Pale Pbass

[mjuniorc]

in regaurds to your pbass being pale.... what color substrate do you have in the new tank, darker da better... theyll have better colors........ also temp should be up to 86-89F....

jest reading what i said... i want to send my special thanks to DM & TONGUE for helping me with substrate when it comes to pbass... and now i am able to help and share it with others thanx... again...

was suppose to be said, in this earlier reply....

 

[dzb912]

i had one that lost its stripes not to long ago
its got a limeish green color to it
almost blueish
it looked realy nice but it wouldnt eat anything
it just sat theyre
it was realy stressed so after about 3 days it died

 

[bobVillanueva]

hey guys... i've done almost erverything ya'll suggested... save for the substrate... Ph and temp is up.. the filter media just got changed and 80% w/c for the new year... i do a 30% every other day. and 50% on weekends... the bio waste these guys produce is enormous to say the least...@_@ i might be adding a new over head filter...=/ hope that he gets his color back... just a note, hes not that pale anymore... but still... no stripes...=/

 

[Nick660]

Depends on what your tap water pH is?
If there's a big difference then you've probably got pH crash problems due to high bioload, high nitrate, inadequate water changes.
If so, increase your water changes until it evens out and stabilizes. Also check your filters aren't full of waste sludge.

well i can agree with you and disagree also.... but as far as tap water... it always comes out hard ranging from 7-8 hardness.... thats in cali as far as i know??

I assumed Bob was in the Phillipines from what his profile says?

boiload and nitrate... high bioload is okay in some occasions & nitrate you cant do nothin about that cuz fish do eat and sh**... as far as BOBS tank & water change his tank,, is well kept fish look really healthy and happy

Sorry, I was trying to be helpful, not suggesting negelect, just that pH crashes can stress fish and can easily happen very quickly with large bioload and low KH. Bob said his pH was 5.6 and asked if that was good? If it always is and has been 5.6 then no worries, if it's way different to usual then this may cause stress.

hey guys... i've done almost erverything ya'll suggested... save for the substrate... Ph and temp is up.. the filter media just got changed and 80% w/c for the new year... i do a 30% every other day. and 50% on weekends... the bio waste these guys produce is enormous to say the least...@_@ i might be adding a new over head filter...=/ hope that he gets his color back... just a note, hes not that pale anymore... but still... no stripes...=/

So, was it a pH crash then?
I have a similar problem with a high bioload tank and low tap water KH. I do similar water changes to you .... 35% every other day ..... and I still have to add sodium bicarbonate to keep the pH stable

Have a good New Year

 

[bobVillanueva]

yeap i'm from the phils haha. nyway, might be.... we'll see if hes colors improve tom.. happy new year!

 

[bOOsteN aUdI]

i found your problem.. the lack of color i wold say is from all the water changes...30% everyother gives your tank no consistancy in ph, water quality ect... get better filteration.. theres is no such thing as an over filtered tank... its under-filtered that is the problem. if you still need to do the water changes after a stronger filter then just change your water 2 times a week. from monday to sunday..... when i do water changes the fish look washed out... what i think it is ... is that your fish never get to settle back down. look into a wet/dry it is prob one of the cheapest and its good.. you can also add chemical filtertion media and of course biological

 

[mjuniorc]

I assumed Bob was in the Phillipines from what his profile says? Have a good New Year

phillipines... im very sure theirs is hard water out there.......
BUT not here to argue, just tryin to help out...lol

happy new years to you 2!!

 

[Nick660]

i found your problem.. the lack of color i wold say is from all the water changes...30% everyother gives your tank no consistancy in ph, water quality ect... get better filteration.. theres is no such thing as an over filtered tank... its under-filtered that is the problem. if you still need to do the water changes after a stronger filter then just change your water 2 times a week. from monday to sunday..... when i do water changes the fish look washed out... what i think it is ... is that your fish never get to settle back down. look into a wet/dry it is prob one of the cheapest and its good.. you can also add chemical filtertion media and of course biological

I have to disagree. More regular water changes should in theory keep a more stable pH providing the tap water pH is pretty stable. In a heavily stocked and heavily filtered tank there will naturally be a large amount of nitrate being produced, also there will be a lot of carbonate hardness consumed in the process, which if not replaced, will allow the pH to become unstable and the water to acidify. Frequent water changes will control this.
In your case, it's possible that the fish look washed out after water changes because of a relatively large pH swing due to the water having time to acidify significantly between changes? Not saying that's definately the case, just a possibility in a tank with a large bioload.

 

[bOOsteN aUdI]

hard water is no good for cichla..... and you want your water to be more acidic.. that is why people soak peat in a pail and add the extract to the water that they are going to be adding back into the tank during water changes. others use ro systems... ..some maybe even use cattappa leaves. water softener pads and a few other devises use salt as a ion exchange in order to soften water which are no good because soft water should contain no salts... soft water fish hate salt in there water... tap water contain minerals... such as mg and ca along with others that make your water non acidic and more alkaline... cichla dont like these minerals because technically they make your water hard and they are not found in there natural enviorment. also ph and water softness play a large role in keeping healthy fish. if a certain fish requires a certain kind of water quality the expert thing to do is to match it and only keep fish can tolerate the same water quality ... i can go on and on..there are a few key factors to take into consideration when dealing with water softness and ph. yes water changes are good if you keep your water in a barrel and match you ph, water softness and temp before water changes. consistancy is very important factor.

yes i would say from reading online info that in the philipines they have hard water.. if your doing waterchanges and you are adding hard water to your tank and your ph is 5.6 then i would say it sounds like there is alot of organic waist breakdown in the tank... there is so many factors that makes up good water quality and this is the most important factors in keeping fish happy and healthy in this hobby

 

[Nick660]

I agree that cichla would no doubt benefit from soft water with a low pH and low TDS. And of course overfiltration is desirable, although IMO would not change things much if the ammonia and nitrite levels are already kept at zero with the current level of filtration being provided.

My point was that limiting water changes could lead to wider pH swings if the parameters of the water that is added are way different from those in the tank. Something that could occur if tank pH changes over time to become more acidic where the supply water is relatively hard. Obviously if one goes to the trouble of treating and adjusting the water to match, prior to adding it to the tank this would not be an issue. I don't know if that's the case here.

Yep, as they say, it's certainly as much, if not more about keeping water as keeping fish..........and to think I wasn't much interested in chemistry at school, now I find out it was important after all