New tank stress?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

DonnBallenger

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 14, 2006
Messages
36
I recently purchased a much-needed 50gal for my oscar. I set up the tank and let it cycle with the lights on for 4 days. I even went as far as matching the temp to the temp of his old tank. However, when I put him in he just hid behind an airline and when he finally did come out, he was swimming sideways and started to go belly-up. I couldn't stand to see this behavior so I tossed him back in his old tank where he chirped right back up to his normal behavior and was eating out of my hands within an hour.

What did I do wrong? Is there something wrong with the new tank or is he just scared of the new environment? I've heard that stress is the number one killer of fish, so I don't want to stress the little guy out and possibly kill him. He's pretty violent when i try to get him in a net so I don't want to do this again unless its successful.
 
well first of all it takes longer then four days to cycle the tank.
the only way to speed it up and make it cycle fast (fishless that is) is to take some filter media and add it to the tank and put a good percentage of old tank water in the new tank.
im not sure what could be wrong.
but just thought i would let u know about the cycle
 
so how long does it take without fish?

the old tank is only 10 gal, so the best i can do is drain it....and if there's still something wrong, then I'm totally screwed and have no place to put him....

on the flip side, he needs to get into this tank ASAP because of his size and the fact that im tired of cleaning the 10gal every day.
 
If you move the old filter to the new tank along with the fish and maybe some of the gravel, you should be pretty much cycleless. Since the filter on the ten is prepared for his bioload and that wont change just because you moved him. After a mointh or so you can turnoff the old filter and just use the new one. The water won't help so don't bother moving it.
 
Maybe, but if it is in the same house, I would imagine it is not much different that the tap water. So why bother moving dirty water?
 
thanks for the advice guys!

i've moved a few of his favorite decorations over to the new tank hoping that it will introduce some of the bacteria and such and help make it feel more like home.

using the old filter seems like a great idea, but i've got a few questions.

should i move the old filter at the same time i move him or put it in there and let it run for a few hours? if so, will he and his tankmates (a pleco and an albino frog) be okay in the old tank for a few hours without a filter running? I was going to leave the pleco in the 10 gal for a few days after I moved the other two to make sure there would be enough algae buildup for him to stay fed, but I suppose I could just go buy some algae flakes if I'm going to try this method.
 
DonnBallenger said:
I recently purchased a much-needed 50gal for my oscar. I set up the tank and let it cycle with the lights on for 4 days. I even went as far as matching the temp to the temp of his old tank. However, when I put him in he just hid behind an airline and when he finally did come out, he was swimming sideways and started to go belly-up. I couldn't stand to see this behavior so I tossed him back in his old tank where he chirped right back up to his normal behavior and was eating out of my hands within an hour.

What did I do wrong? Is there something wrong with the new tank or is he just scared of the new environment? I've heard that stress is the number one killer of fish, so I don't want to stress the little guy out and possibly kill him. He's pretty violent when i try to get him in a net so I don't want to do this again unless its successful.
That's really weird. I agree the tank probably isn't fully cycled but it shouldn't have had that immediate affect on your oscar. Did you use water conditioner? There must be something either chloramines or some toxin that would cause him to react badly so fast. At least it sounds from your post like the reaction was fast. How long was he in there hiding before looking bad and going belly up?
 
talloulou said:
That's really weird. I agree the tank probably isn't fully cycled but it shouldn't have had that immediate affect on your oscar. Did you use water conditioner? There must be something either chloramines or some toxin that would cause him to react badly so fast. At least it sounds from your post like the reaction was fast. How long was he in there hiding before looking bad and going belly up?

I used 5tsp of conditioner per instructions on the bottle.

he hid behind the airline for like 20 mins....long enough for me to smoke two cigarettes and get really anxious. Then he moved out of there and started swimming sideways for a few mins then started going belly up. Thats when i yanked him back into the old tank. He acted funny for about 5 mins after that then was right back to his normal behavior. I did notice something floating in the net that looked like some of his food after I put him in the new tank like he had thrown it up. However, I didn't think this to be noteworthy before because if somebody stuck a net in my living room and scopped me up and tossed me somewhere new, I'd probably puke too.

the tank had been previously used as a reptile tank by my friend so I cleaned it the same way I clean any new tank: bleach, rinsed it out, cleaned it out again with water then flushed it with warm water before putting in the new rocks and such. the pH is a little high (around 8 ) but he should be used to that because the tank he's in now sits at about the same pH because of his waste.
 
Sure you rinsed the bleach real well? It's really strange and unless the temp of the water or the pH were wildly different from what he was use to I can't see them causing the reaction you witnessed. Nor would the fact that the tank isn't cycled cause such a quick reaction.....he would have to live in the tank for awhile and build up ammonia before the uncycled tank would be a problem. Maybe he got shaken up or hurt/disoriented during the transfer? Very weird. I'd watch him real closely when you try to transfer him again 'cause something about that wasn't right.
 
I guess its possible I didnt get all the bleach out, but wouldn't the presence of chlorine of that type put the pH thru the roof? Even still, If the bleach is the culprit is there any other remedy besides draining the tank, recleaning and setting it up again? I'd hate to make him wait another week to get into his new home, but it's better that then lose my favorite pet.

Is there any way I can tell for sure thats the issue? (say sacrificing some bait store minnows to the death tank)

*EDIT*

He was def. mad when i started chasing him around the old tank with the net. I'd imagine he was very disoriented and a whole lot angry to be taken from the home he's lived in since he was the size of my thumb. However, there's no way I'm going to be able to move him without getting him irritated. He doesn't seem to be injured and his appetite came back within an hour, so I'm going to say he's physically fit.
 
I'm not sure but I think the water conditioner would have neutralized the bleach even if it wasn't fully rinsed and it's very unlikely that would be the cause since rinsing off bleach is fairly easy and not a huge deal. Any weird decorations? Maybe he just had a neurotic fit! It just sounds like a toxic reaction but maybe he was shook up from the transfer. You said he was pretty "violent" when you tried to catch him so I guess that could be it. I certainly wouldn't tear down the entire tank at this point but I might wait a few days before trying again. Are you aerating the new tank?

Also how big is your oscar? Make sure you take everything out of the old tank before you try and net him so there is nothing for him to scratch or hurt himself on. Also make sure your net is much bigger than the fish. If there are any decorations he is used to from the old tank put them in the new one before you put him in so he has something he is used to right away. I'd also keep the lights off for the first couple hours after moving him so he has a chance to get use to the much larger space without the stress of lights.
 
Was it plain bleach (unscented) ? I'm not sure it would have been fully neutralized unless extra conditioner were added.

You might also want overdose the new tank (I assume its empty) with declorinator / water conditioner and then do a few really large water changes just in case.
 
it was plain bleach.

i decided to dump a few $1.34/dozen "test pilots" into the tank to see if they acted the same. To my surpise, they all aive and well going on 7 hours now. This leads me to the conclusion that the symptoms i saw in my oscar were nothing more than shock and mental trauma. I plan to let those guys live a few days in there and move my oscar, frog and pleco in sunday with the use of pet store fish bags to minimize shock.

and as a reward for not dying in the tank transfer, they'll have all the crappies they can eat :)
 
i went ahead and transferred them yesterday due to no crappie deaths. now four of them are dead and the oscar's belly is full.

i posted some pics of my guys and their new home if anybody is interested

http://SeeRexRun.yafro.com
 
Back
Top Bottom