SAE fish death questions

[rmicroys]

I'm having issues keeping SAEs alive in my tank.  I've had two different sets from different batches from Al's, and they have just up and died within a month each time.

I'm wondering what it is about my water they don't like.  The others all seem to not have any issues, BN plecos, Angels, Platy, Swordtails, Rummy Nose Tetras, etc - no issues, period.  I'm on well water... it's pretty hard from the get go, and I use softened water in the tank.  I have to fight the kH down, so I use Seachem acid buffer to bring the kH down to reasonable levels (around 5-8dH) the general hardness is very low, right now it's around 1dH.  No issues with Nitrites or Ammonia at all, they read zero.  I should probably get a Nitrate test kit, but I do weekly water changes of about 1/4 of the tank.  The tank is well planted - Val, Wisteria, Java Moss and Hydrilla.  Any ideas - anything else I should test my water for that could kill them?

Also, I have problems with Gouramis as well, they lasted about as long as the SAE, and they don't exhibit any symptoms, I just find them upside down and dead.

Comments?

[rmicroys]

Oh ya, pH is controlled by CO2 system, stays around 7.2

[beowulf]

No physical damage?  Do you noticed anyone chansing/stressing them out?

[rmicroys]

No physical damage?  Do you noticed anyone chasing/stressing them out?

Definitely nobody is nipping their fins off or what have you.  They don't seem to be bothered by many of the fish in the tank.  The Angels leave them well enough alone, the only thing that I could think that may bother them would be the CAEs.  The CAEs are a bit darty by nature, but they didn't generally interact much with the SAEs.  If I got another couple SAEs i would have to pay better attention to the interaction between the SAEs and the CAEs.  Other than that everybody seems to mind their own P's and Q's in the tank.

[beowulf]

I would not be surprised if it was the Chinese algae eaters as they tend to be more aggressive then the SAEs from what I have read in the past.

[rmicroys]

I would not be surprised if it was the Chinese algae eaters as they tend to be more aggressive then the SAEs from what I have read in the past.

Well, I have only one CAE left, so if he goes, I may try to get a new set of SAEs and try again.

[BigDaddy]

SAE's can be senstive to overdoses in CO2.  I noticed that I could run my community tank with measurements of 45ppm of CO2 and no one complained... except the SAEs.  How much CO2 is being pumped into your tank?  What is your pH normally?

[rmicroys]

SAE's can be senstive to overdoses in CO2.  I noticed that I could run my community tank with measurements of 45ppm of CO2 and no one complained... except the SAEs.  How much CO2 is being pumped into your tank?  What is your pH normally?

That's good to know if they don't like too much CO2.  I'll have to measure the kH and find out what my CO2 levels are from the chart.  I'll do that tonight.

[rmicroys]

Well... right now the pH is 7.3, kH 8, gH 2, thus according to the table, CO2 is somewhere around 14-15 mg/l.  Doubt that is all that bad.  Just picked up a Nitrate test kit today too, tested the water, it reads very near 0.  Just did a 20% water change yesterday FWIW.

[busdriver]

I have 4 sae's you can have if you want them, their sizes are about 3" or less, the big one might be larger I'm not sure, they won't stay still long enough to measure.

[dan2x38]

How old is this set-up? If the tank has not been up long enough they may not have enough to eat. Do you add any wafers at night? The pelco might be getting the lion's share of them...

I floated water sprite for my gouramis to try and spawn. They did not spawn. I got tired of prunning the water sprite so I removed it. My gouramis soon went to the bootom and hid in the corners the coulor faded & they clamped their fins. I could not figure it out. After straching my head I added more water sprite back and presto they were happy and back at the top... colour returned with fins up... Oh and they were eating less getting shinny, the male any ways...

A full grown SAE was picking on a gouramis in 1 tank... Any marks on the fish at all CAEs can suck on to a fish if they are drawn to their slim coat... so I've read...

Just some thoughts...

[rmicroys]

How old is this set-up? If the tank has not been up long enough they may not have enough to eat. Do you add any wafers at night? The pelco might be getting the lion's share of them...

Just about every body eats the wafers, the swords, shrimp, etc.  The plecos hardly ever come out...It's funny to see a little shrimp try to carry away a whole waffer.

There is definitely tonnes of algae in there now.  Al's in Kanata won't have any more until the 11th, or 12th, so I'll wait until then and see what they get.

[dan2x38]

Just about every body eats the wafers, the swords, shrimp, etc.  The plecos hardly ever come out...It's funny to see a little shrimp try to carry away a whole waffer.

There is definitely tonnes of algae in there now.  Al's in Kanata won't have any more until the 11th, or 12th, so I'll wait until then and see what they get.

I just gave 4 adults away from 3"-4"...