hurt bala shark

[PT Bruiser]

I changed the water in my 40 gallon tank yesterday and I put my fish in a couple of buckets with air over night. The bala jumped out of the bucket twice. I found him really quick the first time but the 2nd time he was barely breathing. I put him back into the bucket and he recovered. I put the fish back into the tank the next day. Making sure I did it in a timely manner to make sure the water temperature gradually changed. When I put my bala in the tank I noticed that it's head was really bloody. It barely swam aroung for awhile before going belly up. I kept it right side up and he was doing well. I didn't watch him for about a half an hour and when I went back he was belly up again. He unfortunately didn't make it and I would like to know what the blood in the head is from? The only mistake that I might have made was not putting a heater in the bucket over night. The water temp. got pretty cold. That's all I have, please help so I don't repeat this tragedy. P.S. I had the bala for 3 years and changed the water like this many times.

 

[Maillis]

Just curious but why did you take the fish out of the tank to change water? You really shouldn't ever change more than 50% of the water at a time.

 

[PT Bruiser]

being educated

I usually clean the entire tank every 4-6 months. Thought that's what your suppose to do. I'll educate myself better from now on.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

For must of us cleaning consists of a ncie gravel vac, removing around 20% of the water. What you do probably destroys most of the beneficial bacteria in your tank, causing it to re-cycle every time.

I'd definately agree with doing some forum searches for the Nitrogen cycle and proper cleaning, and always feel free to ask questions. That's what we are here for.

 

[Wolf]

Don't Balas need a bigger tank than 40 gal?