Bubba Rwanda;1483386; said:
The color seems fine on mine. It seems to be acting normal too so far. Just not eating. I've had mine for about two years or so. It was about two inches when I got it, and it's about 7 inches now. It's alone in a bare bottom 75 Gallon with an Eheim 2215 and two Power filters. I do weekly water changes of around 30% as well.
Yes, it does seem shy. I was dropping food in and leaving. The next day or whatever, I'd go back and siphon un eaten food and poop. This was probably not good for the water conditions, but my tanks are in a dark basement, and some of the Fish get shy. I also have a 12 or so year old Red Hook Silver Dollar, and an Auratus that seem to only eat with their tank light off. I'm not going to feed them with the light out and leave anymore. I hope they get hungry enough to eat in front of me with the lights on? I only hope it's not too late for the Flowerhorn.
Ok... I'll tackle this. I'm sure someone will correct me if I give any faulty advice.
So lack of appetite is your only worry? Leaving food overnight isn't great, but you could be doing worse I guess. As long as you know you should be cleaning it up. The tank is bare bottom, but is there any decor? If not, try adding something with smooth edges that he could use to hide. It will make him feel more secure. Do you have a test kit? If so, I'd test the water, if not, I'd get one, then test the water. If you see any problems, I'd do a water change right away.
Also, I may be wrong on this, but as fish get older and bigger, they need to eat less often. Maybe he's just getting to this point. How long has he gone without eating? I wouldn't worry too badly if it was just a day or two.
pilau;1483411; said:
Well I am not tryin to take over Bubbas thread but I seem to have the same type of behavior going on right now and I think we can both possibly benefit from this.
Mine is in a 55 gallon with no tankmates. He is about 9-10" now and has not been eating much. The water had been getting cold at night so I added a heater to the tank. That is when he got stress bars and started laying on his side and swimming strange and attacking his reflection. He swims backwards even. I tested the water quality and found the Ammonia is a bit high so I added ammonia killer stuff. PH is at 7.5 and all other parameters seem fine. I added some water conditioner too, just in case it was a chlorine thing. I don't think that is it but I want to be sure. I also added stress zyme. I thought after I put in the heater that maybe he wasn't getting enough oxygen so I added a airstone. He doesn't look good at all.
Hopefully Bubba will chime in with more info on his.
The sudden change in temp may be part of it. He needs the heater, ideally you want to try bringing it up a degree or two everyday until he's at the right temp. Also, and you've probably heard this, but I wouldn't use any chemicals to get rid of the ammonia. Do water changes. Watch him and keep tabs on the levels daily and change as frequently as you can. Treat it as if you were cycling, just look for the stickies (in general aquaria, I think). Airstone is good. You might add a little salt. There's stickies about that too.
You said yours swims erratically? Is it his swim bladder? Can he keep his balance? Or is he just freaking out? You can try feeding him a shelled pea, blanched with garlic. Then, don't feed him for a few days and look for improvement.
