Green Terror not eating please help!

[TigerTalon1]

So it's not cycled? What does not setup long enough mean? What does stable mean? We use numbers in ppm measurements for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate to determine stability. How long has this tank been cycled? How long has he been in the aquarium?

All the symptoms described so far also indicates a stressed out fish still getting used to its environment, unless you've taken a fecal sample and put it under a microscope. An 8" fish can last a few weeks of not eating. I've easily had a 6" fish not eat for 1 month, and not have a sunken belly. She didn't have parasites.

I put water into a brand new tank then put water clarifier into it as I do with all of my tanks, I let the tank cycle for a day or two then I introduce the fish. What I mean by it hasn’t been setup long enough for nitrogen compounds to build up enough to do any type of harm to the fish, anyways what I’m saying is I don’t keep up with ph levels, I do weekly to bi-weekly water changes on all of my tanks and I doubt the green terror got anything from my water,he got the parasite when I got him I’m 99% sure he was a trade in where his original owner knew he was sick and just got rid of him for store credit.

 

[TigerTalon1]

He isn’t showing signs of extreme stress though so that’s what makes me believe it’s parasites

 

[astrocreep]

I put water into a brand new tank then put water clarifier into it as I do with all of my tanks, I let the tank cycle for a day or two then I introduce the fish. What I mean by it hasn’t been setup long enough for nitrogen compounds to build up enough to do any type of harm to the fish, anyways what I’m saying is I don’t keep up with ph levels, I do weekly to bi-weekly water changes on all of my tanks and I doubt the green terror got anything from my water,he got the parasite when I got him I’m 99% sure he was a trade in where his original owner knew he was sick and just got rid of him for store credit.

Man I'm not here to rant about what you're doing wrong, but this is playing russian roulette with this GT. Unless you have some filter media or a sponge filter WITH BENEFICIAL BACTERIA built-up then the ammonia levels in that tank are probably spiking.

You need to do some reading on the Nitrogen cycle in an aquarium. It takes way longer that two or three days to reach equilibrium to the point where only there is no worries of ammonia build-up. This is what we are talking about when we say "cycled"

"Cycled" means there is enough bacteria built up in the filters to neutralize the ammonia and nitrites within the water. When a full cycle is reached, ammonia will be ZERO, nitrites will be ZERO, and nitrates should be ZERO after a good water change.

There is no "Nitrogen Compounds" present in your tank at this point because there is no bacteria to convert the Ammonia into "Nitrogen Compounds"

You have a nice looking GT there, I would hate for him to kick the bucket.

Sorry if any of this seems harsh, and trust me I dislike the snooty comments left by some people on forums. We all just want to see people and fish both thrive in this hobby.

 

[astrocreep]

When setting up a new tank and stocking fish immediately, you MUST have a seeded sponge filter present until your main filter can handle the bio-load.

Its not too late to do something about it

 

[Rocksor]

I put water into a brand new tank then put water clarifier into it as I do with all of my tanks, I let the tank cycle for a day or two then I introduce the fish. What I mean by it hasn’t been setup long enough for nitrogen compounds to build up enough to do any type of harm to the fish, anyways what I’m saying is I don’t keep up with ph levels, I do weekly to bi-weekly water changes on all of my tanks and I doubt the green terror got anything from my water,he got the parasite when I got him I’m 99% sure he was a trade in where his original owner knew he was sick and just got rid of him for store credit.

People also turn fish in because they've sold the tank, want to reduce the bio-load of the tank, or they are moving in a different direction for their fish tank.

He doesn't need to show extreme stress due to poor and uncycled water conditions. Minor indications of stress can be shown and not limited to white transparent poo and lack of eating.

Fix the water conditions first before medication any fish.

 

[TigerTalon1]

Man I'm not here to rant about what you're doing wrong, but this is playing russian roulette with this GT. Unless you have some filter media or a sponge filter WITH BENEFICIAL BACTERIA built-up then the ammonia levels in that tank are probably spiking.

You need to do some reading on the Nitrogen cycle in an aquarium. It takes way longer that two or three days to reach equilibrium to the point where only there is no worries of ammonia build-up. This is what we are talking about when we say "cycled"

"Cycled" means there is enough bacteria built up in the filters to neutralize the ammonia and nitrites within the water. When a full cycle is reached, ammonia will be ZERO, nitrites will be ZERO, and nitrates should be ZERO after a good water change.

There is no "Nitrogen Compounds" present in your tank at this point because there is no bacteria to convert the Ammonia into "Nitrogen Compounds"

You have a nice looking GT there, I would hate for him to kick the bucket.

Sorry if any of this seems harsh, and trust me I dislike the snooty comments left by some people on forums. We all just want to see people and fish both thrive in this hobby.

I know how the nitrogen cycle works... Ammonia is produced from fish poop and uneaten food which is then transformed to nitrite from the nitrosomomous biological bacteria, the nitrite is then transformed to nitrate which is the least toxic nitrogen compound which is then absorbed by the plants, I also forgot to mention the filter cartridges I had in the GT tank came out of my 40gallon tank which has been running for about a year now so it should have beneficial bacteria in those.

 

[TigerTalon1]

People also turn fish in because they've sold the tank, want to reduce the bio-load of the tank, or they are moving in a different direction for their fish tank.

He doesn't need to show extreme stress due to poor and uncycled water conditions. Minor indications of stress can be shown and not limited to white transparent poo and lack of eating.

Fix the water conditions first before medication any fish.

He’s ate blood worms today for the first time and I saw him sifting through the sand,he came up to the top of the tank today, I also gave him his daily medication which seems to be working so far, I’ll post pics soon

 

[astrocreep]

I know how the nitrogen cycle works... Ammonia is produced from fish poop and uneaten food which is then transformed to nitrite from the nitrosomomous biological bacteria, the nitrite is then transformed to nitrate which is the least toxic nitrogen compound which is then absorbed by the plants, I also forgot to mention the filter cartridges I had in the GT tank came out of my 40gallon tank which has been running for about a year now so it should have beneficial bacteria in those.

Okay well that definitely helps. I wasn't aware that you had cycled media in your filter.

We all just want to see your fish do well. Sometimes it takes awhile for new fish to adjust, especially after being moved from previous owner, to LFS, now to you.

The first thing anyone is going to ask you is "what are your water parameters?" and if you aren't able to test your water and give numbers then people will assume that you are not testing your water. I'm guilty of not testing my water for periods of time because everything seems fine, no changed behavior, etc...

But its good practice to check your water params at least every few days, I know there are some that test daily, I just don't feel the necessity to do it that often, but I also stock extremely light.

The post I replied to earlier kinda made it sound like you just threw the GT in a new tank and were just changing water a lot to cut down on ammonia build-up.

If you're confident the water is in great shape, and he has plenty of room, then all you can do is give him time. Try to give him a rock or cave to hide in, and keep the tank lights dim or off. Will help him relax. He's not going to starve himself to death to make a point.

 

[TigerTalon1]

Okay well that definitely helps. I wasn't aware that you had cycled media in your filter.

We all just want to see your fish do well. Sometimes it takes awhile for new fish to adjust, especially after being moved from previous owner, to LFS, now to you.

The first thing anyone is going to ask you is "what are your water parameters?" and if you aren't able to test your water and give numbers then people will assume that you are not testing your water. I'm guilty of not testing my water for periods of time because everything seems fine, no changed behavior, etc...

But its good practice to check your water params at least every few days, I know there are some that test daily, I just don't feel the necessity to do it that often, but I also stock extremely light.

The post I replied to earlier kinda made it sound like you just threw the GT in a new tank and were just changing water a lot to cut down on ammonia build-up.

If you're confident the water is in great shape, and he has plenty of room, then all you can do is give him time. Try to give him a rock or cave to hide in, and keep the tank lights dim or off. Will help him relax. He's not going to starve himself to death to make a point.

I don’t have a water tester kit available at the moment but I don’t test any of my other tanks and I never have really done it. The GT has a cave and plants in the tank as well along with a younger Severum that’s temporarily in there and a school of 5 giant danios. Next time I go to the LFS I’ll pick up a kit if it’s not too expensive but do you really think it’s nessarssary to test every few days when I’m steadily doing water changes? Also when I remove the severum how well would a GT get along with picture cats?

 

[TigerTalon1]

*pictus cats