Zamora woodcat concussion?

[Fishman Dave]

Stick with it, learning is always fun, ( or so they keep telling me) we've all been through it, some fish take longer to 're acclimatize than others.
I Try to think "how stressed would I be moving house?" And when would I get over it. A week or too doesn't seem so long anymore.

 

[andyroo]

I'm looking at them thinking how easy a dip-turn-sploosh it would be to move 'em into the 100,
and then remember that audible crack/bonk against the glass.
I'll change another 25% water now and leave 'em...
...but can certainly be convinced otherwise

They're moving & hovering doing & stuff, IE not just sitting still in the wood/leaves. They're just not eating, even when food falls on their heads. Even bite-size bits of prawn are still on the bottom in the AM. I'm hoping they're getting a guppy or two in the nights and feeling spoiled, but not seeing belly either.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

How do other fish behave in that tank?

Might the DO dip too low by the end of a night because of the plants? I have seen this happen in one of our natural ponds overgrown with aquatic plants where every morning the fish would be gasping for air.

Do you think the temp and pH are stable throughout the day cycle?

Woodcats usually don't like the lighting, which I suppose you use for your plants. QT doesn't have plants and perhaps you weren't lighting it much or at all.

It's hard to troubleshoot without knowing the exact water parameters but it sounds like your point is that QT and the 55 gal must have the same water chemistry wise.

Perhaps your hunch is correct and the head butt seems the only feasible explanation behind the continued fast and there are no other red flags.

 

[andyroo]

Other current fish in the tank are guppies & swordtails, some adults and heaps of pups various. Active, happy, eating, shagging etc.
Previous fish in the tank were 3 angles, knife, juv.aro, an orange chromide and RBS as holding pending the 100.
Lots of surface current so O2 is unlikely to be an issue. Also monitoring for gasping through the day incl early AM.
Not thought about pH stability through the day - what is this process/cycle and I'll Google it.
Temp would be 28~29C in the day, down to 26~27C at night - not huge swings as they're down by the seaside.
Not particularly bright - plants are either low-light tolerant or not doing well & regularly replaced.
I appreciate everybody's inputs.
Fingers crossed.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I don't see any obvious or even tentative red flags from my mole hill, apart from the possibility that your water may be too hard overall.

I meant mostly daily temp fluctuation.

The pH instability could arise due to poor buffering, which with the calcium sand cannot be your case, I guess, or in the event of the almond leaves and the driftwood coming and going through your tank, this I am speaking without any grounds, only on paper, or detritus accumulation, or perhaps because of the plants, as I am utterly ignorant in this area, having almost never had plants in my tanks. None of this sounds feasible though.

Anything can come out of the left field too - an unfavorable change in your tap water chemistry / water conditioner, temporary or permanent, using cleaning aerosoles and other liquids containing VOC around your tank or in the room, fumigation products, pet felines messing with your tank, electric current leakage into the tank water, metallic objects inside the tank, high-power electric lines coming up outside your window, sabotage or mutiny on the ship, etc.

 

[andyroo]

To risk including further trauma/impact in relocating, or to leave with fingers-crossed that they'll settle/recover?
the age-old quandary...

Head-bonking should be uneven between the three, yet none of them are eating suggesting a systemic issue which may just be relocation stress or water or annoying busyness of tank-mates. Soap/chem contamination has been considered as I rejiggered the filter a bit, but the other (albeit maybe more durable) fish appear to not be impacted, nor have water-changes notably impacted nor inspired appetite. Otherwise everything should be the same/similar to QT, and same/similar to previous tenants of that tank, all while the various care/husbandry websites don't list this fish as having a reputation for delicacy.

For them to be not eating kibble because they're full of guppy would have for them visibly belly-plump, no?
A low-hanging fruit might be a daily guppy-count... good luck with that
Does the body plan allow for visible tummies? I'd expect so, but didn't see much in QT even with prawn chunks & kibble. Wishful thinking...

 

[benzjamin13]

I have a group of 6 Zamora cats that I've moved 4 times. Their behavior was very interesting to say the least. I started them off in a heavily planted tank 40g Breeder. They always seemed to hide under a rock. I added some driftwood and rearranged the tank a bit, still keeping it planted, but same behavior. I eventually moved them to a 65g Tall with less plants and more open swimming area on one side of the tank while the other side had more hardscape and a few plants. They hid behind the driftwood. I moved them again to a 37g Tall heavily planted tank with little hardscape and they just crammed themselves behind the filter intake. Then I finally moved them to a 75g tank with just driftwood being the hardscape. I expected them to just hide within all that driftwood, but the preferred to once again cram themselves behind the filter intake. One of the large piece of driftwood actually fell over from it's original placement within the tank. They now surprisingly hover and swim in the corner during the day. They seem more comfortable, so I'm not going to fix it.

 

[andyroo]

so don't be afraid of relocating, but get either a bigger net or a rubber tank?

Their habits have changed- they cruise about more than before, and not in the rapid, manic way of previous nor their reputation - including feeding. They do hover a bit in the flow in the afternoons, and quietly swap hides through the day including intakes and up into the floating plant roots. I'm quietly wondering/hoping that the abundance of food (guppies) has them feeling leisurely, but for them ignoring favourite kibble entirely when it falls on the head.

Do you see them eating, benzjamin13 ? Including getting into that classical maniac-mode when there's food? Or do they just hang out/hover to then get into character only after the lights go out?

 

[benzjamin13]

so don't be afraid of relocating, but get either a bigger net or a rubber tank?

Their habits have changed- they cruise about more than before, and not in the rapid, manic way of previous nor their reputation - including feeding. They do hover a bit in the flow in the afternoons, and quietly swap hides through the day including intakes and up into the floating plant roots. I'm quietly wondering/hoping that the abundance of food (guppies) has them feeling leisurely, but for them ignoring favourite kibble entirely when it falls on the head.

Do you see them eating, benzjamin13 ? Including getting into that classical maniac-mode when there's food? Or do they just hang out/hover to then get into character only after the lights go out?

Before, I would never see them eat unless it was pitch black and I shine a red or blue light to catch them swimming around, but once it’s lights out and I put food in there, I see them wiggling around. They wouldn’t attack the food unless I left. But after the move to the 75g and the accidental rearrangement of the decor, they hover around one side of the tank all day and night. When I put food in there (during the day), they now seem comfortable to attack the food.

 

[andyroo]

Fair enough, this sounds familiar and sounds good - thanks Benz.

The largest of the 3 did (appear to) eat kibble that landed on his melon today, but the other two still read as... stunned. Having said that, I got a good look at one of the second-sizers and it/they really don't appear to be losing condition, so a suggestion that they are gettin' their woodcat on after-hours would make sense, IE: I am my usual overthinking paranoid nitwit.

And, insult to injury, we had a wee SNAFU with the filtration this afternoon with much in-tank kerfuffle. Touch-wood I didn't set them back another week...