Weird Syno Behavior

[dr exum]

How long had the syno been in this new setup? If only recent I would still suspect the change from soft acid to hard alkaline water, especially if not acclimatized over a day or more.

I put her in Thursday, I acclimated in a bucket over an hour or so, so it was 36 hours after entry.

thanks everyone!

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I'd ditch the strips and buy liquid KH and GH tests from API. Plus a TDS meter too.

As Dave says, a large and abrupt change in water composition is stressful to fish. The effect varies from dead in minutes to uncomfortable for a long time / rest of life, how ever long it might be.

If we are not talking extremes, chances are sooner or later the fish will adapt.

 

[RD.]

If it's simply a case of water parameters, as far as osmoregulatory stress caused from a shift in TDS soft to hard is generally much easier on the fish. Lesson learned though ….

 

[dr exum]

I'd ditch the strips and buy liquid KH and GH tests from API. Plus a TDS meter too.

As Dave says, a large and abrupt change in water composition is stressful to fish. The effect varies from dead in minutes to uncomfortable for a long time / rest of life, how ever long it might be.

If we are not talking extremes, chances are sooner or later the fish will adapt.

Good tip on the liquid, this is my first higher ph/kh tank.

2 of the small synos and one Bristlenose came from similar water conditions, seem to be ok, all fish are different though...

if it’s still doing this circle lap bottom to top taking air upside down from the surface I’ll most likely put it back in the tank came from as it’s slightly painful to watch,

I would hate to break up a potential love match with the other mature syno in there as another member speculated.

I have a video, not straight forward on posting it...

thanks all!

 

[RD.]

S. lucipinnis aka petricola are indigenous to hard water (Lake Tanganyika) so over the long haul it would probably be in the best interest of the fish to acclimatize to its current tank parameters.

 

[dr exum]

S. lucipinnis aka petricola are indigenous to hard water (Lake Tanganyika) so over the long haul it would probably be in the best interest of the fish to acclimatize to its current tank parameters.

Stay the course then? Maybe a good size water change? I do weekly 30%-50%

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Fishman Dave]

Most modern petricola (or types sold as this) are tank bred for a number of generations now so water type gets less specific, more a case of not moving from one extreme to another, but this bit goes for all fish and is easy to forget when generally all water looks the same. Soft acid to hard alkaline is the easiest move, especially for a fish which should prefer those conditions, but still not a given. A move back could do more harm than good after this amount of time (straight away, yes, but not now). However, I would probably either put him in a quarantine with a 50/50 mix of both water or add 10% of his old tank water when doing a 30% change. This second option I would only do if I didn't have a quarantine, as you bring a small risk to all the other tank mates.
This is just my advice from 40 yrs of getting it right and wrong and others may disagree.
If you can only get hold of one liquid test kit the big thing is to check ph (mainly) but not using strips as they are not accurate enough, and a swing of around 1 will require an hour slowly dripping water into a quarter filled bucket until it's full. Anything more than a swing of 1( especially from/to opposite sides of 7 will take a day (longer is better) so will need an extra tank. The strips are fine to give you a rough guide if anything is extreme and as such are useful if you have lots of tanks, but if you only have a couple or want to move fish from one to another it is worth doing liquid test kit test to check both water is similar.

 

[RD.]

Personally I would leave that cat where it is, whatever damage has been done from osmotic shock, is already done. Whether it is domestic bred, or wild caught, makes no difference at this point. I'm an old fart too, and have seen thousands of imports of fish go from soft acidic water of the Amazon to tap water that is hard water with high pH values, with zero acclimation period, and zero issues. If you want to do something to help alleviate some of the osmotic shock (if this is still ongoing?) add a small pinch of salt to the tank water.

I would also lower the temp in this tank to 78F, 82 is a bit on the high side.

 

[dr exum]

Personally I would leave that cat where it is, whatever damage has been done from osmotic shock, is already done. Whether it is domestic bred, or wild caught, makes no difference at this point. I'm an old fart too, and have seen thousands of imports of fish go from soft acidic water of the Amazon to tap water that is hard water with high pH values, with zero acclimation period, and zero issues. If you want to do something to help alleviate some of the osmotic shock (if this is still ongoing?) add a small pinch of salt to the tank water.

I would also lower the temp in this tank to 78F, 82 is a bit on the high side.

I’ll grab some liquid tests ,

Ph was 7.6 via liquid test.

I don’t have liquid for kh or water hardness tests.

I’ll lower temp, and I added little salt.

 

[dr exum]

Update :

Seems syno is back to “normal” fish behavior

Thanks all for the input!