Wolf Fish Ammo is to high

[Enemyarms]

God, someone help me with this... Ive had my wolf for nearly a year, he has grown prob... 4 inches give or take. He will ONLY eat live food. What do i need to do to get my ammonia down from the 10+PPM im using the API liquid test kit and its testing blue... I just did a water change and it still at the blue color. I have 3 hob filters running, doing most likely 400-600gph. I have tried not feeding him to get him to eat other types of food but he just ignores it.

Currently he is eatting goldfish (i know the risks sadly) what do you guys feed yours?

 

[KingoRock]

feed him lots of rossies and do a huge water change like a 50 % and do that for like a week 3x a week and dont feed him during that week

 

[mynheers_a_pint]

first important question is....

What is the tank size?

Second important question is....

Which wolf fish?

The final thing to add is test kits can give false readings if the test fluid is old...

 

[ar0wan]

Stop rinsing out your filter media.
With that much turn over your BB should poor
through an ammonia spike in just a few days
Assist with WC in the mean time.


Test your tap water for ammonia
if it's clean then your tap water and
test kit are not the problem

 

[Enemyarms]

So far ive currently done 3 water changes in a row, 50% to lower it. He isnt showing any signs of distress at all, does what he always has done. Sit at the bottom and chill, no fish to chaise so he isnt active.

Stop rinsing out your filter media.
With that much turn over your BB should poor
through an ammonia spike in just a few days
Assist with WC in the mean time.


Test your tap water for ammonia
if it's clean then your tap water and
test kit are not the problem

When did i say i rinsed out my media?? i know enough to not do that... (good point tho, nonetheless)

I havent rested my tapwater, but i think i will since im thinking about it. Lets go see what its at.

first important question is....

What is the tank size?

Second important question is....

Which wolf fish?

The final thing to add is test kits can give false readings if the test fluid is old...

#1 55gal large gravel on the bottom. Thinking about adding more smaller gravel, there is about half an inch of penny sized gravel so not a LOT of places for bact to grow on. Its a common Hoplias malabaricus wolf fish. Should i feed him rosies? i know they dont have the thiamine/thiaminase issue that goldfish have.

Where would i find the date on my testkit? We sell quite a few at petsmart but no one knows how long each one has sat at the DC.

feed him lots of rossies and do a huge water change like a 50 % and do that for like a week 3x a week and dont feed him during that week

lolwut?

Feed my wolf Rosies and do 50% water changes once a week? what about the dont feed him for that week? are you saying do 50% water changes 3 times for a week and dont feed him?

 

[Enemyarms]

0 - .25

 

[mynheers_a_pint]

ok, slooow down for a moment. Firstly, a 55g is too small for a Mala long term BUT, assuming we're talking about a baby (sub 8") a 55 will be ok for the short term. Malabaricus are not fussy eaters and never will be. They are, however, opportunistic. Ignore the suggestions of transferring them onto different species of live for the moment and focus on dead foods. When i was breaking my Tatauaia off of live, the thing i noticed was their fixation with eyes and the closer dead food resembles live, the easier it was to break the dependence of live food. Now, going out on a limb here because i am not in the US, my guess is that the fish available as dead food will be lance fish or similar. Assuming these are whole fish, try throwing one or two in the tank in the evening and see what is left in the morning. If it's not taken, remove the waste as it will spoil and repeat in the evening. Bear in mind, they are more intelligent that some fish that will starve. It wil not starve itself to death and will seek alternative food so be sure that if it has tank mates, they are not snack size. As long as the food you place is fresh, eventually he will take it but it may lead to some amount of food being thrown away until he eats it.


In regards to your ammonia level, I'm afraid this is something i have never had an issue with so i can only echo what others have said time and time again. If you are over feeding or leaving too much waste in the bottom to tempt your wolf to feed, you will be causing spikes so make sure that the morning after a feed, you clean any waste immediately so that the bacteria in your filter have the chance to clear the overload.

Above all, if you're worried about the water, keep the water changes up. 20-30% daily for a week or more is better than a 50% weekly and infinitely better than a 90% change. It gives your filter time to establish and avoids causing too much shock to your wolf.

Good luck.

 

[Enemyarms]

ok, slooow down for a moment. Firstly, a 55g is too small for a Mala long term BUT, assuming we're talking about a baby (sub 8") a 55 will be ok for the short term. Malabaricus are not fussy eaters and never will be. They are, however, opportunistic. Ignore the suggestions of transferring them onto different species of live for the moment and focus on dead foods. When i was breaking my Tatauaia off of live, the thing i noticed was their fixation with eyes and the closer dead food resembles live, the easier it was to break the dependence of live food. Now, going out on a limb here because i am not in the US, my guess is that the fish available as dead food will be lance fish or similar. Assuming these are whole fish, try throwing one or two in the tank in the evening and see what is left in the morning. If it's not taken, remove the waste as it will spoil and repeat in the evening. Bear in mind, they are more intelligent that some fish that will starve. It wil not starve itself to death and will seek alternative food so be sure that if it has tank mates, they are not snack size. As long as the food you place is fresh, eventually he will take it but it may lead to some amount of food being thrown away until he eats it.


In regards to your ammonia level, I'm afraid this is something i have never had an issue with so i can only echo what others have said time and time again. If you are over feeding or leaving too much waste in the bottom to tempt your wolf to feed, you will be causing spikes so make sure that the morning after a feed, you clean any waste immediately so that the bacteria in your filter have the chance to clear the overload.

Above all, if you're worried about the water, keep the water changes up. 20-30% daily for a week or more is better than a 50% weekly and infinitely better than a 90% change. It gives your filter time to establish and avoids causing too much shock to your wolf.

Good luck.

He is prob 7 or 8, give or take. Ive seen that they will get 22inches at adult size, but he seems to grow pretty slow. He did have 3 tank mates this week and he chaise them, but today they were dead. I left them in there tell abit ago and he never seemed to hungry. Working at petsmart i do have access to lots of dead fish, so ill give that a try. I have tried chicken pieces but he never seemed to want it. Ill see if i can find something like that, may need to hit a bate shop. Hyvee our local food-store only has meat thats freshly processed. Ill keep up on my water changes.

 

[ar0wan]

...Working at petsmart i do have access to lots of dead fish, so ill give that a try....

ZOMG I just spit millk out of my nose
and no I'm not drinking milk ATM

 

[mynheers_a_pint]

Christ.

Try food for fish first and don't just try the dead crap from your work that would have died from any number of health issues. Proper, frozen food. If you left his dead tank mates in there, then their rotting bodies will have contributed to your ammonia issue.

If you had read they grew to 22" then you should have read that they are not suitable for housing with tank mates and that a 55g was certainly not suitable.

I hate to say it, but it sounds like you have no-one else to blame but yourself. Keep up the water changes and find the correct food. Then you might actually find the poor little guy starts to feed, and consequently, grow correctly.