Dempseys are damn near bullet proof mine survived all of my newbie mistakes and a bout of depression where I did not take care of the tank right for a couple months. Mine lived 9+ years. Hopefully this one will do the same. They are awesome fish.
Tank and fish rescue
- Thread starter Dustin0413
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Dempseys are damn near bullet proof mine survived all of my newbie mistakes and a bout of depression where I did not take care of the tank right for a couple months. Mine lived 9+ years. Hopefully this one will do the same. They are awesome fish.
In the wild, jack dempseys live in some pretty murky conditions, maybe that had something to do with it. I'm not sure about convicts. The JAck had a crooked spine and sunken in eyes. It took only a few days in his new home for spine to straighten and look normal again
Congrats on a job well done.
Just a thought; I was thinking the following while I was reading your post.
If I was in your situation I would watch for Nitrate poisoning (damage already done). If he didn't do a water change for that long you can be sure that the Nitrates were sky high. While high Nitrates might not kill a Jack or convict out right it weakens the immune system leaving the fish susceptible to disease. The move obviously causing some stress, and the quick change from high Nitrate in your buddies poor care to low Nitrates in your good care might further weaken the immune system. Only thing you can do is keep the water supper clean and be handy with meds if it happens.
Good luck and great Job!
Just a thought; I was thinking the following while I was reading your post.
If I was in your situation I would watch for Nitrate poisoning (damage already done). If he didn't do a water change for that long you can be sure that the Nitrates were sky high. While high Nitrates might not kill a Jack or convict out right it weakens the immune system leaving the fish susceptible to disease. The move obviously causing some stress, and the quick change from high Nitrate in your buddies poor care to low Nitrates in your good care might further weaken the immune system. Only thing you can do is keep the water supper clean and be handy with meds if it happens.
Good luck and great Job!
Good thought, when I kept them in the storage tub for 10 hrs while tank setup was going on I added their "poop" water to it (about 30% poop water). I completely replaced the substrate but kept some old substrate and re-used most of of the rocks/deco and bio media etc. even on day two I had a nitrate reading of 10-20 ppm, and it slowly rose to 50ppm until I I increased water changes from 20 to about 35 or 40%. The nitrites started about the fourth day and have been way to high (2-5ppm) for the last few days even with daily water changes. I think tonight I may do a 50% water change with some PRime treatment and wait 24 hrs to test again. What do you guys think?
It sounds like you are doing the right things.
The "30% poop water" you added I assume is the water from the old tank. While im sure that water had lots of good bacteria in it, it may have also had a lot of bad stuff (for lack of a better word). I suspect this is the reason your Nitrate is rising.
You have the right idea about using the filtration from the old tank to more quickly cycle the tank. I would keep a constant eye on the ammonia and nitrite and do water changes as often as needed to keep the Nitrate down. If your nitrates are going up its a safe bet that the bacteria in the tank is doing its job and managing the load.
If the ammonia or nitrite start climbing for some reason go to the LFS to quickly grab a bacteria starter.
As far as the amount of water during the change 50% vrs 20 or 25%. I do both for different reasons. 50% if the tank is over stocked but established. A tank in your situation where I wasnt sure of the cycle and the bio load isn't that high, I might do a 25% and check it in 12 hours. do another 25% then if need be and so on.... 50% isnt bad. just keep an eye on it
Again congrats on doing a good thing for those fish, Keep it up and enjoy
The "30% poop water" you added I assume is the water from the old tank. While im sure that water had lots of good bacteria in it, it may have also had a lot of bad stuff (for lack of a better word). I suspect this is the reason your Nitrate is rising.
You have the right idea about using the filtration from the old tank to more quickly cycle the tank. I would keep a constant eye on the ammonia and nitrite and do water changes as often as needed to keep the Nitrate down. If your nitrates are going up its a safe bet that the bacteria in the tank is doing its job and managing the load.
If the ammonia or nitrite start climbing for some reason go to the LFS to quickly grab a bacteria starter.
As far as the amount of water during the change 50% vrs 20 or 25%. I do both for different reasons. 50% if the tank is over stocked but established. A tank in your situation where I wasnt sure of the cycle and the bio load isn't that high, I might do a 25% and check it in 12 hours. do another 25% then if need be and so on.... 50% isnt bad. just keep an eye on it
Again congrats on doing a good thing for those fish, Keep it up and enjoy
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The "poop water" didn't actually get added to the new tank. That was just to acclimate them to cleaner water in the storage tub. Day four I found convict eggs stuck to the wall of a cave! Lol I got rid of them asap. I've had convicts take over before, not fun at all.
So do you think using prime during water changes here and there to temporarily detoxify the high nitrite a good idea?
So do you think using prime during water changes here and there to temporarily detoxify the high nitrite a good idea?
