well we dont no if the problem is completely related to the bristlenose, he only saw that one inncident,,,although the problem of his fish dying still remains...ive checked everything for him and the only thing that seems a miss is his O2 levels...they seem a little low...

Other than that the BN ,may still be attacking them.....

I gave him 3 F1 L182's and only one has survived (the nasty one)...

It is also un-sexable at the moment...

It came from my only spawn from my wild L182's...

Seems very strange still.......

yes it does seem strange mate
if all looks good with the water then it could be an internal parasite thats lurking.
its defo not bloat after all this time as you would know by now.
does he keep peacocks and mbuna together??? and what seems to be dying off the most.
also whats the ph gh kh reading????

The more I look at this the more I believe that they could contain poison glands near the barbs.

Jeremy Wright seems to be the authority looking into venomous catfish.

He states that it is used for defense.

"In his paper, Wright describes how catfish venoms poison nerves and break down red blood cells, producing such effects as severe pain, reduced blood flow, muscle spasms and respiratory distress. However, because none of the species he examined produces more than three distinct toxins in its venom, each species probably displays only a subset of the whole repertoire of effects."

Probably not very dangerous to humans but to other fish could be deadly.

Think about how your bristlenose acts if you reach in the water and grab him. He goes rigid throwing out fins and barbs. In the mouth of another fish this would likely pierce the skin. Alone this probably wouldn't do much damage but with the added effect of the venom it could certainly be a deterrent that would keep them from getting eaten. Or at least let others know that our plecos arn't fun to eat.

funny you should say that because he said when the bristlenose hit the cichlid the cichlid then instantly went into a spasm swimming around on it side....then after a week there wasnt much left of it and it died....strange considering it only took a knock or 2...

Well I like to eat fried chicken.

Otherwise I am completely glib on the subject.

Could the BN have gotten in a lucky strike? Maybe hit the cichlid on a nerve that caused more damage than you would think? Kinda like a kung-fu BN. There are many spots on the human body that you can hit or pinch just right and cause a lot of damage.