Fish not eating after move?

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Perhaps someone has a comment....no, not new to fish, have moved fish 3
times before this-had had many types salt and fresh fish for years and
years...recently moved fish to new home with well water, all tests
check normal-amonia, ph, hardness, nitrates etc all ok. Tank was set up
with old water and patial new water so was not "new" uncycled tank.
The only difference there may be is that we had hard city water, now
have extremely soft well water(sodium carbonate added to water to make
less acidic through water softener-thought this was fine for fish based
on other research)...any idea why fish won't eat? They swim around
fine, no hard breathing at all, but aren't even interested in the food,
none of them, and they were all eating fine before the move. It has
been a week and no interest in food. Could it just be stress of new
water- will they adapt? Anything we can do-have been airating
more...any ideas? Previous moves have not had this effect- they usually
settled in right away. thanks

[Derek Benson]

On 4 Apr 2005 20:42:53 -0700, wrote:

>Perhaps someone has a comment....no, not new to fish, have moved fish 3
>times before this-had had many types salt and fresh fish for years and
>years...recently moved fish to new home with well water, all tests
>check normal-amonia, ph, hardness, nitrates etc all ok. Tank was set up
>with old water and patial new water so was not "new" uncycled tank.
>The only difference there may be is that we had hard city water, now
>have extremely soft well water(sodium carbonate added to water to make
>less acidic through water softener-thought this was fine for fish based
>on other research)...any idea why fish won't eat? They swim around
>fine, no hard breathing at all, but aren't even interested in the food,
>none of them, and they were all eating fine before the move. It has
>been a week and no interest in food. Could it just be stress of new
>water- will they adapt? Anything we can do-have been airating
>more...any ideas? Previous moves have not had this effect- they usually
>settled in right away. thanks

I've never experienced what you describe, so don't know why your fish
won't eat. What kind of food are you feeding them? If it's flake food
and freeze dried tubifex or similar foods, you could try purchasing
live brine shrimp or other live food if you know of a store which
sells such. They munch down on the live little buggers and get into
the habit of eating again; afterwards you go back to your usual food.
The idea is to coax them back into wanting to eat. Don't know if this
will work, but might be worth trying.

-Derek

[Elaine T]

Derek Benson wrote:
> On 4 Apr 2005 20:42:53 -0700, wrote:
>
>
>>Perhaps someone has a comment....no, not new to fish, have moved fish 3
>>times before this-had had many types salt and fresh fish for years and
>>years...recently moved fish to new home with well water, all tests
>>check normal-amonia, ph, hardness, nitrates etc all ok. Tank was set up
>>with old water and patial new water so was not "new" uncycled tank.
>>The only difference there may be is that we had hard city water, now
>>have extremely soft well water(sodium carbonate added to water to make
>>less acidic through water softener-thought this was fine for fish based
>>on other research)...any idea why fish won't eat? They swim around
>>fine, no hard breathing at all, but aren't even interested in the food,
>>none of them, and they were all eating fine before the move. It has
>>been a week and no interest in food. Could it just be stress of new
>>water- will they adapt? Anything we can do-have been airating
>>more...any ideas? Previous moves have not had this effect- they usually
>>settled in right away. thanks
>
>
> I've never experienced what you describe, so don't know why your fish
> won't eat. What kind of food are you feeding them? If it's flake food
> and freeze dried tubifex or similar foods, you could try purchasing
> live brine shrimp or other live food if you know of a store which
> sells such. They munch down on the live little buggers and get into
> the habit of eating again; afterwards you go back to your usual food.
> The idea is to coax them back into wanting to eat. Don't know if this
> will work, but might be worth trying.
>
> -Derek

I agree with the live foods! I had a ram that wouldn't eat for 5 or 6
days after I brought him home and he started eating again when offered
blackworms. The next day he was eating flake with everyone else.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

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Try experimenting with garlic. There is actually a garlic based product
(garlic is the main ingredient) or two out there that is used to make
sal****er and freshwater fish have a good appetite. Maybe you could
chop up some garlic and try feeding it to them, then once they're
eating switch to the staple food you normally feed them. Hope this
helps - later!