lil-x-me...x
Fish Crazy
strange...and what species is he? ill watch out for them ones 
glad he seems ok now, may have just been a midlife crisis! haha x
glad he seems ok now, may have just been a midlife crisis! haha x
Im Worried
- Thread starter kribensis12
- Start date
OP
OP
kribensis12
I know where you live
Very funny guys. But I'm serious, what ever he has almost killed him
LauraFrog
Fish Gatherer
Geez, poor fish must want to give us a heart attack! Is he still acting okay?
OP
OP
kribensis12
I know where you live
He is doing fine now. He is swimming around like normal. But, he isn't eating Alot.
OP
OP
kribensis12
I know where you live
Can't get ahold of garlic. What could have caused all this?
Hard to say what caused this, but glad to hear he's doing better.
Some thoughts; We've all had fish die out of the blue, for no explainable reason if we've been at this long enough. I don't see any reason why a fish couldn't recover out of the blue for no explainable reason.
We've all heard, or perhaps had personal experience with someone with a serious ailment recovering with no real explainable reason, this can hold true for animals as well. We don't know everything about life, and sometimes the unexplainable happens.
Some thoughts; We've all had fish die out of the blue, for no explainable reason if we've been at this long enough. I don't see any reason why a fish couldn't recover out of the blue for no explainable reason.
We've all heard, or perhaps had personal experience with someone with a serious ailment recovering with no real explainable reason, this can hold true for animals as well. We don't know everything about life, and sometimes the unexplainable happens.
OP
OP
kribensis12
I know where you live
^ that is VERY true. I guess that may be what happend.
OP
OP
kribensis12
I know where you live
I really don't know what is going on. He is sick again. Not eating at all. He has been hiding constantly for the last 2 days. I have to shine a flash light in a cave to make sure he is alive.
one word, stress.
Pelvicachromis taeniatus comes from soft acid water and are not commonly bred in Asia. Therefore the fish or its parents are probably wild caught. The pH is way too high for the species to be happy in. You need to lower the pH to 7.6 or less. If you want to breed them then get the pH below 7.0.
If the original owner had them in alkaline water then that would explain why he couldn't breed them.
A pH of 8.6 will cause real problems with any uneaten food. As the food rots it produces ammonia and in a pH of 8.6 a tiny amount of ammonia would be extremely toxic and enough to kill most fish.
You also need a backing on the tank to reduce the stress, and I would put some plants in there, either plastic or real, it doesn't really matter.
Adding a few small peaceful tank mates (lemon tetras, cherry barbs, etc) is often a good way of getting fish to eat. When the newcomer sees the others eating, it will usually try the food, (ie: monkey see, monkey do).
Try feeding the fish on live brineshrimp or mozzie larvae. When it eats regularly then offer other types of food.
Stop using the copper medication and do small (10-15%) daily water changes with neutral to slightly alkaline (pH 7.0 - 7.6) water. Continue with the small water changes until the pH is at a more suitable level. If you have any calcium based rocks/ ornaments in the tank then remove them.
If the fish shows signs of ich, (actually has white spots on the body) then treat if, but otherwise don't use any more medication. The combination of high pH and any trace of ammonia could well be why the fish was rubbing/ scratching. The highly toxic ammonia burns the skin and causes the irritation. Adding the medication could simply irritate and worsen the problem.
Pelvicachromis taeniatus comes from soft acid water and are not commonly bred in Asia. Therefore the fish or its parents are probably wild caught. The pH is way too high for the species to be happy in. You need to lower the pH to 7.6 or less. If you want to breed them then get the pH below 7.0.
If the original owner had them in alkaline water then that would explain why he couldn't breed them.
A pH of 8.6 will cause real problems with any uneaten food. As the food rots it produces ammonia and in a pH of 8.6 a tiny amount of ammonia would be extremely toxic and enough to kill most fish.
You also need a backing on the tank to reduce the stress, and I would put some plants in there, either plastic or real, it doesn't really matter.
Adding a few small peaceful tank mates (lemon tetras, cherry barbs, etc) is often a good way of getting fish to eat. When the newcomer sees the others eating, it will usually try the food, (ie: monkey see, monkey do).
Try feeding the fish on live brineshrimp or mozzie larvae. When it eats regularly then offer other types of food.
Stop using the copper medication and do small (10-15%) daily water changes with neutral to slightly alkaline (pH 7.0 - 7.6) water. Continue with the small water changes until the pH is at a more suitable level. If you have any calcium based rocks/ ornaments in the tank then remove them.
If the fish shows signs of ich, (actually has white spots on the body) then treat if, but otherwise don't use any more medication. The combination of high pH and any trace of ammonia could well be why the fish was rubbing/ scratching. The highly toxic ammonia burns the skin and causes the irritation. Adding the medication could simply irritate and worsen the problem.
OP
OP
kribensis12
I know where you live
I have 3 pretty small convicts in there. I don't have any tetra's( due to price and the need to shoal). There are 2 plastic plants in there, 2 coconut caves, PVC pipe, and some bogwood. There is no ammonia present int he tank( just did a water test). I quit usuing the Copper a while ago. The original owner did have them in alkaline water. My water's Kh and Gh are too high. The ph WONT go down. Tried R/O water, chemicals, peat moss, everything.
Reverse Osmosis water should be free of any minerals, thus having 0 hardness. If you use half R/O water and half tap water you should be able to drop the hardness and PH.
If you have access to clean rainwater, then you can use that instead of R/O water. But if you live in a city it probably isn't very clean and you should not use it.
The only other option is to use an ion-exchange resin to drop the hardness, but they get expensive.
If you want to keep the fish it will probably adapt to the water you have. However, it won't be real happy. You could get rid of the fish and keep other types of dwarf cichlids, primarily rift lake cichlids from Africa. They naturally occur in hard alkaline water and would love your tap water.
If you have access to clean rainwater, then you can use that instead of R/O water. But if you live in a city it probably isn't very clean and you should not use it.
The only other option is to use an ion-exchange resin to drop the hardness, but they get expensive.
If you want to keep the fish it will probably adapt to the water you have. However, it won't be real happy. You could get rid of the fish and keep other types of dwarf cichlids, primarily rift lake cichlids from Africa. They naturally occur in hard alkaline water and would love your tap water.
OP
OP
kribensis12
I know where you live
I have never had A problem with kribs in this Ph before. Pfcourse, they were P. pulcher, but I don't think it makes a big difference
P. pulcher have been bred in captivity for years and are tough as old boots. P. taeniatus on the otherhand, are usually wild caught and just haven't been bred as much in captivity. This means any that are available still require similar conditions to their natural habitat.
If you could get fish that have been bred in captivity for several generations, they would probably be fine in your water.
If you could get fish that have been bred in captivity for several generations, they would probably be fine in your water.
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