Strange Jack Dempsy

[dempsyguy]

Hey all, new guy here, used to use fishinthe.net often but it's kindaaa fallen off the map and your site looks superb. Anyways i've had my Jack Dempsy for 6 years now in a 45 gallon tank (ph 7, should be little ammonia due to carbon in filter) and in the last couple days my Jack has been acting really weird. When the lights are on he will hide amid rocks at the bottem all day not moving as if hes dead and looks quite stressed (pale colours etc). Then when i turn the lights off he'll slowly start swiming around again won't seem so weird. If i suddenly turn the lights on he goes nuts and runs into everything. I i gave the tank a good vacuum recently but the thing is in the past few months i'd gotten pretty lazy with cleanings. I was wondering if he could have some type of eye infection/ light sensitivity?? I am at a complete loss so if anyone has any ideas i'd love the input, i miss my little fighter in top form.
Thanks alot
Ryan

 

[missileman]

What are your water parameters? Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and temp.
Carbon does not remove amonia, living bacteria in the tank and filter consume amonia and release Nitrite which is also poisonous to fish, other bacteria consume Nitrite and release Nitrate, safer for fish up to 40ppm or so but does build up so regular partial water changes (PWC) are required. If you neglected your tank perhaps your balance got out of wack.
Read up on how to cycle a tank so you will know how the nitrogen cycle works and what you may have done to interupt it.