Gulper catfish water quality

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bezza83

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 13, 2011
369
63
31
Ashford kent united kingdom
Every gulper I have kept has gone of live food and hasn't the same appetite for frozen/dead after a few months. They are ferocious eaters when first acquired and over period of several months their appetites become suppressed.

The water where I live is hard and high ph around 8.4. They also do that coughing motion from time to time, apart from this they would appear quite healthy.

I think the use is the water quality. I know high ph and hard water isn't what they like, however, would it cause this or could it be the metals in the water?

Any replies would be very much appreciated.
 
You should really post all the parameters of everything including ammo, trite, trate. Also be aware gulper cats really like having a steady current. When I had mine, I noticed a difference in their actions when I added a powerhead. They seemed to be much more responsive to feeding and much more active in general. Also keep the lights lower for them at all times.
 
I'm bumping this as they still are off their food and eat around once a month.
My PH is around 8.5
My GH is around 14-15

I have been using a 3 stage HMA filter for around 2 months now.
It can't be the metals or chlorine in the water so surely it must be the high PH and GH in the water that is putting them of eating as I don't believe that this catfish slows down eating like I have read on other threads. The reason I say this is because I purchased some a while back that all died after a water change, but were hammering food when I introduced them into my tank. They had been in the aquatic shop for 18 months before I got them and dropped in price as they had them so long. These did the same after a month or so and gradually stopped eating before the all died from the water change.
 
I never had the intention of going down the route of Reverse Osmosis, however I can not see any other alternative.
I Change around 400 litres a week. I am willing to give a try. If I get an ro unit and store the water I could try 50/50 to start with. If the water parameters are in a range that they require, will they be ok or might there be affected long term?
Any input is much appreciated especially from anyone with gulper cats that can provide their water parameters.
Thanks
 
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