My fish are very lethargic. What could be wrong????

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M

Molenyn

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 5, 2012
26
0
1
Northern Virginia
I came home from work today to find almost all the fish in my 55 virtually not moving. The Angel usually just floats around calmly but the rest are very active. It is very unusual. I tested the water and all measurements are good. I jut did a water change 72 hours ago. This is an established tank that has been up and running for a year. No changes have been made in months. I see no visible signs of illness or any type of confrontation between them. Three of the Danio's are pretty fat, but they have been that way for a while, but maybe they are full of eggs? They normal all race to the top when I feed them to the point that sometimes they are popping out of the water. Tonight they didn't even care that I was there or had food. They didn't eat. The cats are all hiding in a corner.

This is a 55 with a 30 sump. 1 Angel, handful of Danio's and Platies, 4 Pictus cats and a skunk loach. They have all been in the same environment together for a long time now. What could cause this?
 
Is your heater functioning properly?
 
heat was my first thought too.
perhaps the water you used for change had different parameters.
after seeing lethargy, did you only test ammonia nitrite & nitrate, or did you check ph and chlorine too? maybe the water was treated at higher levels &/or ph was quite different. chlorine is high ph.
 
Could someone have sprayed something in the room that might have settled into the water while you were gone?
 
hmm, I tested PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate - The basic API master kit. I don't have any thing to specifically check for chlorine, but the ph level is the same it has been for the past year it rarely fluctuates more that +/- .1. I do use tap water, so I suppose there could be something else they started using in the water. We also just got that huge storm through here so there would be an abnormal amount of salt/road cleaning stuff that is now out there. I wonder how well all of that gets filtered at the treatment plant?
 
So I turned the lights out last night and kept watching them. They seemed to get more active after a while so I figure whatever it was was getting better. This morning, they were all swimming around with just the little bit of sunlight from the window but when the tank light came on they all scattered and hid and stop swimming around again. I turned it off and they started moving again. This is almost the opposite of what normally happens. Do they have some sort of light sensitivity? This is weird. Any ideas?
 
Since you mentioned this tank has been setup for a while, without changes, I assume you didn't change the lights. It would seem odd to me that all of a sudden the lights would create an issue when the fish have been fine under them for so long.

Unfortunately I don't really have any other suggestions beyond what these other guys have said, but I hope you the best.
 
I wasn't really suggesting the lights themselves were the problem, but are there any illnesses or something that increase their light sensitivity? I don't see any spots or other signs of ick, but maybe there is something else?
 
are the lights fluorescent ? if so, the ballast or bulbs may have started malfunctioning to some degree [after jiggled during water change].
this negatively effects humans.
Children who already have certain issues show dramatic worsening under fluorescents, even when working properly. maybe fish only bothered by malfunctions.
Just a thought.
Test how they act under another type of light- incandescent or led. just move something in your house there to see.

http://ergonomics.about.com/od/ergonomicbasics/ss/fluorproblems.htm
 
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