tl;dr - My SDs are flashing but not showing any other signs of ick or illness. What should I do?
I got the SDs (Myleus schomburgkii, black belt SDs) in early October last year, and they'd been living in a 40 breeder with a tiger severum since then with no problems whatsoever. They're about 3" long now. A week ago, I added 3 bichirs from my LFS to the tank. I know this was dumb and risky, but I didn't have a quarantine tank ready, I've never had a problem with fish from this LFS, and they said they'd been quarantined.
I moved the SDs and severum into my 75g on Wednesday after the tank finished cycling. I got the 75g (including a 30g sump and used Flourite substrate) used from craigslist. All new filter media in the sump with the exception of some media that I pulled out of the 40b to start the cycle, but I'm using the old substrate. Everything was dry for about 2 months (between the seller breaking it down and me setting it back up).
Oh, I also added a few plants from my 10g (realizing that the SDs will probably eat them). Some shrimp in the 10g died off a little over a month ago, but the tank has been stable ever since.
Yesterday I noticed the SDs flashing. They're nipping at each other (reestablishing their hierarchy I guess, they did this when I initially got them). No signs of ick or any other illness, no stringy white poop. Healthy appetites. The severum is acting normal, no flashing. For what it's worth, the bichirs (who stayed behind in the 40b) seem fine.
Tank parameters:
temperature: ~81 F
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 5 ppm or less (yes, I shook the bottles hard before testing)
ph: ~8.0 (I know this is on the high side, but I've never seen them flashing before)
Action taken so far:
Feeding NLS Hex Shield instead of their usual food. Also going to remove the piece of driftwood they like flashing against since it looks like it's scraping them up.
Any ideas on what other steps I can take at this point? Also, sorry for the novel
.
I got the SDs (Myleus schomburgkii, black belt SDs) in early October last year, and they'd been living in a 40 breeder with a tiger severum since then with no problems whatsoever. They're about 3" long now. A week ago, I added 3 bichirs from my LFS to the tank. I know this was dumb and risky, but I didn't have a quarantine tank ready, I've never had a problem with fish from this LFS, and they said they'd been quarantined.
I moved the SDs and severum into my 75g on Wednesday after the tank finished cycling. I got the 75g (including a 30g sump and used Flourite substrate) used from craigslist. All new filter media in the sump with the exception of some media that I pulled out of the 40b to start the cycle, but I'm using the old substrate. Everything was dry for about 2 months (between the seller breaking it down and me setting it back up).
Oh, I also added a few plants from my 10g (realizing that the SDs will probably eat them). Some shrimp in the 10g died off a little over a month ago, but the tank has been stable ever since.
Yesterday I noticed the SDs flashing. They're nipping at each other (reestablishing their hierarchy I guess, they did this when I initially got them). No signs of ick or any other illness, no stringy white poop. Healthy appetites. The severum is acting normal, no flashing. For what it's worth, the bichirs (who stayed behind in the 40b) seem fine.
Tank parameters:
temperature: ~81 F
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 5 ppm or less (yes, I shook the bottles hard before testing)
ph: ~8.0 (I know this is on the high side, but I've never seen them flashing before)
Action taken so far:
Feeding NLS Hex Shield instead of their usual food. Also going to remove the piece of driftwood they like flashing against since it looks like it's scraping them up.
Any ideas on what other steps I can take at this point? Also, sorry for the novel
.
