Aahhhh!!!

[ElectricSnowman]

I changed my substrate from gravel to sand two days ago in my 29g. I took my A. Cacatuoides out while I did it. It took about 2 hours, and I arranged my tank exactly the same as it was before.

At first everything seemed ok, then yesterday I noticed my male was just sitting in one spot resting on the sand looking kinda pale, but at feeding time he ate as usual.

Today I saw him in the same spot but looked almost completely white, and he didn't move or eat at all during the morning feeding.

It has to be stress, but what could be causing it, and more importantly HOW DO I FIX IT!??!

He has been healthy and happy for months, then BAM he's got one foot in the grave, and the other one on a banana peel!

HELP

 

[bigbird]

Morning,

Just some more questions for you
- did you change all of the water
- did you wash the sand before using it
- was the temperature the same as the old water
- did you aclimatise the fish as per usual
- did you use live bacteria to age the water

sorry for these trivial questions but normally fish go into shock if there is a dramatic change. Some do not even like the white sand from the dark gravel. i find that it normally takes 2-3days for fish to get back to normal. I would add some more leaves or ground cover and also live bacteria

Hope all wil be ok cheers jk :biggrin:

 

[ElectricSnowman]

Just some more questions for you
- did you change all of the water
- did you wash the sand before using it
- was the temperature the same as the old water
- did you aclimatise the fish as per usual
- did you use live bacteria to age the water

- I actually did not change ANY of the water because I wanted to save as much bacteria as I could
- I did wash the sand
- The temperature was the same because I used the same water
- I did not acclimate the fish, again because there was no new water
- I did not use commercial live bacteria, but I did stick a bunch of the old gravel in a container and set it under the filter outlet.

**UPDATE**

As if things couldn't get any worse... When I left my apartment for mothers day the male looked a little better, dark color, and had moved around the tank a little. The female also looked 100%

Then I got home and saw that things looked like they had taken a turn for the worse, and I happen to look at my thermometer and the temp was down to 64 degrees F!! Somehow my heater got unplugged durning the day

I plugged it back in and hoped for the best and went to bed.

This morning I found the male dead and the female is really pale and hiding now :frown:

 

[bigbird]

Morning,

Thanks for your replies, I always aclimatise my fish, even when I use the same water, however I never use 100% of the same water as during removal I believe the balance is upset with the stiring or the bacteria etc. I always suggest to use 70% new and 30% old with a live bacteria as an initial start up, especially as you have removed all of the gravel with set bacteria in the ground. Sorry for the news and lets hope that the female can make it.
cheers jk :biggrin:

 

[fishgeek]

since the problem have you tested your water ?
any nitrogen
it is the most common stressor, was the substrate that was introduced inert? it isnt changing hardness and altering pH is it?


alternatively you may have had a problem that the move and chilling have all just accelerated , rather thna being totally responsible for

 

[ElectricSnowman]

Well the female didn't make it either. She wasn't looking so good, and had a white fuzzy growth starting to grow on her eye, so I took my water to get tested and get some meds, but when I got home she was belly up. My water looked good, except the pH was more alkaline (7.2) than I like for apistos.

I think Murphy just had it out for me.

I guess I'll wait a week or two for the conditions to settle out, then buy some more.

BTW does anybody have any experience/recommendations with Apistogramma Trifasciata? My LFS has a bunch of juviniles in stock, and now that my cacs are no longer with me I could get them without fear of hybridization.

 

[tjudy]

What kind of sand did you use and what was its source? I avoid the 'play box' sand sold really cheap at hardware stores. It tends to be a mix of a lot of different things and is often not very clean. I have even had oil slicks appear when trying to wash that type of sand! I use either silica sand or pool filter sand. Both are very clean, but pool filter sand has been tumbled (I think) to create smoother surfaces than the silica sand.

pH 7.2 is good, maybe even a little low, for a lot of the A. cacatuoides strains.

 

[ElectricSnowman]

I put in about 35-40 lbs of pool filter sand and I washed it before I put it in.

I never tested my pH before I changed to sand so I don't really know what it was at before, but I thought apistos like it below 7.

 

[tjudy]

Some do and some do not. A. cacatuoides is very tolerant of a wide range of pH. Tank trains, in my experience, prefer pH in the 7.2 - 7.6 range. The 'Sunburst' variety I have at the moment do better at the higher end of that range.

 

[ElectricSnowman]

That is interesting, I wasn't too concerned with pH anyway because they both were happy and healthy. I figured if it's not broken don't fix it.

Too bad I didn't take my own advice when it came to the substrate