Bazaar Behavior

[amyb_70]

Going to try and make this somewhat short. I have a 20 gal long tank during the summer I was able to get away with only using a 10 gal heater. It's getting cold here already so I bought the appropriate size, plugged it in and thought I was good to go. This was in the evening before bed. When I checked the water temp it went down to around 68 degrees, I like it at 76-78. I have guppies, balloon mollies, and black mollies, lost a few as expected. I adjusted the heat ( which is clearly a guessing game) now I'm at 82 degrees, I turned heat down. Now some fish are acting bazaar some are going ape ****, balloon mollies are going vertical and dancing circles, guppies are swimming really fast or just hanging out. Any thoughts on this.


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[Fresh2o]

The amount of dissolved gasses, including oxygen, in a liquid is affected by temperature. The higher the temps, the less O2. What kid of aeration/filter are you using in that tank?


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[amyb_70]

The amount of dissolved gasses, including oxygen, in a liquid is affected by temperature. The higher the temps, the less O2. What kid of aeration/filter are you using in that tank?


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oh yes to top this off the filter i had died and i make and had made one for the night and purchased a new one today... i bought the whisper ex 30... i guess i should be thanking my lucky stars i have any fish still living

 

[Fresh2o]

Ouch. Were you able to move some of the media from the old filter to the new one? This will allow the BB to transfer to the new filter.


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[amyb_70]

Ouch. Were you able to move some of the media from the old filter to the new one? This will allow the BB to transfer to the new filter.


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no i wasnt. i have one of the bioball things. and what i did was mix up the gravel a bit to get some of the BB out there hopefully i am not starting a new cycle, but now you have me thinking i probably am.

 

[Fresh2o]

You might be okay. Not sure what type of filter you had in there before ( the one that died) but the media could have been simply dropped into the tank. With enough circulation the BB may have been kept viable.
Just keep an eye on your params and be diligent with water changes.


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[amyb_70]

You might be okay. Not sure what type of filter you had in there before ( the one that died) but the media could have been simply dropped into the tank. With enough circulation the BB may have been kept viable.
Just keep an eye on your params and be diligent with water changes.


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Thank you very much for the help. i will do that, how often and how much should i do water changes. if i didnt mention its a 20 gal long.

 

[amyb_70]

WOW i am super nervous here. ALL my fish are acting irratically. I managed to get the temp down to 80 degrees, 4 less than where it was but i am afraid i am going to wake up to find a tank full of dead fish... I am so upset, frustrated, mostly angry at myself for not knowing how to tell where the median temp was on the new heater.... looks like i am going to have a mass loss of fish, and money ....

 

[MonkeyMonk86]

Add an air pump & sponge filter to help with oxygen. I use a pump and sponge filter in all of mine b/c we get a lot of power failures and the sponge filters not only filter but put oxygen in the tank. ( I have battery operated back up pumps from Amazon). They will also grow BB. This is in addition to your regular filter.


(Friend of Bill W., One day at a time)

 

[amyb_70]

When you say pump and sponge filter I'm not for sure what you mean, I have a couple of visuals in mind. I'm please to say the temp went down to mid 70's . I lost a balloon Molly which I knew she was going she had like scrap marks from the gravel. I think the fish must have been feeling delirious and hopefully are able to bounce back.


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[MonkeyMonk86]

Here are some examples:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002ARE98?pc_redir=1411016578&robot_redir=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0009YF4FI?pc_redir=1411223489&robot_redir=1

Battery operated for power failures:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003TLWXOS?pc_redir=1411019371&robot_redir=1

Then you connect them via regular aquarium tubing.


(Friend of Bill W., One day at a time)

 

[PB_Smith]

I can tell you exactly why your fish are dying, you made far to big of changes in the temperature in a very, very short period of time. That is most likely what has freaked your fish out.
When altering the temp you really shouldn't adjust it more than 2 degrees in a 24 hour period. Fish can adapt to and live in a wide range of temps, 74-86 is easily managed by 99% of the fish available, but any transitions need to made gradually.

I purposely run my tanks "hot" here in the summer, maintaining a temp of 86.
I do that so when the ambient temp gets in the 90's or higher, the swing my tank goes through is much smaller and more gradual. When the weather cools down, I gradually adjust the temp down to ~ 78, but I do that over a period of a week or more.

Remember, stability is more important than most other things.
fish can adapt to different temps, ph, hardness, even sky high nitrate levels, what fish can't handle are sudden or abrupt changes in their environment.
So even when something happens that is cause for panic, don't.


and a big yes to increasing oxygenation. you can also try to direct the output from your filter so that it agitates the surface as much as possible, that will also help.

 

[PB_Smith]

and one other thing;
you should NEVER try to adjust the temp of the tank water by adding cold or hot/warm water directly to the tank!!
Float either frozen or heated water bottles in the tank or HOB filter if you need to make emergency adjustments.

 

[amyb_70]

Thank you PB very helpful info. The last paragraph in your 1st comment about oxygenation can you explain, I'm bit sure I understand. It seems as though your saying to kind of create my own waves,persay, on the top?

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