piranha troble

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The Real 118

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 30, 2009
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Wisconsin
ok i just cleaned my gravle and did a 50 persent water change the water is a little cloudy but 80 degres and safe but they keep swimming up to get air what is wrong?(i do have air lines in the tank)
 
They could either be bothered by the nitrates or ammonia level, but maybe they'll get used to the clean water soon.

Whats your readings?
 
did you use tap water straight up without treating for chlorine? did you also replace and cleaned filter media? did you wash the filter media in the tank water you took out during water change or under tap water? The cloudiness is most likely from ammonia spike which can be caused by lost of good bacterias which is the result of what I have pointed out.
if your piranhas swim up to the surface for air, the oxygen level could be very low so adding an air stone or great more surface movement should help out to bring more oxygen into the water. or the fish could be just stressed out a lot.
try to do smaller amount of water change at a time so you don't crash your tank's bio filtration. if you want to have that much water changed in a week, break it down to two 25% change instead of doing 50% in one shot.
 
ok i treated the water. didnt change media. the cloudiness is cuz i took the filter pad and mover it through the water to get live bac back in to the water they stoped going up so they are ok now i think they where just stressed from the change thanks guys. and all my reading r ok
 
I've also heard that its a sign that there's a lack of oxygen in the water.
 
ok i will add another airstone
 
The Real 118;3314912; said:
ok i treated the water. didnt change media. the cloudiness is cuz i took the filter pad and mover it through the water to get live bac back in to the water they stoped going up so they are ok now i think they where just stressed from the change thanks guys. and all my reading r ok

you do not need to move the filter pad through the water because those bacteria do not live free floating in moving water. they need a surface to stick on, that's why bio filter media has very large surface area in such tinny sizes.
just add the treated water into your tank and it'll be fine. you do not need to take out the old filter media (regardless it's bio or mechanical), I don't think that'll help at all.

what size tank you have and what kind of filter(s) do you use?
 
could be less oxygen.
a powerhead if placed on the water level helps to increase the surface water movement and increase aeration.
 
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