My husband went out catching yabbies, and brought heaps home and put them in our tank with my breeding cychlids. A friend of mine told me that if any of them die in the tank they give off a deadly poison that could kill the rest of the yabbies and the fish, is this true? becuase one died this morning, and i have $5,000 worth of fish in there, the tank is 7ft x 4ft x 3ft (if that makes any difference)
2007-10-28 18:23:56 · 4 answers · asked by glorybnaughty1 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
I'm not aware of any toxins specific to them, nor could I find any information about one in a quick online search.
I think what your friend may be referring to is something more general. When any living organisms in an aquarium dies, it releases ammonia, and this can be toxic to organisms in the tank if the concentration is above a level they can tolerate. For most fish, this is about 1 part per million (in a cycled tank, bacteria will covert all the ammonia produced to nitrite (also toxic) then to nitrate. For safety, even when cycling, the level should be kept below 0.5 ppm.
I'm not sure how yabbies will act in crowded conditions, but my local crayfish will be territorial and fight, so there's a possibility of them dying from fighting, especially if they vary greatly in size. Also, as they molt, they become more vulnerable to fish who might see them as a meal - both are additional ways they may potentially harm your water quality, and thereby harm your fish.
If they are intended for use as food for your cichlids, I would limit how many are in the tank at a given time.
2007-10-28 19:00:53 · answer #1 · answered by copperhead 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
any animal that dies in water rots quite slowly. this causes alot of bacteria to be allowed to fill the water around the body. no, yabbies are not actually poisonous, the only way it could damage the other animals in the tank is if you leave the corpse of the yabby in there for days letting it rot.
otherwise, if you removed the yabby as soon as you saw it, the tank will be fine. just make sure whenever something dies you remove it as soon as possible.
2007-10-29 02:00:49 · answer #2 · answered by tehelium 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
copperhead is exactly right. When they die they don;t exactly release a poison, but release ammonia that is toxic to the fish. Good answer copperhead!
2007-10-29 04:28:11 · answer #3 · answered by Goober 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure if they give off a poison, but I suggest you remove ALL fish, and clean your tank IMMEDIATELY if that threat is present.
2007-10-29 01:34:10 · answer #4 · answered by Chance L 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋