My aro just died on me. Any ideas why?
- Thread starter 6 bar
- Start date
smartlove_518;3212246; said:
Yeah, I usually just drip acclimate. I do believe however, that the issue was not pH since I've kept other aros in this tank with success.
Still, I appreciate all of the feedback I have received. It emboldens me to continue with aro keeping and just looking at this as bad luck
. Next time, I'll get a bigger aro, something that I hope will last. I look forward to buying bderick's 180g tank now that he has his 420g.
i think a 6" aro was a good size..its always good to get a smaller aro and watch them grow. i feel its more fun than getting a big aro. but you have had bad experience with smaller aros. good luck with your new aro and tank6 bar;3213216; said:Yeah, I usually just drip acclimate. I do believe however, that the issue was not pH since I've kept other aros in this tank with success.
Still, I appreciate all of the feedback I have received. It emboldens me to continue with aro keeping and just looking at this as bad luck
I look forward to buying bderick's 180g tank now that he has his 420g.
Hey 6bar - mabuhay pinoy lol
i was also born in the philippines!
sorry to hear you lost two in a short amount of time
honestly though
dont bother getting another until you get a bigger tank
cos they wont last there more than a year even 6 months fi you feed heavily.
the tnak looks small. TOO SMALL
in phil, they put silvers, large silvers in small asssss tanks! cruel, really nasty.
fish looks like it wants to jump out and crawl to the nearest power socket to pop it self into fish heaven.
your gravel looks fine. make sure its not lime based or a calcium based substrate - cos they can leech random things into the water.
but it looks ok as your ph is 6.5.
arowanas can handle ph at 6. maybe even lower for a short time. in nature, during certain seasons, leaves and berries fall into the water.... in asia its ketapang leaves, this makes the water drag, acidic and aromatic, somet hink it triggers breeder.
anyways
you may try to empty the tank, and take out EVERYTHING, wash it and then re set up.
what filter are you running? you said aqua clear 110?
well if i am not mistaken, that is a hanging filter on the side? ..... if i am not mistake and that is your ONLY filter..
then that may be your problem.
You measured nitrite, did you measure amonia?
if you have 0 nitrite its good, but it could mean that the amonia isnt being digested, which means you have too much of that.
Amonia can kill rapidly.
with an aqua clear hang on filter, you will have less than 1 to 2 cups of bio media.
that is no way enough.
For a silver aro you should have a few kilos at least IMHO.
perhaps invest in a external canister filter first and fore most..... that will be more effective....then cycle it - then put the fish in there.
that may be your problem. nitrate and nitrite are the last two components of the bacteria cycle products.
Amonia needs to clear first. so test for that.
some fish are more able to withstand amonia exposure.
hikari sticks or any aro sticks are at least 40% protein which means when your fish digest it, it will quickly pollute the water.
my principle is this
my bio media needs to handle as much load as my fish would eat in a day
LITERALLY, sounds funny
but i have fed my fish untill they actually refuse to eat...and my filter still keeps up.
general rule of thumb IMO...your water in the tank should turn over a minimum 5 times per hour with your filter when it comes to aros.
this is my method paranoid? well, fish here is expensive in NZ so need to invest heavily on filtration lol cant afford to die. Silver arowanas here cost 70US dollars.
try that and see how you go, good luck.
DO NOT USE UNDERGRAVEL FILTERS
THEY ARE A NIGHTMARE, AND I THINK THEY SUCK
i was also born in the philippines!
sorry to hear you lost two in a short amount of time
honestly though
dont bother getting another until you get a bigger tank
cos they wont last there more than a year even 6 months fi you feed heavily.
the tnak looks small. TOO SMALL
in phil, they put silvers, large silvers in small asssss tanks! cruel, really nasty.
fish looks like it wants to jump out and crawl to the nearest power socket to pop it self into fish heaven.
your gravel looks fine. make sure its not lime based or a calcium based substrate - cos they can leech random things into the water.
but it looks ok as your ph is 6.5.
arowanas can handle ph at 6. maybe even lower for a short time. in nature, during certain seasons, leaves and berries fall into the water.... in asia its ketapang leaves, this makes the water drag, acidic and aromatic, somet hink it triggers breeder.
anyways
you may try to empty the tank, and take out EVERYTHING, wash it and then re set up.
what filter are you running? you said aqua clear 110?
well if i am not mistaken, that is a hanging filter on the side? ..... if i am not mistake and that is your ONLY filter..
then that may be your problem.
You measured nitrite, did you measure amonia?
if you have 0 nitrite its good, but it could mean that the amonia isnt being digested, which means you have too much of that.
Amonia can kill rapidly.
with an aqua clear hang on filter, you will have less than 1 to 2 cups of bio media.
that is no way enough.
For a silver aro you should have a few kilos at least IMHO.
perhaps invest in a external canister filter first and fore most..... that will be more effective....then cycle it - then put the fish in there.
that may be your problem. nitrate and nitrite are the last two components of the bacteria cycle products.
Amonia needs to clear first. so test for that.
some fish are more able to withstand amonia exposure.
hikari sticks or any aro sticks are at least 40% protein which means when your fish digest it, it will quickly pollute the water.
my principle is this
my bio media needs to handle as much load as my fish would eat in a day
LITERALLY, sounds funnybut i have fed my fish untill they actually refuse to eat...and my filter still keeps up.
general rule of thumb IMO...your water in the tank should turn over a minimum 5 times per hour with your filter when it comes to aros.
this is my method
paranoid? well, fish here is expensive in NZ so need to invest heavily on filtration lol cant afford to die. Silver arowanas here cost 70US dollars. try that and see how you go, good luck.
DO NOT USE UNDERGRAVEL FILTERS
THEY ARE A NIGHTMARE, AND I THINK THEY SUCK
just looked at your photos, you do seem line you have under gravel and hand on filter.
ok
some might disagree.
but undergravel filtration might be good for clearing water so clarity is high. but really, ther eis no room for any bio media.
The bacteria needed to destroy amonia and nitrite needs a surface to live on, bio media provides that.
you NEED bio filtration.
hand on filters on the markets, non provide good amounts of space for bio media.
as an example
my 1200 litre tank has a 6000 litre per hour sump pump PLUS an FX5.
totaling it has more than 15kilos of biomedia, suffice to say lots
and i just added 8 kilos on it the other day to season them for my new tank.
you really need better filtration.
i think of it like this, when you flush your otilet, it goes to the sewage pond... processed etc.
imagine if you just didnt flush the toilet, and you just let your poo accumulate in the toilet?
nasty!
ok
some might disagree.
but undergravel filtration might be good for clearing water so clarity is high. but really, ther eis no room for any bio media.
The bacteria needed to destroy amonia and nitrite needs a surface to live on, bio media provides that.
you NEED bio filtration.
hand on filters on the markets, non provide good amounts of space for bio media.
as an example
my 1200 litre tank has a 6000 litre per hour sump pump PLUS an FX5.
totaling it has more than 15kilos of biomedia, suffice to say lots
and i just added 8 kilos on it the other day to season them for my new tank.
you really need better filtration.
i think of it like this, when you flush your otilet, it goes to the sewage pond... processed etc.
imagine if you just didnt flush the toilet, and you just let your poo accumulate in the toilet?
nasty!
Hey Alden, you may want to seek more information in the ray forum, but from what I understand they are incredible waste producers and maybe your aro was killed by an ammonia spike.
I would go buy a test kit for ammonia and test your tank 3 times a day. If there is ammonia spikes being produced a least you be able to find this and then we can figure how to deal with that problem. Possibly may want to keep a record of what/when food is put into your tank. Does the ray eat on a daily basis?
I would go buy a test kit for ammonia and test your tank 3 times a day. If there is ammonia spikes being produced a least you be able to find this and then we can figure how to deal with that problem. Possibly may want to keep a record of what/when food is put into your tank. Does the ray eat on a daily basis?
henward;3214590; said:
Yeah, my tank is different from the one's posted in the pics in that now I have 2 aquaclear 110 HOB filters. But I also have 2 UGFs. Thanks for your feedback.
Bderick67;3214807; said:
I'm actually feeding my ray every other day 8 pieces of market prawn. You might be right. I'm going to have my water tested for ammonia. I know that my water coming from my tap contains some form of ammonia. But, I'm going to look in to the test to figure out numbers.
What I do find strange is that you would think that my nitrates would not show if the cycling process was still in the ammonia stage and that perhaps some nitrites would also appear. I was just thinking since nitrates are the last stage of the process, then I couldn't have had an ammonia spike since that's at the beginning. (But, I do not claim to be an expert in the cycling process by any means).
Also, what I find odd is that if I had an ammonia spike, I'd think my ray would have died as well. Since they are more known for dying due to poor water conditions. But I'm going to get an ammonia test here to find out what is going on. Thanks Brian.
