stingray floating on top of water?!

[johno27]

It may just be the initial cycle from the added bio load then

Now that you know what the problem is you are on the right track. Just continue to feed lightly and monitor your ammonia and nitrite levels it seems like the BB are catching up to your bio load already

Try not to take anything personally on here I know some people can come off kind of rough but almost all of them have good intentions and just want to help.

Please do keep us updated I look forward to your report of 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites and good luck

 

[JeremyXXXX]

oh its fine i take everything with a grain of salt i know everybody just wants to help, i really appreciate it. you guys have all went above and beyond.

i did months of reading And planning but i am still a novice in this hobby so any input i can get from experinced members goes a long way.

7am time to go to petsmart

 

[JeremyXXXX]

Just threw in 2 4" airstones and I noticed their breathing has slowed already withing 15-20 minutes. Gills are not gasping for air and not opening all the way like before struggling. Leaving them on low while I go to classes all day

 

[Just Toby]

When a tank goes from cycle with little bio load to a Ray which produces massive amounts of ammonia / bioload it would be expected to do what it has done to the water...dont worry, we have all been through it and its an unfortunate part of learning the hobby....many people never ask for help and do not get past this stage.

As johno27 said you need to be testing daily and be prepared for decent water changes almost daily of the rays seem off - 25% should do it and use dechlorinator all the time.

I would not use ammo lock too often as you need the bacteria to have something to work with but it was the right thing to do to get you past the emergency.

Be aware that rays do not tolerate the cycle well and some dammage may have already been done, do not give up.

Whilst we are on the critical lessons you may not know that you should never clean a filter with tap water...only ever use tank water no matter how dirty they seem.

Once this time has passed you need to test the water every few weeks for Nitrate to keep an eye on how your water change regime settles.

Good Luck

 

[bcfd144]

by the sounds of it, just powerhead for water flow, no bubbles.

bcfd, i'm just wondering if he didn't notice the lvls changing because of doing the water changes and possibly not checking with test kits until he noticed the struggling rays.

My thought to..


I just read some of the posts from over night and it looks like he is using the sticks to test the water. Id look for a better test kit when you can. The ones that are sticks are not good test kits.
If you are color blind, a digital tester would be great, but they can cost some money, so do what you can. Check ebay for them to see if you an save money. There are test kits out there that are around 30 bucks. It has a few glass tubes you fill with your tank water and test with chemicals. They work alot better than the strips, but then again, being color blind hurts this due to its colors you are looking at and matching on a chart.

I think the main problem, besides lack of air was your tank was not cycled all the way. So it went thru another cycle.
Like everyone said, check the water daily for the next few weeks, do 25% water changes when needed during this time. Then once your system seems to be staying regular, test everyother day is not at least once a week for the next two weeks after the first two weeks.
I know its alot of testing over the next month, but if your tank still is not done cycling, it might do it again and better so see this comming than it just happen.

In time, your tank will settle down. Like one of the guys said, some damage to the rays may already be done, but hope they pull thru...
You retic is going up and down the divider.. That I would not be to concerned about rt now. If he is active, then he might be doing better. My rays love to swim up and down the walls of my tank. I have no idea why, but several of the guys on here, their rays do the same thing. Its normal, well I say its normal for my ray. Just keep an eye on your rays and you will learn over time whats normal and whats not.

Keep us posted. We are all here to help with advice.

 

[DavidW]

Each time you use salt you shock the biofiltration and effectively have to restart the cycle.
The more salt you use the bigger the shock.
This is one of the biggest problems with using salt.
When you use it as a 'med' this is a trade off that has to be considered.
When you use it constantly as a water conditioner ( or whatever the thinking is) you constantly impede the growth of good bacteria in your filter and the higher the salinity the less efficient the surviving bacteria become.....and Presto!! ammonia spike and damaged fish.
Conclusion: Don't use salt unless you have a medical need, USMC gave a good example of a medical use


It gets frustrating sometimes to see the amount of bad information and urban myths perpetuated on the web without challenge and many people are trying to keep rays as their first fish, when IMO they should really be kept by experienced fishkeepers and are NOT an animal to learn about water chemistry with ( it gets very expensive and very disheartening that way)
If you have a problem and don;t know what the correct thing to do is , then at least don;t do the wrong thing for a panicky want of 'doing something'.
IDBT

If you really feel an urgent need to do something then change water change water change water. Use aged water. You can NOT change too much water when the water is aged.

 

[JeremyXXXX]

Thanks guys. Now that I am on a computer at school not typing on my damn itouch it is much easier haha. Sorry again for my poor spelling and all the typos.

Anyway, got the airstones going now while I'm at school. When I get home I am going to do a 25% water change and feed them about half of what I normally feed. I want them to eat and stay active but they seem to have upset stomachs like I said and they are just having bad uhhh bowel movments well say lol.


I am gonna search Amazon for cheap digital readers because like I said, being colorblind and reading those little strips is a pain in the ass to say the least. I got a great deal on 2 powerheads off Amazong lets hope I can get a good pH and ammonia reader as well. My alkalinity was rather high, any ideas?

 

[JeremyXXXX]

I used the ammo lock as an emergency but I would not use it on the regular because like you said, I heard it kills the benificial baterica in the tank. Is this true?

 

[JeremyXXXX]

I am looking at digital readers but they have a different one for every parameter....
is there like a master monitor I can buy that reads multiple parameters? I'de rather drop like $400 on one than $100 on each and have 4 damn monitors.

 

[JeremyXXXX]

I was always a hystrix that this movement on the surface, but never showed any harm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcCE0KK2bX4

this is exactly what my retic is doing! she is just gliding in the current of my output from the FX5.
it looks cool and she moves really peacefully just worried if it should be a concern or not she just started doing it.