fish problem after cleaning

[Ray]

I have a 40 gal tank with a moor, and 2 fantails in it. Yesterday, as every
week, I did a 15% water change, wiped the glass, secured the plants AGAIN,
moving a couple slightly - nothing I don't do every week. But the fish now
are very sluggish. One of the fantails spends most of its time sitting on
the bottom in the corner and when she does swim it's very erratic - dashing
all over the tank, rather than gliding through the water like she usually
does. I've checked the water - PH is 6.5, nitrates less than .3 - conditions
seem perfect. They don't seem to have any marks or spots on them, they
weren't caught when I was cleaning and they were fine yesterday morning -
Anyone any ideas what could be wrong?

[Edward Cowling]

"Ray" > wrote in message
...
> seem perfect. They don't seem to have any marks or spots on them, they
> weren't caught when I was cleaning and they were fine yesterday morning -
> Anyone any ideas what could be wrong?
>
>

Only a guess because everything you did seems per your
routine.

Did you check the temperature of the fill up water ?

If the heater is playing up you could have given them a
bit of stress if the water temperature difference is large.

--
Edward Cowling - London - UK

[axeman chris]

"Ray" > wrote in message
...
> I have a 40 gal tank with a moor, and 2 fantails in it. Yesterday, as
every
> week, I did a 15% water change, wiped the glass, secured the plants AGAIN,
> moving a couple slightly - nothing I don't do every week. But the fish now
> are very sluggish. One of the fantails spends most of its time sitting on
> the bottom in the corner and when she does swim it's very erratic -
dashing
> all over the tank, rather than gliding through the water like she usually
> does. I've checked the water - PH is 6.5, nitrates less than .3 -
conditions
> seem perfect. They don't seem to have any marks or spots on them, they
> weren't caught when I was cleaning and they were fine yesterday morning -
> Anyone any ideas what could be wrong?

Did you add water treatment to get rid of chlorine & chloramine?

Jacqui
>
>

[Geezer From Freezer]

Ray wrote:
>
> I have a 40 gal tank with a moor, and 2 fantails in it. Yesterday, as every
> week, I did a 15% water change, wiped the glass, secured the plants AGAIN,
> moving a couple slightly - nothing I don't do every week. But the fish now
> are very sluggish. One of the fantails spends most of its time sitting on
> the bottom in the corner and when she does swim it's very erratic - dashing
> all over the tank, rather than gliding through the water like she usually
> does. I've checked the water - PH is 6.5, nitrates less than .3 - conditions
> seem perfect. They don't seem to have any marks or spots on them, they
> weren't caught when I was cleaning and they were fine yesterday morning -
> Anyone any ideas what could be wrong?

Not sure, PH seems a little low. Might want to put a buffer in there. Did you
temp
match the water, did you treat the water for Chlorines/chloramines? What are
your
Ammonia and Nitrite readings? Do you have an airstone?

[[email protected]]

do you have gravel? if you moved the plants anaerobic gases could have escaped and
toxed the fish. I dont think your nitrates are less than 0.3 whatever. you mean
nitrites? your pH is low, and you dont mention using some kind of buffer... what is
the hardness of your water? is the pH the same in the tap water?
Ingrid

"Ray" > wrote:

>I have a 40 gal tank with a moor, and 2 fantails in it. Yesterday, as every
>week, I did a 15% water change, wiped the glass, secured the plants AGAIN,
>moving a couple slightly - nothing I don't do every week. But the fish now
>are very sluggish. One of the fantails spends most of its time sitting on
>the bottom in the corner and when she does swim it's very erratic - dashing
>all over the tank, rather than gliding through the water like she usually
>does. I've checked the water - PH is 6.5, nitrates less than .3 - conditions
>seem perfect. They don't seem to have any marks or spots on them, they
>weren't caught when I was cleaning and they were fine yesterday morning -
>Anyone any ideas what could be wrong?
>



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Donald K]

Ray wrote:

> 've checked the water - PH is 6.5, nitrates less than .3 - conditions
> seem perfect. They don't seem to have any marks or spots on them,
> they weren't caught when I was cleaning and they were fine yesterday
> morning - Anyone any ideas what could be wrong?

That seems like a strange nitrAte number to me, usually they'd be in the
units or decades range...

The ammonia and nitrIte numbers might be interesting.

One GUESS is that you may have stirred up "toxic muck" out of the
gravel. (Note: There is a debate in this group if gravel goes toxic).

Anyhow, given the strong correlation between all three fish acting
strangely and the water change/cleaning, I would say something's wrong.
(Duh).

If it were me, I'd do the 50% water change with treated,
temperature-matched, aged (24 hours if possible) water and see if they
perk up.

Also smell the tank. Any noticible odors?

My $0.02US.

-D
--
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort." -Herm Albright

[leslie manzara]

On 2004-03-02 09:44:00 -0600, Donald K >
said:

> Ray wrote:
>
> > 've checked the water - PH is 6.5, nitrates less than .3 - conditions
> > seem perfect. They don't seem to have any marks or spots on them,
> > they weren't caught when I was cleaning and they were fine yesterday
> > morning - Anyone any ideas what could be wrong?
>
> That seems like a strange nitrAte number to me, usually they'd be in the
> units or decades range...
>
> The ammonia and nitrIte numbers might be interesting.
>
> One GUESS is that you may have stirred up "toxic muck" out of the
> gravel. (Note: There is a debate in this group if gravel goes toxic).
>
> Anyhow, given the strong correlation between all three fish acting
> strangely and the water change/cleaning, I would say something's wrong.
> (Duh).
>
> If it were me, I'd do the 50% water change with treated,
> temperature-matched, aged (24 hours if possible) water and see if they
> perk up.
>
> Also smell the tank. Any noticible odors?
>
> My $0.02US.
>
> -D
> --
> "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
> enough people to make it worth the effort." -Herm Albright
>

I agree 100%, proper water change ASAP

[Watkins Lady]

I did an experiment with my guppies a few months back. They seemed sickly
after water changes, too, so I stopped vacuuming the gravel at every change.
I don't have the guppies anymore, but I have found that the GF are happier
with monthly vaccuuming rather than weekly.

My weekly routines are such: wk1, vacuum + water wk2, water only wk3, water
and run siphon across top of gravel (do not vacuum deep) wk4, water only.
This works, for whatever reason. Now, I have sand in one tank, bare bottom
in another and very little gravel in the 3rd. I surmise that the vacuuming
was taking out good bio-bugs too often. But, that's just my humble
opionion. I think you have to find what works for you since everyone feeds
different, different filters, etc... If my gravel was deeper, it could be a
different story, too.

[Dark Phoenix]

"Watkins Lady" > wrote in message
.. .
> I did an experiment with my guppies a few months back. They seemed sickly
> after water changes, too, so I stopped vacuuming the gravel at every
change.
> I don't have the guppies anymore, but I have found that the GF are happier
> with monthly vaccuuming rather than weekly.
>>>>>>>>>> I surmise that the vacuuming
> was taking out good bio-bugs too often. But, that's just my humble
> opionion. I think you have to find what works for you since everyone
feeds
> different, different filters, etc... If my gravel was deeper, it could be
a
> different story, too.
>
>
Perhaps, like cats running and hiding from the floor vaccuum, they are just
upset by the gravel vacc whoosing around in the tank, too. Mine do run from
it, whereas they don't run from my hands (unless I'm trying to catch them)

--
Laurie, Dark Phoenix

Here I am! Now, what were your other two wishes?