The salt is lowering the toxicity of the nitrite and nitrate, is probably the reason you saw improvement after adding it.
Arowana and alligator gar
- Thread starter GWRS
- Start date
The gar is too big for the tank, and I'm not certain if it's an alligator. Also, the gar is probably stressed out and hungry and trying to kill everything. And you really shouldn't put anything considerably smaller than a gar with said gar unless you want it eaten.
You may also have some other aggression issues.
There are two sets of useful bacteria that you want in your aquarium, and both live on surfaces like your filter medium, substrate, and tank walls. One set converts toxic ammonia from fish waste into slightly less toxic nitrites, and then the other set converts still-harmful nitrites into less harmful nitrates. You still need to do water changes to remove nitrates, but the bacteria prevent ammonia levels from rising above 0. If your aquarium isn't properly cycled, your fish are being poisoned by either ammonia or nitrites. That could be part of your problem. A properly cycled aquarium should not need to be treated with anything to remove ammonia or nitrites, and the only way to get rid of nitrates (aside from letting plants lower the levels) is to do water changes. I suspect you need to do more water changes- you have a very heavy bio-load on that system. Weekly water changes, at least.
Filters do not eliminate nitrates unless they're incredibly high-tech. Most of their purpose is to remove solid wastes and to house your useful bacteria.
How often do you clean the filter? Do you run the media under tap water? Rinsing filter media with anything other than aquarium water (do this in a bucket) kills your useful bacteria, which forces the tank to cycle again, which poisons your fish.
None of your fish need salt. In fact, salt irritates a fish's skin and forces them to produce extra slime coat, and it's especially irritating to scale-less fish like eels.
You may also have some other aggression issues.
There are two sets of useful bacteria that you want in your aquarium, and both live on surfaces like your filter medium, substrate, and tank walls. One set converts toxic ammonia from fish waste into slightly less toxic nitrites, and then the other set converts still-harmful nitrites into less harmful nitrates. You still need to do water changes to remove nitrates, but the bacteria prevent ammonia levels from rising above 0. If your aquarium isn't properly cycled, your fish are being poisoned by either ammonia or nitrites. That could be part of your problem. A properly cycled aquarium should not need to be treated with anything to remove ammonia or nitrites, and the only way to get rid of nitrates (aside from letting plants lower the levels) is to do water changes. I suspect you need to do more water changes- you have a very heavy bio-load on that system. Weekly water changes, at least.
Filters do not eliminate nitrates unless they're incredibly high-tech. Most of their purpose is to remove solid wastes and to house your useful bacteria.
How often do you clean the filter? Do you run the media under tap water? Rinsing filter media with anything other than aquarium water (do this in a bucket) kills your useful bacteria, which forces the tank to cycle again, which poisons your fish.
None of your fish need salt. In fact, salt irritates a fish's skin and forces them to produce extra slime coat, and it's especially irritating to scale-less fish like eels.
the gar will continue to outgrow the aro. and you cant keep that aro in that little container long enough for it to grow larger to not be threatened by the gar.
so yes, you need to remove the aro from the tank.
so yes, you need to remove the aro from the tank.
Forget the aro, remove the gar. Put the gar in a much larger tank, and the aro will be safe in this tank.
Also, get a water test kit and test the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels, then post the exact results.
And you might want to post some better pics and get the gar IDed. Most gars will get at least 2' long, and if that's really an alligator gar, it could potentially grow larger than you. They're big fish.
Also, get a water test kit and test the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels, then post the exact results.
And you might want to post some better pics and get the gar IDed. Most gars will get at least 2' long, and if that's really an alligator gar, it could potentially grow larger than you. They're big fish.
