Greatly appreciate the comment super helpful and direct to my questions which sometimes I find isnt the case on forums
The two fish did end up kicking it so I pulled them and am going to see what happens with the other four.
Thanks again,
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| Fish on its Side http://byap.backyardmagazines.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20506 |
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| Author: | Kenn [ Feb 2nd, '14, 06:20 ] |
| Post subject: | Fish on its Side |
Have read quite a bit of forums and it seems like there is no great consensus on this but wanted to see if BYA could add some insight. I have 1000L FT and have been cycling it for a bit and wanted to slowing introduce fish as my bacteria levels are barely showing as I cannot find pure ammonia here in Costa Rica. The tank can hold lots of fish but to start out I received 6 fish and added them to my FT. 4 of them seemed fine but 2 of them were sitting on their sides on the bottom of the tank. I let them be for a day then re-checked them. I thought they might be dead but as soon as I got a net close to them they both jumped awake as if they were almost in a coma or some sort of state of shock. I am not sure what would have caused that but in any case they seemed fine, except that the next day (yesterday) one of them went back to laying on its side (still breathing) and is still on it's side. Not sure what the cause of this would be or what the appropriate next steps would be. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Also none of the fish have been interested in eating the fish food I purchased so I keep skimming it off the top after about 5 - 10 minutes as everything I have read seems like that is best. So to summarize my questions: 1. what would cause the fish to lay on its side 2. is there anything I can do to help it 3. when do fish typically start eating after being transplanted? |
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| Author: | scotty435 [ Feb 2nd, '14, 06:33 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fish on its Side |
Could be lots of causes. Is it something you find in the morning and the fish perk up during the day? Do you have lots of algae in the tank? Any evidence of disease (white spots, redness...). Are you testing the Ammonia and Nitrite levels? I would hold off feeding till you know more since this can aggravate the ammonia and Nitrite levels in an un-cycled system. The change in conditions from where they were to where you have them could be causing them problems. Give them time, they may or may not make it. Be sure to get them out if they die. What kind of fish are these? They could just be in shock from being transported. |
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| Author: | Kenn [ Feb 2nd, '14, 06:40 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fish on its Side |
Thanks Scotty. The fish are Tilapia, sorry meant to include that. All 5 fish are swimming regardless of time of day and the one on its side is always on its side regardless of time of day. There is a small film of algae on the tank but its thin and not completely covering the tank. No sign of spots or redness that I can see as of now. I am testing ammonia and nitrite and they are both at almost zero. Was hoping that the fish would bump the ammonia levels a bit so I can get the bacteria to grow since I cannot find pure ammonia in Costa Rica. How long can they go without food and any other thoughts you had based on my response? |
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| Author: | scotty435 [ Feb 2nd, '14, 16:31 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fish on its Side |
The fish can go for weeks without food depending on their size. If you haven't looked for fishless cycling in the search that might give you some other ideas besides ammonia. I wouldn't try the fishless cycling with the fish in there. If you wait the fish should eventually settle in and start eating. Keep tabs on your Ammonia and Nitrite levels daily so you'll know what's going on. Tilapia are pretty tough fish so with the exception of the ones having problems they should do OK but might take a while to get interested in food. Knowing they are Tilapia didn't tell me much about the possible reasons for what's going on. Sorry I couldn't help more with that. I've had some catfish that acted a bit like this which is why I asked. I think they had Enteric Septicemia of Catfish which is a bacterial disease that affects their brain but I don't think this is what's going on with your Tilapia. If you don't see any improvement in the two fish with problems I'd cull them out. |
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| Author: | Kenn [ Feb 4th, '14, 09:47 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fish on its Side |
Greatly appreciate the comment super helpful and direct to my questions which sometimes I find isnt the case on forums The two fish did end up kicking it so I pulled them and am going to see what happens with the other four. Thanks again, |
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| Author: | jono81 [ Feb 4th, '14, 11:13 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fish on its Side |
Have you been adding chlorinated tap water into the fish tank? What sort of water turnover are you pumping at the moment? Also when you added the fish to the fish tank, did you slowly introduce them by adding a bit of the fish tank water to the bag of fish at time, or did you just put them straight into the fish tank? Regardless of the above if I were you I would be salting your fish tank immediately to help the fish, at least 1 kg salt per 1000 litres. Use straight salt (eg swimming pool salt) not iodised salt etc. |
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| Author: | scotty435 [ Feb 4th, '14, 11:35 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fish on its Side |
+1 - some good comments and I would get the salting done. 1ppt is enough for nitrite toxicity and this is what I would do for now. In the future, when you get ready to add fish it is also a good idea to give them a salt bath to rid them of parasites. This is usually a short dip. They shed their slime coat along with the parasites and will build a new one. You'll need to look around the forum, I don't remember the amount or salt for this (anyway it's a bit late for this now since they're in already). People also salt for parasites while the fish are in the system. This is at 3 - 6 ppt and is for an extended period not a dip. |
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