Goonch mysterious death Help 1 dead 1 left.

[M3AN ONE]

I have 2 goonches 1 short body very big 2 feet long and fat as a football couple lbs died this morning after 2 days of gasping for air almost like hiccuping. Last night my gold goonch started doing the same thing. After talking to a few ppl it may be some sort of parasite or bacteria idk. Fish show no signs of illness any recommendations or potential treatments. No new fish to the system months. I thought it might be the shrimp but thinking back on it I have been feeding all my fish the same shrimp for the past week really gasping at straws. Since I observed gasping I done 2 60 percent water changes. One Thursday and one Saturday (today is Sunday) . I have a dechlornator carbon and micron filter I run my water through before going into tank. Whatever is going on is goonch specifc all other fish Rays gars RTC catfish pbass albino chines perch barramundi all are unaffected. Both goonches were never in same tank but same system one in sump other in main tank.

Oxygen 300-450 PPM
Chlorine 0
PH 7.5
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrate 5-10

 

[Fishman Dave]

Sorry to hear your situation.
9 times out of ten I would have pointed to oxygen content when losing a Goonch, but as you measure this , I am a little more at a loss.
I am not a fan of weekend water changes (despite it being a necessity of my own) as I know for sure that this is when our water company “tinker” with parameters and flush through more chemicals , as shown in their previous data tables. I can only see it being one of two things, water, or food (or more precisely something brought with food).
I have never heard of Goonch suffering thiaminese or similar from shrimp, and the symptoms wouldn’t match anyway. Does sound a little more like some kind of reaction to me though. No painting going on? Or lit scented candles? (An imagined reason)

 

[M3AN ONE]

No painting or candles. I am thinking about putting in a qt and treating with prozzi someone suggested possible gill flukes but I’m not sure. Can’t hurt tho.

 

[wednesday13]

IME goonch drop like flies from stress… two abrupt 60% w/c’s is enough stress to drop em. Most over look the simplest cause of stress and that can be a water change. In olden times … when we only had true HLG the longest lived were those kept on auto drip systems and in colder tanks. Some fish can take the swings in water change just fine. Others flop over almost immediatly. Autodrips give u a constant in ur system. Pumps can fail, filters can be overly dirty but the fresh water 24:7 is always there to keep things stable. Much more consistent than doing it manually. It may be an actual “medical” issuse but 9 times of out 10 its just ur water.

if u do treat with prazi as precaution and ur fish is still eating. Get it to ingest the prazi it works much quicker and better IMO… soak ur shrimp or pellets in it.

 

[Simonas]

Stress wouldnt be my experience with goonch, sounds to me like something in the water has poisoned it. Lately more and more water authorities are adding stuff to water which is harmful to our fish. Happened to a mate of mine recently where all his fish were fine but he lost about 60 clown loach

 

[M3AN ONE]

Goonches were in same 700 gallon system but 2 different tanks. Moved gold goonch to QT and dosed with prozzi for safe measure. Tank temperature is 75. He is still breathing very heavy but not doing the hiccup gasp.

 

[iridescence]

prazis a waste. bet u its your water. nitrates at 5-10 ppm with ur bioload? youre overdoing ur water changes.

 

[M3AN ONE]

What should i test for in the water. I currently test for chlorine.

 

[tlindsey]

What should i test for in the water. I currently test for chlorine.

View attachment 1545223

I suggest keeping your ph stable.

 

[M3AN ONE]

I suggest keeping your ph stable.

Thanks for feedback PH stays between 7.4-7.6