Lathargic GSP hanging out by filter and lying down all day.

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Re: Lathargic GSP hanging out by filter and lying down all day.

Post by Nuclear_Glitter »

Come Monday, start looking on Craigslist for a bigger tank. If you cannot afford a whole lot, any upgrade would be a huge help to you right now. So, if you can only afford a 29 gallon, then get that. Then once you have money again, buy a bigger tank, and sell the 29 (or whatever you get) to make up for it.

At this point all you can do is the water changes and begin slowly raising the SG. I have a feeling that the salinity would be a good benefit for him, just be sure to do slowly, .002 per week.
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Re: Lathargic GSP hanging out by filter and lying down all day.

Post by Pufferpunk »

A 55g would be wonderful for him!!!
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: Lathargic GSP hanging out by filter and lying down all day.

Post by Nuclear_Glitter »

Pufferpunk wrote:A 55g would be wonderful for him!!!
And most of the time you can get a full 55g setup on Craigslist for around $150, which is a good price.
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Re: Lathargic GSP hanging out by filter and lying down all day.

Post by titanoboa100 »

Well I have to work on getting the bigger tank. I live in an apartment and I didnt get around to it before. I know you guys warned me about it before. If the case is that I cant get a bigger tank, then I dont want to give him up to a local pet store. I got him at walmart and I feel that giving him to the pet store would make me feel horrible. What about a 30 gallon tank? Could he live just fine and grow to a ripe old age in a 30 gallon tank? It would be just for him. Im just thinking about how im going to do this.
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Re: Lathargic GSP hanging out by filter and lying down all day.

Post by puffykid »

a 30 gallon tank would be the minimum permanent home you could keep him in. If you eventually want to put him in a FOWLR then you'll want to upgrade
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Re: Lathargic GSP hanging out by filter and lying down all day.

Post by dvwang »

titanoboa100 wrote:Thanks for all of you're help guys. After I did that water change last night I did a API water test. My GSP continues to hang out by the water filter and just lay on the ground. However at times he is active and swims around the tank and keeps his belly white color. I posted this youtube video about my water test results. Let me know if you guys think the test results are common for a cycled tank.

http://youtu.be/kspfNW7gj7s

When I first got my 2 GSPs I had them in a 12 g tank while trying to cycle the water, and they were hanging by the filter area too. My guess is that due to the water being not completely cycled yet, the GSP may not be getting enough oxygen (Ammonia prevents oxygen going into their bloodstream) so they try to hang by areas of the tank where aeration is more available. I then added an air pump to help with the aeration, and my GSPs seemed happier with the increase in oxygen. You could give that a try =)
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Re: Lathargic GSP hanging out by filter and lying down all day.

Post by PufferMe! »

I hold my beakers up to a light. It looks like you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates. If you just did a water change, those results would be likely. If you had a little bit of nitrates you could be more comfortable that you're tank is cycled, but with a water change, you may not have those yet.

Keep testing your water daily. It sounds like you're almost there, but water changes will be your best friend right now, if you get any nitrites or ammonia. Don't overfeed at this point! Cute puffer.

Gwen

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