Questions about our PACU's

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M

mish_1125

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 24, 2008
10
0
0
West Virginia
My husband bought 2 red bellied pauc's from wal-mart about 6 months ago...the person said they will eat just about anything and my hubby not really knowing anything about them didnt know any different... which was ignorance on his part... they were really small and have now grown to be HUGE!! Right now we have them in a 55 gallon tank along with 2 oscars... 2 parrot fish ( i think that is what they are called ) 1 kissing fish... 2 alge eaters and 5 gold fish... we know we need a bbigger tank and that is in the works right now!! But the question i have is this... a week ago the pacus were fine... swimming and splashing water as they did when they swam back and forth fast in the tank (seems like they were chasing each other! ) but then about 3 days ago 1 of them started swimming upside down and now for a day now the other one is doing that too... they ARE alive... they are breathing and still swimming around a bit... but now they are getting some kind of a flimy residue all over them and it looks like their eyes are getting foggy... and one of them is loosing some of its black on its tail...they are the only fish that are acting this way... so i was wondering if anyone knows what is wrong or going on with them when they are doing this... are they dying? any advice or tips that anyone can give me to tell my hubby what to do would be great... im not the big fish lover my hubby is but we have called pet stores and exotic fish places and they arent telling us anything... so i am asking all of you... joined and registered here just so i can find some help / answers... i added 2 pics of them that i took about 1 week ago and the 1 of it swimming upside down just now... like i said any advice or tips you can give would be GREAT!!!

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we cahnge the tank every 2 weeks and change / clean the filters every couple of days... what do you mean by perameters? im sorry im new to the fish world... but the tank is 55 gallons and its about 4feet length wise and 1 - 1 1/2 feet wide...

like i said i know they need a bigger tank and that is in the works i just hope they arent gonna die before it gets here!!
 
I'd do a 40-50% water change right now. Water in the last picture looks really dirty. Do you do regular water changes? Your right though a bigger tank is a priority especially with all those messy fish.
 
The tank is way overstocked. From your desc and the pics of the Pacu, I think they are suffering because of bad water quality. I think they will die, they look and sound in bad shape. When you do a water change use a siphoning hose and clean it that way. Also, when you clean/change filters you have to do that properly too. Never change the biological media in it, you opnly gently clean it in aquarium water if there happens to be any gunky build up. With the amount of fish you got, you need a very large aquarium.
 
can i buy aquarium salt at any pet store? and everyone here knows so much about pacus so any feeding advice or tips... ANYTHING would be great... my hubby loves these fish and im trying to find out on my own what i can do to bring these guys back and have them live a long time!!
 
I would also suggest not cleaning the filter so often there are benifical bacteria in your filter and cleaning it to much can actually be harmful
 
Do a water change and test the water. Looks and sounds like an ammonia problem. If the ammonia is high do not increase the temp.
 
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