Devin
May 22nd 04, 08:12 PM
Everyone on the list helped me out last week with my water problems. I did
the 50% changes for 3 days, removed all the ornaments, etc. and everythign
was fine. My problem fish is acting up again. He was fine for the first
few days after the major changes, and is now back to hiding. Now he wedges
himself in the corner between the filter pick-up and tank wall, vertically,
head up. He'll sit like this for 10 -30 minutes, then come out and swim
around for a while, and then go back. Sometimes he acts like he's "dizzy"
when he comes out of hiding, swimming sloppily, etc.
All of my water parameters are still good. Since the 3 50% changes, I've
done one 6 gallon change, and 1 9 gallon change of water, 4 days between
each. All nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, hardness, etc. test well within
acceptable levels (as in my original post I've copies below).
I'm just at a loss. I can not for the life of me figure out what is wrong
with this fish. I can't think of one single thing I've not tested for, and
all of the tests come out fine.
Any further suggestions?
Thank you,
Devin
"Devin" > wrote in message
et>...
> I'm having a water quality problem here. I thought I would list out
> everything and see if anyone here has any ideas. I'm running out of
> things to try.
>
> I have a 40 gallon tank. Emperor 280 filter, I swap out the charcoal
> cartridge in it every other week, rinse every week. The extra media
> tray in the filter is filled with floss, which I also rinse or replace
> every week. I have an airpump, and a 24" bubblebar which puts out a
> lot of bubbles (bubbles do not interfere with filter pickup tube). I
> change 6-9 gallons of the water every week, water is aged at least 24
> hours in covered vat with airstone, about 1.5 tablespoons of aquarium
> salt and declor added to water. Besides these items, the only other
> things in the tank are some polished river rocks, 4 small silk
> aquarium plants, 1 large silk plant, and 1 live plant. I also keep 1
> small piece of coral in there to keep the PH up. Hood tank light, it
> kicks on at 3:30 every afternoon and turns off at 11:30 at night.
> Tank temp is 76-78 degrees depending on time of day.
>
> Parameters are as follows: Nitrite 0(zero) ppm;PH 7.6; Ammonia
> 0(Zero)ppm; Nitrate is between 5 and 10 ppm (closer to 5 on chart). I
> use the Doc Wellfish water testing kit for all of these readings.
>
> 5 goldfish in tank, 2 are very small (only an inch long, hatched last
> year), one is medium with a 2 inch body, and two are large, about 8
> inches overall.
>
> Here's the thing: had high Nitrates (almost 20ppm) a few weeks back- I
> think I goofed and overfed or something. It had been over 6 months
> since last total cleaning, so I did one. Drained tank, rinsed and
> scrubbed the tank with hot water. Broke apart and scrubbed out filter
> with hot water. Plants and rocks were soaked overnight in bleach and
> water solution, rinsed over several days and in several different vats
> of fresh water, and air dried. Scrubbed the bubble bar with hot water.
> (scrubbing of everything is done with old toothbrush that is only used
> for aquarium cleaning, and one of the white nylon acrylic tank
> scouring pads).
>
> Set tank back up, let it run with the filter going, bubble bar
> running, and a hang on canister filter with fresh carbon for about 36
> hours. Re-introduced fish. Have been checking water every other day
> over past week and a half and readings stay as listed above.
>
> Okay, here's the problem. I have a large fish who keeps hiding. He
> gets in the back and wedges himself under the bubble bar and sits on
> the bottom. When the tank was first re-setup, he was active. As the
> days went on he first started hiding when the light was on. Now he
> hides all of the time. When it's time to get fed, he comes out and is
> active, eats, forages for an hour or so, and then hides again. I also
> had one of my favorite fish die last week; I don't think it was
> related to this (she had had a pea stuck in her mouth 3 weeks ago and
> it was overnight before I found out about it and removed it, and I
> think it lead to her death), but I can't be sure. Besides the one
> fish hiding, none of the other fish show signs of injuries, fin
> veining, or any other problems.
>
> I think there is something wrong with the water that the tests are not
> showing. Should I have replaced the bubble bar and bleach cleaned the
> tank and filter as well? Are there any other water tests I'm not
> doing that I should? It seems to me that there may be waterborne
> parasites at work here. In the past I have had situations similar to
> this, and adding CopperSafe medication to the water seemed to help for
> a while. I've done tests on the water right out of the tap, and they
> coincide with the results I listed earlier.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions.
>
> Devin
the 50% changes for 3 days, removed all the ornaments, etc. and everythign
was fine. My problem fish is acting up again. He was fine for the first
few days after the major changes, and is now back to hiding. Now he wedges
himself in the corner between the filter pick-up and tank wall, vertically,
head up. He'll sit like this for 10 -30 minutes, then come out and swim
around for a while, and then go back. Sometimes he acts like he's "dizzy"
when he comes out of hiding, swimming sloppily, etc.
All of my water parameters are still good. Since the 3 50% changes, I've
done one 6 gallon change, and 1 9 gallon change of water, 4 days between
each. All nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, hardness, etc. test well within
acceptable levels (as in my original post I've copies below).
I'm just at a loss. I can not for the life of me figure out what is wrong
with this fish. I can't think of one single thing I've not tested for, and
all of the tests come out fine.
Any further suggestions?
Thank you,
Devin
"Devin" > wrote in message
et>...
> I'm having a water quality problem here. I thought I would list out
> everything and see if anyone here has any ideas. I'm running out of
> things to try.
>
> I have a 40 gallon tank. Emperor 280 filter, I swap out the charcoal
> cartridge in it every other week, rinse every week. The extra media
> tray in the filter is filled with floss, which I also rinse or replace
> every week. I have an airpump, and a 24" bubblebar which puts out a
> lot of bubbles (bubbles do not interfere with filter pickup tube). I
> change 6-9 gallons of the water every week, water is aged at least 24
> hours in covered vat with airstone, about 1.5 tablespoons of aquarium
> salt and declor added to water. Besides these items, the only other
> things in the tank are some polished river rocks, 4 small silk
> aquarium plants, 1 large silk plant, and 1 live plant. I also keep 1
> small piece of coral in there to keep the PH up. Hood tank light, it
> kicks on at 3:30 every afternoon and turns off at 11:30 at night.
> Tank temp is 76-78 degrees depending on time of day.
>
> Parameters are as follows: Nitrite 0(zero) ppm;PH 7.6; Ammonia
> 0(Zero)ppm; Nitrate is between 5 and 10 ppm (closer to 5 on chart). I
> use the Doc Wellfish water testing kit for all of these readings.
>
> 5 goldfish in tank, 2 are very small (only an inch long, hatched last
> year), one is medium with a 2 inch body, and two are large, about 8
> inches overall.
>
> Here's the thing: had high Nitrates (almost 20ppm) a few weeks back- I
> think I goofed and overfed or something. It had been over 6 months
> since last total cleaning, so I did one. Drained tank, rinsed and
> scrubbed the tank with hot water. Broke apart and scrubbed out filter
> with hot water. Plants and rocks were soaked overnight in bleach and
> water solution, rinsed over several days and in several different vats
> of fresh water, and air dried. Scrubbed the bubble bar with hot water.
> (scrubbing of everything is done with old toothbrush that is only used
> for aquarium cleaning, and one of the white nylon acrylic tank
> scouring pads).
>
> Set tank back up, let it run with the filter going, bubble bar
> running, and a hang on canister filter with fresh carbon for about 36
> hours. Re-introduced fish. Have been checking water every other day
> over past week and a half and readings stay as listed above.
>
> Okay, here's the problem. I have a large fish who keeps hiding. He
> gets in the back and wedges himself under the bubble bar and sits on
> the bottom. When the tank was first re-setup, he was active. As the
> days went on he first started hiding when the light was on. Now he
> hides all of the time. When it's time to get fed, he comes out and is
> active, eats, forages for an hour or so, and then hides again. I also
> had one of my favorite fish die last week; I don't think it was
> related to this (she had had a pea stuck in her mouth 3 weeks ago and
> it was overnight before I found out about it and removed it, and I
> think it lead to her death), but I can't be sure. Besides the one
> fish hiding, none of the other fish show signs of injuries, fin
> veining, or any other problems.
>
> I think there is something wrong with the water that the tests are not
> showing. Should I have replaced the bubble bar and bleach cleaned the
> tank and filter as well? Are there any other water tests I'm not
> doing that I should? It seems to me that there may be waterborne
> parasites at work here. In the past I have had situations similar to
> this, and adding CopperSafe medication to the water seemed to help for
> a while. I've done tests on the water right out of the tap, and they
> coincide with the results I listed earlier.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions.
>
> Devin