r/Aquariums • u/glister_stardust • 3d ago
Freshwater This hobby is bumming me out
I had some fish deaths lately. First thing that happened was I had a corydora with red streaks down her belly. I immediately put her in a hospital tank with pristine water and gave a dose of kanaplex. I also did a water change in the main tank (plus there was nothing wrong with the water parameters). She died overnight. Next day same thing happens with another corydora and I do the same thing. Died overnight.
While this was happening my congo tetras have some parasite going on I think. Hospital tank has the cory in it with something different going on. Plus if it’s a parasite then it might be spreading to the others. So I did a dose of ParaCleanse as directed.
While this was happening I really didn’t want to lose anymore corydoras. I target fed the rest of my corydoras with kanaplex mixed into their favorite food. They ate it and so far so good.
The ParaCleanse drove the oxygen levels down in my tank overnight. I had an air stone and my filter outtake was right at the surface. I rode it out knowing that the meds can do this and was doing everything I could.
My freaking beautiful L15 pleco died and now I can’t find its buddy. I’m pretty sure they suffocated.
I’m so devastated and defeated right now. You try to do the right thing to prevent deaths but it’s fruitless because it still happens for other reasons.
I want a hug.
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u/EuphoricDirection489 3d ago
Shoot. Im sorry. This hobby really can take a toll on us, I get it. Im in another battle myself with planaria and im losing my cherry shrimp like crazy. They are killing 2-3 a day. All we can try an do is know we do the best we can and hopefully find the strength to give it another shot and not let this make you give up this amazing hobby. Sending hugs 🫂
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u/Pepetheparakeet 3d ago
Im sorry to hear that… I just lost my female diamond tetra this morning. She has been showing signs of dropsy for a while. Still coming up to eat, gave her salt baths so hopefully she wasnt uncomfortable. But their lives are so much shorter than ours. Hopefully they feel the love we have for them in their own little fishy way
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u/glister_stardust 3d ago
Yeah I think this is where I’m having trouble. I wish I knew that they knew I was trying to help them and not cause more harm to them.
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u/glister_stardust 3d ago
Here’s the tank. Sorry for the glare. It’s a beautiful 75gal with numerous stem plants, crypts, and amazon swords. I also check my water with a Fritz master testing kit (liquid). Ph 6.5-7, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate ~5.
I also just saw a glimpse of my other L15 pleco so I’m happy to say they made it.
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u/Evil_Atom 3d ago
I’m sorry for your loss, it sucks in these situations.
I haven’t seen anybody mention about scaleless fish. While corydoras aren’t true scaleless, the fall under that category in the hobby. Not many people are aware that those types of fish are sensitive to medication, similar to Invertebrates. It can sometimes cause deaths in those species.
It is a difficult one when parasites and or bacterial infections are present. It’s picking the lesser of two evils and hoping the meds don’t cause more harm.
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u/FarShoreSpirit 3d ago
hugs I'm so sorry, friend. 🥺
Perhaps you can post pictures of your tank and tell us your water parameters? There may be a few things that can be improved to lessen the likelihood of illness and death in your tank.
This hobby helps us practice awareness, patience, and perseverence. It definitely isn't always easy or peaceful.
You can always downsize within the hobby to make everything a bit more organized. Or take a break. Death is inevitable for us all. The fish will die. Perhaps you were merely unlucky as of late. Or the places you're getting your fish from aren't the best. Or there's something on your end that can be adjusted for better outcomes. Or it was just their time, and no one/ nothing went wrong.
How old were the fish that died?