aaaah what the crap?!

[jeff_purdon]

ok so today i did my water change, ened up being about a 50% instead of 30 because i got sidetracked by a movie while doing it. well now all of a sudden my hyperactive glass surfing GSP,s are both sitting on bottom and they dont have dark bellies but they do have the stress lines. they both have a dark line where the green meets the white on thier sides. i'm heading out to run to the ex's to get my water test kit and see whats up. any suggestions if all the parameters are good? i'm gonna get some snails when i'm there too just to make sure they eat. if they turn down snails i'm gonna be really worried they normally go bonkers for snails.

[Jase]

When was the last time you did a WC? A drastic change in water quality (even for the better) can sometimes shock them. Was the temp the same as well?

[jeff_purdon]

i do weekly water changes normally about 30-40 %. and i checked to make sure the water temp was the same. i'm starting all my tests now. hopefully it clears things up for me

[Jase]

I hope so. Maybe they are just being weird...

[jeff_purdon]

ok well it looks like i'm gonna be spending my evening doing another water change. my nitrate is a little high and by little i mean about 7.0. not sure how the heck that happened

[Pufferpunk]

Nitrate of 7 is great! BTW, I do weekly 75% WC.

[jeff_purdon]

thought it was supposed to be zero? i'm going on memory here but i'm gonna take your word for it. i'm running back and forth from my tank to my comp here. any other suggestions? ammonia maybe? nitrite was 0. i'm washing out my tubes as we speak so i can test ammonia next. stupid cat broke 3 of my 4 test tubes for the water samples

[jeff_purdon]

well all my parameters are fine so i have no idea what could be causing the stress in that tank. i'm baffled. guess i just have to wait it out and see what happens. i'm up for any suggestions you guys may have

[Pufferpunk]

Did you dechlorinate? Dumb cat!

[riggers]

thought it was supposed to be zero? i'm going on memory here but i'm gonna take your word for it. i'm running back and forth from my tank to my comp here. any other suggestions? ammonia maybe? nitrite was 0.

Yeah nitrate below 20 is good. Nitrite and Ammonia are the ones you want at 0. Hopefully your ammonia will be fine, I think it will.

[Myaj]

My guess is that since you normally do a 30% change, this just scared them a bit.

When the water level drops farther, and your filter is running, its really splashing into the tank, making a lot of noise. And any plants/decor starts to crowd down, leaving less room for the fish, making them feel trapped.

My fish always reacted the same way when I did 90% changes.. they were used to 50%, but when they were down to only a few inches of water I think they started to get a little nervous that it was going to keep going down ROFL.

[Iliveinazoo]

I reckon Jase has it spot-on, unless while you were watching the film you sucked up them up the tube a bit by accident - they may be scared?
But it seems like your waters ok and if you dechlorinated then they should be fine.

[jeff_purdon]

ya i treate the water with a dechlorinator when i did the WC and they both seemed fine this morning they are still not quite as active as before but they have the bright colors back and no stress lines

[Jase]

that's good

[marksrush]

My GSP always reacts negatively when I mess with her tank, whether it's doing a water change, adjusting the heater, or wiping the algae off the front glass. I swear when she sees me approach with the bucket and siphon, she turns dark and dashes off and hides in one of her hiding spots. Then I won't see her again for the rest of the day.