# 9 Dead Baby Piranhas



## dingdongo3 (Feb 4, 2011)

So I've been having these RBPs for about 3 weeks, I've been feeding it blood worms, live shrimp, and pellets until today when I was digging up some dirt for a plant and saw a worm. I picked it up and washed it off, then I fed it to the RBP...they were doing fine until 45 mins later. I checked back on them all of their mouths were opened, laying sideways in my aquarium. They've now all died......what a stupid idea to feed them a live worm...........FML!


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

That sucks, wonder what happened.


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## dingdongo3 (Feb 4, 2011)

I did a 30% water change also, after i redecorate my aquarium, I saw that the fishes were breathing rapidly. then they were fine the next couple mins. after I went back and check all their mouths were open and laid sideways on the sand...what a waste of money.


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

did you add a water conditioner after the water change??


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## Vince302 (Sep 8, 2008)

strange ... i fed mine with backyard earthworm lot of time before... you said they were sick before the 30% water change or only after? i'm not expert but i would suspect more the wc than a earthworm









do you add tap water conditioner to the water ?


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

what kind of worm did you actually pick up cause i feed my reds earthworms everyonce in awhile


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## dingdongo3 (Feb 4, 2011)

Vince302 said:


> what kind of worm did you actually pick up cause i feed my reds earthworms everyonce in awhile


Earthworms also. It was the first time ever feeding them 1 earthworm. I'm thinking it was the wc that shocked them to death...I'll might have to invest myself into a red spilo. What a waste of money!


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## BuckeyeGuy777 (Oct 30, 2010)

did you match temps??


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

You said that you had these fish for three weeks, was the tank properly cycled prior to introducing the fish.
If not then there is your problem, at three weeks I believe ammo and nitrites would be pretty high.

How often and how much water did you change regularly and what filtration are you running.

Sorry about all the question but everything will help in determining what may have happened.


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## BuckeyeGuy777 (Oct 30, 2010)

and whats the tank and filter?


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## wizardslovak (Feb 17, 2007)

i dunno as i never tried worms , but you might want to stick worm into glass of water for 2 minutes , worms clean themself there from all dirts ,then u can use them . I learned that trick in survival training , u can eat worms after that . 
.02c


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## dingdongo3 (Feb 4, 2011)

FEEFA said:


> did you match temps??


No, I put in water with the temperature around 72-80(guessing), as my aquarium stated 78.


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## Vince302 (Sep 8, 2008)

Hmmm don't sound good to me ..

Do you know how to cycle a tank , it usualy took 1 month , not 24 hrs and test it regulary during cycle to understand what happen ! make sure their is no ammonia and nitrite, you only want nitrates and best is to keep them below 40 ppm when introdusing the fish .

do you test your water?

you don't need to change 30% every day i guess on a cycled tank

make sure your add water at near same temps than the tank .


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

dingdongo3 said:


> did you match temps??


No, I put in water with the temperature around 72-80(guessing), as my aquarium stated 78.
[/quote]

I think the uncycled tank might have been your problem.
To me it makes sense because at 3 weeks when the fish died, are when the levels would be at their highest.

I would let the tank complete the cycle by adding a couple of pieces of shrimp or tilapia as an ammo source and just replace them every couple of days with new ones until you parms balance out.

Good luck

Also I forgot to mention, even if the tank were cycled that filter may not have been/be enough to handle the bio-load of 9 even juvie pygos.

Look into getting a decent sized canister to go along with the hob you already have.

Does your hob have bio wheels or some form of media for the Bacteria to attach itself other than then the replacement pads?

If not then that could have been another problem if you happened to replace the pad/insert


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## Haggis (Mar 23, 2011)

ahh


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## csg990 (Jun 20, 2011)

im looking into getting some baby rb's cause i've had 1 for about 4-5 years now. any advice?


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## CyberGenetics (Mar 29, 2009)

I would also just like to add to this thread since i noticed no one mentioned it. It definitly wasnt the worm, as we have all fed are piranhas "good" worms. But as iv seen manny times befor on another forum im on for tarantulas, if the worm is found in soils that are sprayed with pesticides then your fish could be in big trubble.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

24h is not a cycle. Like feefa said a cycle could take over a month and with no seeded media (I am assuming) your toxins will be climbing for close to a month before they drop. At their peak they could be lethal.

Also you will soon need to upgrade your filter eventually as a aquatech 30-60 is not that good of a filter for anything but baby piranhas. I used to use one of those on a 30g with an ac200 as well to give you an idea and that was just for a small sachezi.


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