if it was borderline before, that could have tipped you over the edge. A wavemaker will work just fine; you just need to be circulating the top and bottom of the water colum, and getting as much turnover on the surface of the tank as you can get. High O2 is never a bad thing, so unless you get really crazy with a CO2 injected tank, you can go nuts with surface agitation.

 

[MadTurtle23]

Okay, so I did add an airstone to see if that would help and this morning everyone was still alive and well. No deaths overnight🤙🏻. I am guessing that maybe they weren’t getting enough oxygen. Keeping my fingers crossed that this continues. 😃

 

[Plinkploop]

😁👍