Uncleaned All
Panda Cory Problem???????????????

I had four panda cories, two orange creme mollies that give birth all the time and 3 clown loaches in my 29 gallon tank. There are also live plants in the tank. The fish in my tank have been living happily, growing and none of them have been having health problems until now. I noticed last week, one of my panda cory catfish died. Two days ago another one died. I like to leave the gravel uncleaned to produce fertilizer for the plants but now I believe it is starting to affect the pandas. Also I notice this morning that my pandas barbels are gone probably due to infection. I am not getting rid of my plants so should I donate my pandas to a fish store? Will more plants counteract the infections?

You have to clean your gravel. If you do so properly, you'll still have plenty of fertilizer left for your plants. I suggest vacuuming 1/2 of your tank at each water change. Only performing water changes just isn't going to do it.
Your Plants are generally good for your aquarium's health, so long as they're healthy, but they won't help a fish's infection.

I suggest that you remove your Clown Loaches to start. These fish grow to be over a foot long and need nothing under 75 gallons when young. They also need to be kept in groups of 6+.
The Panda Corys would actually probably be OK left in your setup, so long as you start vacuuming your gravel. (Which I really can't stress enough, you need to do anyway. All your fish will suffer if you don't, but especially those that spend the majority of their lives resting on the bottom.)

Also, though many people successfully keep barbelled fish with gravel, it's advised that they be kept on sand, as the gravel can harm the barbels, opening the fish up to infection.

Finally, if you do not already have one, I highly suggest getting a good liquid test kit. (Skip the strips, they don't work.) My guess is that with substrate left uncleaned, you've got too high of readings of at least Nitrate, probably Ammonia/Nitrites too.

Good luck.



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