good info to know, although that doesn't necessarily mean much given the relatively small difference in size...well within a range of variation--xander13;1534840; said:
--solomon
Haley the Cuban Gar
- Thread starter xander
- Start date
--solomon
Don't mess with chemical pH stuff!!!! You want to stabilize the pH and that is it. Do not try to manipulate the pH you have already...The substrate suggested is not intended to boost the pH but to Buffer it from sudden fluctuation. It is sudden fluctuation that is the problem with these fish.xander13;1535718; said:
That chemical crap will surly kill your fish..Throw it away or give it away...
Have you had the water tested yet?
yes. the nitrates were bad, so was the ammonia. can't remember the reading, it was almost the highest level...i didn't add the chemical thing. phew. anyways, i added some benificial bacteria, changed the filter media and am doing 30% water changes every 2 days. i''ll go back and get the substrate tmr. btw what pH should i be aiming for?
thanks
thanks
at least it sounds like you have your tank maintenance going in the right direction now. i dont think adding the benificial bacteria was really necessary...the water changes and proper care should take care of that on their own. i hope things work out for you.xander13;1535989; said:
how long has this tank been setup? is it new? if so...that's the only reason i could think of for adding the BB. either way i dont think it could hurt anything. where did you get the bacteria from? another tank?xander13;1536042; said:haha once bitten twice shy, im not taking abny chances anymore
and thanks
if ammonia was present at all it was definitely due to a combination of your high bioload, low filtration, and lack of water changes.xander13;1536042; said:haha once bitten twice shy, im not taking abny chances anymore
and thanks
i think what will need to be done is getting a COMPLETE (ALL details) procedure of what you do for feeding, filtration (knowing about pumps and numbers of pumps doesn't help...water movement isn't really filtration...how many FILTERS do you have on the tank, what kind of biomedia do they hold), and water changes over a given week. also EXACTLY what fish are presently in the tank and how big they are.
understand we are trying to help here, and in keeping a fish like this you need to accept more responsibility than was shown previously. trust me, this species is not easy to keep (at least comparatively among the primitive fishes), and especially for someone relatively new to this aspect of the hobby.
letting us know all those present details (listed in the earlier paragraph) will help get an idea of what is going on. also, if i get the chance, i will come up with a suggested regimen for the tank so you'll have an easy set of directions to follow (that have been tested and worked in the past and presently as well).
and as richard said (and i can't stress this enough either) DO NOT mess with the pH!!! adding part of the new substrate is probably your best bet now...and i would do it around the time of water changes so as not to throw things off too much. i would never suggest using a pH modifying chemical, especially with a Cuban gar.
oh yeah, i would also work on increasing aeration...do you have any airstones? they will at least help move water from the bottom up. good luck--
--solomon
adding the BB was ok...it will help bolster some that may have been lost to due to ammonia, if there was any there left/to begin with. at least at this point it hopefully helped establish (or start) new colonies.demjor19;1536053; said:
i haven't necessarily realized a major difference in the past, but i have used it when establishing extra filtration or when i've increased the bioload of the tank significantly. the main point is that the BB is an acessory, definitely not the solution to the problem here. at the very least (like you said), it couldn't hurt!--
--solomon
