Why did my Pacu and Pleco die??

fishy_chick · Member Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 86

I recently moved my Red Bellied Pacu from a 65 gallon tank to a 90 gallon. The move was pretty rough on him, he went completely limp once out of the tank and into a bucket of water and I thought he was dead, but then he went crazy once he was in the new tank. My 3 year old pleco found the move very easy though, not much bothers him.

I put all of the water from the 67 gallon tank into the new one, and topped it off with new water. About 24 hours of being in the new tank, my sister found my Pacu upside down. We thought he was dying, but then he flipped himself over and was fine.

Both fish were doing quite well and were eating regularly, but today I came back from school and both fish were dead. There was a white philm on the water surface and the tank smelled horrible (although that could be the dead fish). I checked the pH level and it was just below 7.0 and the water temp. was fine. Does anyone know why my fish died and now I can prevent further death in my future fish?

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3436

Did you move the filter from the 65 to the 90? What were the ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte readings of the 90 at the time of death?

-Chelle

t_h_e_s_a_c_k · Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:42 am Post subject:

Sorry for your loss, always s**k to lose fish.

We need more information in order to help you out. Like Chelle said, what were your other water parameters at the time of death?

fishy_chick · Member Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 86

I dont know what the ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite levels in the tank were. I don't have a test kit for that (I should probably get one) and didnt think to cycle the new tank because most of the water was from the old tank. And yes, I did get a new filter for the 90 gallon.

t_h_e_s_a_c_k · Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:10 am Post subject:

Correct me if I'm wrong Chelle.

The water itself in the tank is not what contains most of the bacteria, it's the filter media.

Fish Addict · Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:40 am Post subject:

thats true

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3436

Yup, the tank wasn't cycled and the fish probably died of ammonia poisoning.

Here is a really good article on how to do a proper fishless cycle:
http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html

I would do that before getting any new fish for the tank.

And for future reference, don't get any more pacus. They can get anywhere from 2 - 3+ feet long, almost as tall, and need a 400 - 600 gallon aquarium for one fish.

-Chelle

fishy_chick · Member Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 86

Ya, I bought 2 Pacus about a year ago and was told at the petstore that they'd stay small (just goes to show that you need to do your own research before buying any fish). But then they kept on growing so I looked into it and found out that they get huge. They did pretty well in the tank that I had, but I'm glad they died before they got any bigger; there's no way I could have afforded any tank bigger than 100 gallons. Thanks for your help.