water quality color changes.

[mfgl]

So, Ive been doing more water changes and actually testing my water and adjusting things a bit. I never really cycled my tanks before, I rarely did weekly water changes. But i started a few weeks ago. My fishes colors have really changed drastically. He is eating a little better, appetite still not quite what i would expect but have a look... Do I have a blue/purple diamond rhom?

This is what he looked like around 3 weeks ago....

 

[Diogenes]

When you say, "adjusting things a bit" do you mean that you are using chemicals to change the parameters of the water? ph down/up or similar products?

You should do at least a 25% water change weekly. Also what size tank, and what are you feeidng him?

 

[frontosablkrhom]

looks like a young blue diamond rhom to me.. take good care of her thats a really nice rhom

 

[mfgl]

he grew up in the same 55 gallon that 5-6 african cichlids lived in for a few years and before that two 12 inch oscars lived in for 4 years. In that 6-7 years i would just clean the gravel like 5 gallons maybe every month or two. never tested ph, or anything fish were always really healthy and vibrant. Doing remodeling in that room now, so i set up a 10 gallon tank with half water from the old tank and half tap water with stress coat and 3 hours later plopped him in it. I took the water in to petco to have it tested they said everything was perfect except ph was only 6.4, I brought it up to 7. and have been changing out 3 gallons per week for past 3 weeks. raised the temp from 76 to 79. Feeding now nightcrawlers, fish fillets, or shrimp. He will either eat 1 nightcrawler whole. If i put shrimp in I put 1/3 of a decent sized shrimp and he will take a few bites out of it , then a few bites and so on, takes overnight to eat that small piece of shrimp, same with fish fillets. I seen piranha with a belly bulge before, he will never eat even close to that much.

 

[Diogenes]

How did you bring it up to 7 and why?

The amazon is made of soft acidic water. The blackwater estuaries where stuff like discus live have a ph as low 4.0! To give you an idea of how low that is, hydrochloric acid (stomach acid HCl) is ph 2.0. So clearly you can see that having a low ph is a good thing with amazonian species. The stuff most people use to adjust ph, the chemicals, are more dangerous for your fish than a low ph. 6.4 is pretty much ideal for a rhom I think. Ph above 7 (alkaline) can cause higher concentrations of ammonium (NH4 ionized) convert into the more toxic ammonia (NH3). In a ten gallon tank this is bad news for a rhom.

here's a link that explains the chemistry:
http://www.thekrib.com/Chemistry/ammonia-toxicity.html

If you took your water sample to have it tested before the cycle began, it probably was showing perfect. The cycle takes approximately 30 days and involves at least two different species of bacteria. At first the H2O is perfect, then ammonia levels slowly start to increase, then they peak and the first species of bacteria colonizes your tank and starts to convert NH4 (and NH3) into nitrIte (NO2). Gradually NH4 levels decrease, and NO2 levels increase. When NO2 levels peak, a second species of bacteria colonize your tank, and convert NO2 to nitrAte (NO3). When this happens you tank has cycled. It takes a while.

NO2 and NH4(3) are literally toxic waste. NO3 is also toxic, but fish can tolerate amounts up to 25ppm, although if you want better growth you should keep it lower by doing heavy water changes. Also fish secrete growth inhibiting hormones which are responsible for the whole myth of fish growing to the size of their container. They can only be removed by water changes, so not doing heavy water changes, and not having enough gallonage to sufficiently dissolve all these wastes means the fish is being poisoned slowly and continuously. Not only does your fish swim around in these chemicals, he has to breath them. In a ten gallon tank I would imagine a predatory fish like a rhom maxes out the NO3 every 24 hours or so AFTER the cycle has been completed. During the cycle you could seriously lose a fish to NH4 or NO3 poisoning in a small tank like that. Even a hardy piranha like a rhom. I'd be doing at least 50% partial water changes (PWC) daily. Don't worry about some people that say not to change water during the cycle. It's nonsense. Chemical filtration takes place on the bio-wheel, filter media, and gravel. There's very little nitrifying bacteria in the water. If you could do a 100% change daily your fish would love it. That is essentially what they have in the amazon.

 

[jp80911]

it's a nice rhom indeed, but can't really tell what it will turn out to be. what size is it? if it's indeed a diamond the sparkly scales will be a bit bigger. mine has some red anal fins, but yours appears to be transparent. maybe because still small but even the 4" one I had before has some red on the anal fin. maybe we'll know as it get bigger.
doing more water change is good but pH at 6.4 actually is fine for piranha, you don't need to adjust it back to 7. the water in amazon is a bit on the acidic side anyway. just need to keep the pH to be very stable, that's the most important thing.

 

[mfgl]

he is almost 6 inches now. Ill let the ph go back down then. I just googled proper ph for piranha and went with the first thing since i had access to a test kit and up/down that day. It probably did go back down when I added the tanic acid. The tank had been up and running about 6 weeks now when i had the water tested. only in the last three have i been doing 30% water changes. For his first two years in the 55 gallon I barely ever did any. Usually just 1 5 gallon bucket worth to vacuum out the gravel. I rubbed the old filter from the 55 on the new filter for the ten when i started I dont know if that helped any. Ive never paid much attention to maintenance since my fish have always been so healthy (seamingly) I tend to underfeed a bit as I always did when i kept reptiles. but Im kinda wanting this guy to grow a little faster before i put him back in his 55. Is there any harm in not using gravel or any substrate in a tank? I was thinking when i set it back up to leave the bottom empty for easier cleaning and better filter efficiency?

 

[Diogenes]

he is almost 6 inches now. Ill let the ph go back down then. I just googled proper ph for piranha and went with the first thing since i had access to a test kit and up/down that day. It probably did go back down when I added the tanic acid. The tank had been up and running about 6 weeks now when i had the water tested. only in the last three have i been doing 30% water changes. For his first two years in the 55 gallon I barely ever did any. Usually just 1 5 gallon bucket worth to vacuum out the gravel. I rubbed the old filter from the 55 on the new filter for the ten when i started I dont know if that helped any. Ive never paid much attention to maintenance since my fish have always been so healthy (seamingly) I tend to underfeed a bit as I always did when i kept reptiles. but Im kinda wanting this guy to grow a little faster before i put him back in his 55. Is there any harm in not using gravel or any substrate in a tank? I was thinking when i set it back up to leave the bottom empty for easier cleaning and better filter efficiency?

cool well, if its been 6 weeks then your probably cool. If I wanted him to grow I'd put him back in the 55g. He'll grow bigger in there.

 

[mfgl]

soon as that room is remodeled the 55 will be set back up. If the economy wasnt so ****ty id get a 75 or a 90 and put him in but im watching my pennies. I miss having a community tank I think I want to do one with a bunch of barbs in it next. I like the little green barb, would be cool to have like 15 of them, and some nice catfish.

 

[Diogenes]

soon as that room is remodeled the 55 will be set back up. If the economy wasnt so ****ty id get a 75 or a 90 and put him in but im watching my pennies. I miss having a community tank I think I want to do one with a bunch of barbs in it next. I like the little green barb, would be cool to have like 15 of them, and some nice catfish.

I hear you man. Just having one serra can make you wish you had a community tank with a bunch of different fish swimming around and having babies. Buyer's remorse. I have bouts of it all the time.