Do I need to do water changes??

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
If they were my rays I would be testing daily...I would get a kit from somewhere and not wait for mail order. I would also personally be doing some water changes to dilute, as zoo diver says, don't go mad, stick to max 20% and then if the rays look sick at any time, if they swim at the surface or if you can test any nitrite then I would do another water change in the same week if you have to.

Make sure the surface of the tank is rippling or add a large airstone as nitrite will inhibit the uptake of oxygen and rays need a lot of oxygen.

What sort of Ray is the female that you have, at 7.5 inches it seems to be small or slow growing, My pup grew to over 12 inches in the same time and the females tend to grow very fast? Yours lookes like a motoro to me so I would expect a female to be much larger than that.

Make sure that you are using dechlorinator on every water change without fail.
 
PeteLockwood said:
For nitrite you can also throw, like, 2 teaspoons of table salt in the tank to prevent nitrite poisoning.
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LOL I am being a jerk by saying anything, and I don't mean to be, but this is funny. I suspect he meant 2 teaspoons per gallon, as 2 spoonfulls of salt in a 300 gallon tank isn't going to do a whole lot of anything.

Yes salt helps to mitigate the effects of nitrite poisoning, but if the levels are low enough, it won't matter. A water change is a better course of action. I am also not sure I would recommend salt for a tank with rays.
 
Here you go. A very good read.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?226328

For nitrite poisoning, salt can impart protection to the fishes. This happens only if the salt content is such that the chloride ion’s concentration is about 30 times that of the nitrite ion concentration in the water. Typically, nitrite becomes toxic at about 0.1 mg/L. This means that the chloride ion concentration would have to be at least 3.0 mg/L. This concentration translates into one of about 5.0 mg/L of salt (NaCl is 60.66% chloride, Cl-); this is equivalent to 18.7 mg/gallon. A teaspoon of table salt is about 5.5 grams (or 5,500 mg); a teaspoon of table salt would be sufficient to protect fishes living in approximately 294 gallons of water!
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Now whose post is funny?

And rays are fine with salt.
 
Woah... Well I'd say I feel like a jerk, but honestly I am so glad to have learned that.... that I am going to have to feel like a jerk later. Right now I need to go read and learn. Thanks for that!!!
 
Lol good read Pete!

I'd stick w keeping up on moderate water changes as said before, and get your nitrites to 0. I would also test your source water so you know what your working with right off the bat. Especially with this huge deal of everyone wanting nitrates so low, you need to test your tapwater to find out what your putting in our tank first because the nittates in tht may be higher than the suggested 20ppm or lower. Before your next water change, test again to see where everything is at and base your water change schedule off your results.
 
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