Tropical Fish expert on here?
Discussion
In a word.. they're dying. Had them in a buddies tank, along with my filter, during our recent house move. Reinstalled them at our new home with his water, all well. Nitrites & Amonia spot on. Nitrates HIGH. So stuck in two barrels of RO water few days back. Think it was too much at once (approx a third of the tank) as they're not happy at all. Especially the dead one.
I got a special filter from my local aquatics shop that takes Nitrates out of the water. I just put it on the surface of the water and left it for a day, it turned red and the Nitrates dropped. It's a good short term fix while the tank stabilises.
If I were you I'd take a sample of water into your local place, get them to test it and recommend what to do.
If I were you I'd take a sample of water into your local place, get them to test it and recommend what to do.
NikB said:
If I were you I'd take a sample of water into your local place, get them to test it and recommend what to do.
Did this morning. All well as far as the tests went but of course he couldnt see what the water was like before I dilute it with RO. He suspects too great a change in PH. Hey.. that's piston heads
did you take the water with you when you moved ? If its a new setup it could be cycling again for the first time since the move and that could seriously screw things up tank if you have a heavily populated tank....
I dont think the massive water change will matter short term, and in fact it will remove the nitrates initially.... I'd keep swapping the water in small amounts (maybe use tap water?) and test daily and see whats going on. There's nothing in the tank polluting the water is there ?
>> Edited by lockstock2sb on Monday 27th February 17:20
I dont think the massive water change will matter short term, and in fact it will remove the nitrates initially.... I'd keep swapping the water in small amounts (maybe use tap water?) and test daily and see whats going on. There's nothing in the tank polluting the water is there ?
>> Edited by lockstock2sb on Monday 27th February 17:20
Edt,
E-mail member "Fishy Dave" at this link:
www.pistonheads.com/members/email.asp?recipientId=28748&ac=P3
He's a PHer but doesn't spend a lot of time on here. I know him from a different forum - genuinely nice chap and a fish expert (it's his job).
D
E-mail member "Fishy Dave" at this link:
www.pistonheads.com/members/email.asp?recipientId=28748&ac=P3
He's a PHer but doesn't spend a lot of time on here. I know him from a different forum - genuinely nice chap and a fish expert (it's his job).
D
Edt said:
In a word.. they're dying. Had them in a buddies tank, along with my filter, during our recent house move. Reinstalled them at our new home with his water, all well. Nitrites & Amonia spot on. Nitrates HIGH. So stuck in two barrels of RO water few days back. Think it was too much at once (approx a third of the tank) as they're not happy at all. Especially the dead one.
Is the water new?
Also, how did you put the water into the tank? If the stones were not cleaned when you transferred between tanks then when you put the stones in the new tank and then add water there are hundreds of very tiny bits floating around (too small to see). These small bits are very sharp and it seriously damanges their lungs and they will die from it quite quickly.
All in all, I'd possibly start considering making a holding tank for them, and redoing the main tank from scratch. The other problem I found about using additives and stuff in the water is that some of them can mess up the water. It was best to get the tank absolutely spot on first time round than mess around trying to get the water absoutely perfect with chemicals.
Do you have an external pump/filter?
chucked my old water as needed them looked after for couple of weeks.. introduced the 'new' (mates) water with them gradually, and I took a 200 ish litres of his water to start up my tanks again. All went well til I added the RO. Has brought the nitrates down a bit, though. Dreading getting back later tonight...
Ed
Ed
tinman0 said:
Is the water new?
Also, how did you put the water into the tank? If the stones were not cleaned when you transferred between tanks then when you put the stones in the new tank and then add water there are hundreds of very tiny bits floating around (too small to see). These small bits are very sharp and it seriously damanges their lungs and they will die from it quite quickly.
All in all, I'd possibly start considering making a holding tank for them, and redoing the main tank from scratch. The other problem I found about using additives and stuff in the water is that some of them can mess up the water. It was best to get the tank absolutely spot on first time round than mess around trying to get the water absoutely perfect with chemicals.
Do you have an external pump/filter?
I transferred the stones in a couple of buckets. They were kept outside so would have mostly dried (got rained on a little). They got dropped back in the tank the same day as the fish & the water (iirc). So... little bits that kill them ay? I've said it before n I'll say it again.. I'm NEVER MOVING AGAIN...
not external filter.. largeish internal Fluval that came with the tank. External is on my list.
Ed
>> Edited by Edt on Monday 27th February 17:36
What sort of fish? Keep the oxygen up, so lots of airstones if they're looking unhappy. If the filter died and hasn't matured yet and its a high stock tank then lots of little water changes and reduce feeding dramatically.
Are they gasping near the top? Sulking on the bottom, any symptons, any new introductions (shark, gator etc?)
Dave
Are they gasping near the top? Sulking on the bottom, any symptons, any new introductions (shark, gator etc?)
Dave
David A said:
What sort of fish? Keep the oxygen up, so lots of airstones if they're looking unhappy. If the filter died and hasn't matured yet and its a high stock tank then lots of little water changes and reduce feeding dramatically.
Are they gasping near the top? Sulking on the bottom, any symptons, any new introductions (shark, gator etc?)
Dave
Got an long air stone in there.. the Rainbow (various sizes colours) have all started swimming in teh bubbles against the current of the pump.. which looked nice for a while til I suspected they're doing it for a reason.
Nothing gasping at top.
Symptoms.. mostly loaches & the like...bottom feeders .. looks like being zapped with 240volts every so often.. they 'jump out of theyre skin' so to speak. Dodging imaginery bullets. Horrible . There's 1 little shark that I've had for couple of months.. black with red tail (dont know the name was a present) who was fine this morning.
Nervous about getting home now
Edt said:
I transferred the stones in a couple of buckets. They were kept outside so would have mostly dried (got rained on a little). They got dropped back in the tank the same day as the fish & the water (iirc). So... little bits that kill them ay? I've said it before n I'll say it again.. I'm NEVER MOVING AGAIN...
not external filter.. largeish internal Fluval that came with the tank. External is on my list.
Next thing you buy at the weekend is an external filter. They are superb.
They could be suffering from the fine particles from the stones - I know a few of my fish had a bad time when I made that mistake. Only way to rectify it (before i had the external) was to start the whole tank again making sure the stones were thoroughly clean.
It sounds strange but there were times I put a tank back together and it just wasn't right - so the easiest thing to do rather than mess around with chemicals and scratching my head too much was - pull it all apart again, clean everything, and build the tank from scratch. Sorted the problem everytime and kept the water in a much better overall condition.
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