Alrighty guys, About a month ago I was given an 84gal tank with an absolutely MASSIVE fish load in it. We're talking 18 fish all over 12+" save for three or four 4-6" fish, not including the 30-40 thumbnail sized convict fry. I've been working on finding homes for most of the fish and distibuting them throughout other tanks. I'm having a couple of problems though.
In one 55gallon (temporary) I put a tiger oscar 12" and the large male convict 5". Bare bottom tank, aquaclear 500, regular water changes. The water they were in before was GROSS, off the test kit charts nasty. Anyway, the oscar has been listless since I moved him, and originally I thought he was just sulking, but I often walk in the room and think he's dead. In the last few weeks the convict started flashing and rubbing on the bottom of the tank, now the oscar is developing this white.. i don't know, flim over parts of his skin and his eyes are clouding over as well. I can't remember the last time I had an outbreak in my tanks, but I don't believe this is ich, as I see do not white dots, and it's not fuzzy like fungus. Because they were flashing, I thought we might have picked up parasites or something somewhere so I turned up the heat to 80*, added salt, and after two weeks of this with no change, added prazi. It's been about 4 days and there doesn't seem to be any change in the way they're acting. I don't get it. These damned free fish live in sewage their whole lives, I clean up their water (it was gradual as possible) and NOW they get sick?
Any advice appreciated.
Now onto the 84gallon tank itself. I'm down to 6 fish in here, two large red devils, two HUGE pacus, and two large common plecos. I'm still finding homes for everyone but the red devil pair. Now, the plan was to get rid of everything but the RDs (never had them before, but what pretty fish) but the less fish in the tank and the more often I clean the water, the more they court each other and move rocks and nest. Well, this is great and all, but courting RDs are REALLY rough on each other, and although their fins were ragged when I received them, even treating the water with salt is not helping them heal. In fact, they're just getting worse. Do I need more dithers for them? Obviously, I can't add anything until I get rid of the pacus (I might have a pond lined up for them when it gets a little warmer, but dang, that's a ways off yet) but is that likely it? They seem to enjoy each other's company, and I would prefer not to seperate them (If only I had the tank space). They aren't really super violet with each other, more like it's a little bit of damage at a time that amounts to a lot of ugly finnage, and because they keep at it, it doesn't have time to heal. Anyway, I have pics of the devils so you can see what I mean. Any opinions on healing them up? Can I reasonably add any other fish to an 84gal (after the pacus are gone of course) as dithers? Silver dollars maybe? Both male and female are adults at about 10-12".
Oh, and while I'm here... anyone want some free pacus? Local pickup only.
In one 55gallon (temporary) I put a tiger oscar 12" and the large male convict 5". Bare bottom tank, aquaclear 500, regular water changes. The water they were in before was GROSS, off the test kit charts nasty. Anyway, the oscar has been listless since I moved him, and originally I thought he was just sulking, but I often walk in the room and think he's dead. In the last few weeks the convict started flashing and rubbing on the bottom of the tank, now the oscar is developing this white.. i don't know, flim over parts of his skin and his eyes are clouding over as well. I can't remember the last time I had an outbreak in my tanks, but I don't believe this is ich, as I see do not white dots, and it's not fuzzy like fungus. Because they were flashing, I thought we might have picked up parasites or something somewhere so I turned up the heat to 80*, added salt, and after two weeks of this with no change, added prazi. It's been about 4 days and there doesn't seem to be any change in the way they're acting. I don't get it. These damned free fish live in sewage their whole lives, I clean up their water (it was gradual as possible) and NOW they get sick?
Any advice appreciated.
Now onto the 84gallon tank itself. I'm down to 6 fish in here, two large red devils, two HUGE pacus, and two large common plecos. I'm still finding homes for everyone but the red devil pair. Now, the plan was to get rid of everything but the RDs (never had them before, but what pretty fish) but the less fish in the tank and the more often I clean the water, the more they court each other and move rocks and nest. Well, this is great and all, but courting RDs are REALLY rough on each other, and although their fins were ragged when I received them, even treating the water with salt is not helping them heal. In fact, they're just getting worse. Do I need more dithers for them? Obviously, I can't add anything until I get rid of the pacus (I might have a pond lined up for them when it gets a little warmer, but dang, that's a ways off yet) but is that likely it? They seem to enjoy each other's company, and I would prefer not to seperate them (If only I had the tank space). They aren't really super violet with each other, more like it's a little bit of damage at a time that amounts to a lot of ugly finnage, and because they keep at it, it doesn't have time to heal. Anyway, I have pics of the devils so you can see what I mean. Any opinions on healing them up? Can I reasonably add any other fish to an 84gal (after the pacus are gone of course) as dithers? Silver dollars maybe? Both male and female are adults at about 10-12".
Oh, and while I'm here... anyone want some free pacus? Local pickup only.
