sunken belly

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that's what I thought - but it ONLY happens during and after water changes and lasts a few days then goes away until next water change.......gotta be PH or temperature shock, right?

R Richard203 - do you hold your hand under the tap water while you are filling the buckets to make sure it's as close to your tank's temperature as possible?

ya I put my hand on the water when filling the bucket and I have the digital display of the temperature in my tank so i know if it went up or down or stay the same when pouring the water. i'll let u guys know this weekend when i change my water and add the buffer powder to see if it still do the same thing
 
ya I put my hand on the water when filling the bucket and I have the digital display of the temperature in my tank so i know if it went up or down or stay the same when pouring the water. i'll let u guys know this weekend when i change my water and add the buffer powder to see if it still do the same thing
do you dump the buckets all at once or tilt it slightly and let the water slowly flow/trickle into the tank?
 
that's what I thought - but it ONLY happens during and after water changes and lasts a few days then goes away until next water change.......gotta be PH or temperature shock, right

Sound possible but can't rule out some other irritant that is being off gassed after a period of time
 
That pH is horrific, you need to drop it gradually or you will shock the fish. That's heading towards pure ammonia that your adding, is it well water?
Either way you need to do something about both the tank and your tap water, can your harvest rain water, not ideal and you will need to test it every time you use it but cheaper than r.o....
Do you have any friends nearby with better water they would supply?
Add a load of driftwood and almond leaves this will help bring it down.
 
That pH is horrific, you need to drop it gradually or you will shock the fish. That's heading towards pure ammonia that your adding, is it well water?
Either way you need to do something about both the tank and your tap water, can your harvest rain water, not ideal and you will need to test it every time you use it but cheaper than r.o....
Do you have any friends nearby with better water they would supply?
Add a load of driftwood and almond leaves this will help bring it down.

my tank used to be at near 6.0 and its not having any aerobatic bacterica to grow cause of the ph and test show I have ammonia so my lfs told me to add some crushed coral. I live in the city so no well water.
 
I agree with the guys here, ph shock seems to be the most obvious thing that might have caused this. However as wailua boy said there can be a number of other possibilities. You said your jar is 5", at this size aros are super sensitive. I'd stop feeding feeders so you can rule that out. Hopefully it didn't already contract a parasite, though that's what it seems if the fish is eating and the stomach stays sunken and he hasn't grown. As for the back snapping back and forth in and out of place, only thing I could think of would be him ramming into something, maybe when he goes into shock. I have seen fish dislocate their jaws and they have to snap it back in place all the time, not sure how long they survived, the spine is a more serious bone however, I wouldn't see one doing something like that but I guess anything can be possible.
 
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my tank used to be at near 6.0 and its not having any aerobatic bacterica to grow cause of the ph and test show I have ammonia so my lfs told me to add some crushed coral. I live in the city so no well water.
crushed coral RAISES the PH.....this is recommended for people lower PH that want to keep African Rift Lake species.......crushed coral and seashells is your worst enemy right now
 
RO, buffering soil, almond leaves; or go with chemicals that reduce the pH, but this is quite risky; stability is key.

RO isn't a problem if you can set up your own unit, it then becomes quite cheap.
 
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