HELP NEEDED!

[wowwow]

ok guys so about three weeks ago i purchased my red devil from my lfs. hes stil not acclimated to the tank. i dont know what else to do. he eats like crazy. but is super terrified of me. and he hides about 90 percent of the day until i turn off my lights then he swims around. i even changed my light system to 20 watts thinking it was that.my water parameters are perfect. ph=7.0 tempereture 78, no nitrate or amonia. and ontop of that im using aged water that i use for my saltwater tank.

by the way he has his full color unlike before.

 

[Laticauda]

If you are showing no nitrAte and no ammonia, then you undoubtedly have nitrItes which poisons the blood of the fish. What are your nitrIte readings?

 

[CLDarnell]

Hi

What size tank and who/what are his tank-mates?

Also, what did you mean by "ontop of that im using aged water that i use for my saltwater tank."?

 

[wowwow]

0 also. forgot to mention that. my friend has the complete test kit and said water was perfect

 

[wowwow]

Hi

What size tank and who/what are his tank-mates?

Also, what did you mean by "ontop of that im using aged water that i use for my saltwater tank."?

55g by himself. and what i meant by that is instead of adding tap water directly with dechlorinator. im using the water i use for salt tanks. aged so there absolutely no chlorine. and im still putting a little prime just to be sure.

 

[Laticauda]

You need the exact numbers in order to appropriately diagnose what the problem is. It's impossible to have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate. Ask them to do the tests again and tell you the actual number-results. Also, watch that he does the nitrAte test correctly. You have to shake bottle #2 for 30 seconds. After you mix water +bottle#1's drops, you add the drops from bottle #2, and shake the contents for 60 seconds, wait 5 minutes, then finally read the result.

 

[noyakfat]

Do you have lots of tank "furnishings" like rocks and/or driftwood for him? Maybe he is feeling insecure. Perhaps you could also try a small group of dither fish, like giant danios or juvenile silver dollars to get him thinking it is safe to cruise about in the open water...

Cheers,
Nige

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

like Laticauda said, everthing can't be at 0, re-do the tests, should have some nitrate in there. Also, check the fish for disease, not just easy stuff like ich, but check for camallanus worms out of its vent area and white stringy feces and other signs of internal parasites

 

[DCOWBOYS]

Could be he is just nervous like i was once told,"be patient".

 

[Aquanero]

Ok, lets for the sake of argument say you retest the water and its fine. Then I suspect it could be an external environmental issue. Where in the house is the tank located? If the tank is located in a high traffic area with a lot of external activity, it will take the fish a while to become accustomed to its new home. If the room is brightly lit the fish can see what’s going on and get spooked. The best way to observe the fish is with the tank light on and the room lights off. If he comes out and swims around when you turn the lights off I suspect he’s fine and needs more time to adjust. Also if he is alone in the tank there are no other fish for him to see swimming around and make him feel secure (it’s safe to come out see, nothings happening to me) this will also happen if he was used to having other fish around. Maybe put something in there with him until he feels comfortable, keep and eye on him so he doesn’t kill it. A male Con could work if your RD is in the 4” range as long as you have a place for it to hide the RD can’t get into. If the RD is small 2-3” range try 5 or 6 BATS to draw him out. Be patient he’ll come around, provided nothing else is wrong but I suspect he’s not fully adjusted yet. Something to consider.