Hoplias HITH

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TheNonEuclidean

TheNonEuclidean

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 24, 2016
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Anyone had experience with wolf fish and HITH/HLLE? My curupira seems very sensitive to it, or its not getting the nutrition it needs... nitrates always below 20, feeding hikari cichlid gold and massivoire. Its been shy, trying to wean it of target feeding the past week so it hasnt eaten much.
Did a 60% wc today, will be doing this twice more this weekend. Also added a 1/2 dose of melafix and a full dose of vitachem to the water. Anything else i should be doing?
 
More (possibly) relevant info: 90g, 4 silver dollars @ 4", 1 oscar @ 9", both been in tank 2 years, black wolf 8" grew fron 6.5" in the 3 months ive had it. It got some slught hith about a month ago, a water change and melafix cleared it in 2 days, but there seems to be more than just water quality going on here. Normal wc schedule is twice weekly 50%+...
 
Doesn’t happen often. Would start to add some Epsom salt (1tsbp per 5g), hex shield and dose metro to the tank. Would also check ur Gh and kH as hard water will cause this if ur fish is from a black water system. The fish will need soft and acidic water parameters.
 
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I'm also curious about hardness, and conductivity.
If your wolf is from the Amazon basin, it may need softer, tannin enriched water.
So adding rain water to water changes , where leaf litter has been soaked, where tannins have been leached in, this might help. RO mixed with tap might also be advantageous, if your water is hard, and highly alkaline
If it is a Central American variant, hard water may not be an issue.
If as a rule, you do 50% water changes twice per week that should be sufficient, although if your water is hard, and it it is an Amazonian variant, 20 ppm nitrate may be one of those extra stress factors that tip the jar toward chronic maladies like HLLE/HITH.
For a 90 gal, I consider the tank quite heavily stocked.
 
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What's your water change schedule like?

I find 8t very difficult to believe your at 20 ppm nitrates with that bioload in a 90g. Unless your doing massive water changes multiple times a weeks or your not feeding your fish properly.

A 9 inch Oscar alone eating well in a 90g will make that nitrate easily.

I suspect high is due to lack of food or poor water quality in your case. Fixing this should help.
 
Feeding schedule has been light this week, nitrates below 5ppm after last night's water change. Ran the full battery of API tests today, noticed the Ph was a bit lower than usual, at about 6... usually its around 6.4. We have very soft water in my area though i cant accurately check hardness myself.

How can I get him to eat right? So far hes only taken massivore pellets when i drop them in front of his nose, he will hit them while theyre falling only.

The epsom salt, is it 1 tsp or tbs per 5 gal?

The silver dollars will be rehomed before too long, when the wolf reaches 12" or so. That will help with the stock.
 
TheNonEuclidean said:
Feeding schedule has been light this week, nitrates below 5ppm after last night's water change. Ran the full battery of API tests today, noticed the Ph was a bit lower than usual, at about 6... usually its around 6.4. We have very soft water in my area though i cant accurately check hardness myself.

How can I get him to eat right? So far hes only taken massivore pellets when i drop them in front of his nose, he will hit them while theyre falling only.

The epsom salt, is it 1 tsp or tbs per 5 gal?

The silver dollars will be rehomed before too long, when the wolf reaches 12" or so. That will help with the stock.
Click to expand...
1 tbsp per 5g. Crush the pellet and mix with hex shield. Can use seachem focus to bind it all up.
 
Since your water is soft, it may also have a low alkalinity (low buffering capacity) which may make more regular water changes neseccary. You could call your water provider to find out those parameters, or it may state them on your water bill.
Low buffering capacity means its easier for uric acid and other metalbolism by-products and acids to build up, to ruin water quality, and can create high nitrates, much faster between water changes. This is why any text book standard water change routine is nebulous, because different cities, different states may all have different water parameters dictating how many, and how frequent water changes may needed to maintain a tanks water quality, which the different species of fish may need.
 
Unless you did a 100% water change before testing I don't see how 5ppm is possible. I been keeping water for a number a years and this just doesn't happen with that much fish in a small tank

Your test kit is off by a lot.
 
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