i think my BGK is dying. HELP PLEASE ANYONE!!!

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M

mundegus

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 15, 2008
89
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6
Australia
BGK dying i think.

he seems to have no energy and when the air stone is on he seems to just go where ever the tanks current takes him and i saw him get wrapped around the intake which has never happened befor, i put him in a bucket with some blood worms, but i wasnt sure if this would be detremental for him so i put him back in the tank and unplugged the airstone

does this sound like hes dying, he was just being flipped and stuff round the tank. he's been fine until now but i dont think he's eaten today and theres no way i can see to make him eat if he wont in a bucket.

how long is safe to leave a 4ft without the airstone on?

is there anything i can do to save him? i cant stand to loose my second one!
 
What did you do before this happend? You got to remember. Did you overfeed it? Did you do a water change? Does he have any tankmate? Did you put some chemicals on the water? Is the tank cycled?

My advise put him in a net so he won't flip around the tank (sumberged), put the airstone back on, add some aquarium salt (dissolve it before putting it in a tank). If its hot in your area no need in using a heater but if not, use a heater.
 
unfortunately he died unde the same looking circumstances my other one did, i have no idea of the problem. deffinately not underfed cause he was a shy lil tyc when it came to food but deff not underfed, he always had food going through his cave at dinner time and i had him for 4 weeks now. he just became weak and didnt move much apart from getting stuck on the filter out take. might not buy anymore gk's i love them but **** they wont live for me, second one ive had now. there was no anomoly to the daily routine or unsual variable in the tanks daily happening so yeah, clueless as to why this happened.
 
Sorry for your loss bro, well sometimes you will learn from your mistakes. When I was still a noobie about the bgk way back in college my gk died and then i bought another and died again and anothe until I did my research and before buying a bgk prepared everything.

Do you buy only at a single LFS, are they keeping them well before you bought it? Have you tried buying from other LFS? Coz sometimes some LFS are careless about the fish, they only care about is making money.
 
well theres 2 that ive bought from so fare but there is about 5 in the area. the guy who owns the store seems adament on good healthy fish as he has 200 tanks set up built into the tank of the store of which include 30 saltwater tanks and his stock goes from arowana's to scorpionfish right down to mollys and angels and his massive 20" pleco. the ghost knifes i have seen in the tanks in the past week when i was down there didnt seem the best and i think i might look to a different place next time, and i might try to get them a bit bigger if possible.
neither of them were really avid eaters i found!.

any tips you got for me?
 
First get the biggest bgk that you can find becoz they are more hardy. Before you get one, ask the owner to feed the BGK. If he's eating like a pig, get the guy. Also check if he has some damage fins or diseases.
 
aww thats bad, sorry for your loss. did you check your water chemistry? maybe it is the fish from that particular shop, but then maybe it could be your aquarium? but i agree, try to start with a bigger knife!
 
Hi, sorry about both losses but i'd like to try and get to the cause of it. Yes it may be weak fish but it may also be powerful filtration for a small/weak BGK.
I lost 2x4" bgk's after introducing a newjet 1200l/ph return pump for extra water movement. I found them stuck to the intake so I removed the pump and the others survived, I pressume they got too close and couldn't get back off.
What type of filtration do you have and is the airstone for an undergravel? If the airstone isn't for an undergravel then you don't really need it anyway if you have plenty of surface agitation.
What are your water parameters?
What other tank mates is in the tank
?
What type of foods were you feeding it? (just curious :) ) How big were the bgk's?
Has your local waterboard been doing any work on the pipes or flushing the systems lately? You could always give them a call but don't mention the fish as they might just say NO as to not get blamed.
Sorry for the questions but it would be nice to find out why it's happened before getting another :)
 
i think there might have just been to much stress on him,i had a large air stone running along with a 1200L/PH aqua1 filter outake and intake may have just tired him out and killed him in the end. if i buy anouther one i think ill have a smaller tank to start off with cause he was about a bit more a couple of days befor he died which i cant figure out because he had a freakin giant bell to live in which was dark and had not much current by the looks of it and a log to live under so meh duno.
 
That is very sad and I'm sorry to hear that you have lost two BGKs.

You didn't mention if there are any other fish in the tank. If so, are they healthy???

Also, BGK are exquisitely sensitive to contaminants in the water, they require water with NO ammonia, nitrite, or chlorine. BGK are so sensitive to water conditions that scientists are doing research to determine if BGK can be used to TEST water to see if it is safe for humans. What they have found is that the BGK's electrical signal changes when a contaminant is added to the water.

Anyway, if you are planning to keep BGK, it is IMPERATIVE that your tank be properly cycled before the BGK is added. I don't know the circumstances of your tank, so I'm not accusing, but is it possible that there could still be ammonia and/or nitrites in your water???
 
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