need help? Can't figure out whats going on...
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
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.
Read this before posting!!
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.
need help? Can't figure out whats going on...
I need help from anybody. I am not having any luck with gsp's. I have an aquarium totally cycled. I have a really good power filter and air pump with bubble tube for extra air. Temp is 78 degrees. Zero ammonia zero nitrate. My Gsp did fine for about three weeks and then got dark in color and then went down hill. I'm not sure if any fish stores in town really know how to take care of these. They net them, they put the stress coat in and then go home with me. I've read a ton on these but do I need to do anymore? I have driftwood, two artificial plants and a gargoyle decoration. Just regular stones. PH is 7.6 approx. Tank is freshwater now because they are in freshwater at the stores. ??? Any suggestions? Only Danios as tank mates..
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Phaedrus
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1402
- Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 8:34 pm
- Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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0 Nitrate doesn't make sense. There should be some nitrate. Did you mean nitrite? What kind of test kits do you have? How old are they?
How big is the tank?
What is the filter you have?
What chemicals are you adding?
What kind of water change schedule do you have?
GSPs do best when they have a full 30 gallon tank to themselves with lots of water current and decorations. They also need marine salt to stay healthy. Before you buy any new fish you'll need to answer these questions and decide whether you have the proper setup to keep a GSP.
How big is the tank?
What is the filter you have?
What chemicals are you adding?
What kind of water change schedule do you have?
GSPs do best when they have a full 30 gallon tank to themselves with lots of water current and decorations. They also need marine salt to stay healthy. Before you buy any new fish you'll need to answer these questions and decide whether you have the proper setup to keep a GSP.
I did mean zero nitrite sorry. I use Doc wellfish test kits. I have an aqua clear power filter. I haven't used any chemicals in the water other than prime at my water changes. I do a weekly water change. The aquarium is a 20 gallon but I have a 40 started. (I have read a million help sites and so I started that one.) The GSPs they sell in town are about 1 1/2 inches in size and are kept in fresh water. I know they need some salt and I start slowly adding it at the water changes but it is still basically fresh water since the salt barely registers yet.
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Phaedrus
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1402
- Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 8:34 pm
- Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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The 40 gallon would be a very nice home for a single GSP. They will appreciate the space and territory. Since you have an already established tank, you can use some of the filter media from it to do a fishless cycle. Check out the library for an article on how to do that.
If everything in your tank checks out, it could very well be that you just have had very bad luck with GSPs. It's very common that they arrive in very bad shape, what with collection from the wild and transport in over crowded conditions.
The best thing to do to try and ensure their survival is to choose the healthiest looking specimen and to move them into an already cycled tank with an SG of ~1.004 or so.
If everything in your tank checks out, it could very well be that you just have had very bad luck with GSPs. It's very common that they arrive in very bad shape, what with collection from the wild and transport in over crowded conditions.
The best thing to do to try and ensure their survival is to choose the healthiest looking specimen and to move them into an already cycled tank with an SG of ~1.004 or so.
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Pufferpunk
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