Sick GBR :(

[blazeyreef]

Well now my other german blue is sick or so he looks sick. For the past two days he has kind of just sat on the bottom of the tank look sick. He has not eaten, but he has not lost his colors.

Temp is 80, but it has been at about 87 all week because I had a ich outbreak but I lowered it because I thought it might be stressing him...
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate between 0 and .50
ph is high at 7.6-ish but it is always that high, well actually it is usually harder more like 7.8-8.0 but since I started diy co2 I think it lowered a little bit...

no other fish are showing any signs of being ill, they are all schooling as normal or acting normal...
what could be wrong? do I just have to hard of water?

 

[Zagz]

I have a very difficult time keeping GBR's as well. It might well be the water but I don't really think so, as I can keep Bolivian's no problem. My ph is like yours 7.6 or so. How quickly do you think the ph got lowered? Do you turn off the CO2 at night? Not an expert but I've heard it is a good idea to turn it off at night. Experts can tell you if that is true or not.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

GBR's are hard to keep, I lost all mine, and have not had any since. Bolivians are much hardier. In fact, my original parents are over 6 years old now. I've got 9 now in my 75G, and they are all doing very well.

As for the water, I don't think the temp is stressing him out. GBR's prefer warmer water, around 82-84 I believe. And at 87 degrees for ridding ick, the GBR's at that temp will do just fine, as they prefer warmer water. Just need to up the O2, especially at night. For the CO2, you definitely want it off at night, and maybe even have some surface aggitation at night. This helps in keeping the O2 levels up, as the plants use O2 at night. Then you have the aggitation turn off when the lights and CO2 turn on.

 

[confusion]

What is the gh of your water? I've found they do best with gh <100ppm

How often are you changing the water? Mine get sick and die if I do not change the water at least weekly - in a heavily planted, co2 dosed tank.

You didn't say how long you had them - I have found that all of them die within a week or two when I get them from a particular store, while another store has fish that have been fine for a while now.

 

[blazeyreef]

well he did not lat the night I knew he looked bad... I to have kept bolivian rams with no problem... my gh? general hardness? no clue I would have to get a test kit for that...
ok well, I am sadly no going to go down the gbr route for a while. I think I will go with bolivian rams instead
oh also, how do I turn off DIY Co2 at night?
thanks

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Actually, you can't turn it off, but what I would do us run surface aggitation at night to release the excess CO2 and keep the O2 levels up.

 

[confusion]

Yes - if you can get a timer that controls an air pump to come on at night, that would be ideal.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Also, I didn't like how the lens on my light fixture always got coated with the minerals in the water from the small bubbles popping from a bubbler, so what I did is used a timer and directed a small powerhead at the surface causing lots of surface aggitation, and never had to clean the plastic lens on the light fixture again.

 

[Zagz]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[blazeyreef]

thanks, I will work on getting that but I am out of work right now, until March... so I am umm, broke but when that starts I will definitely look into a small power head and a aerator
thanks

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Wouldn't need an aerator. It just makes bubbles that pop and splatter the light cover. Just get a cheap powerhead and point the output towards the surface, that will give more than enough surface aggitation.

 

[blazeyreef]

Wouldn't need an aerator. It just makes bubbles that pop and splatter the light cover. Just get a cheap powerhead and point the output towards the surface, that will give more than enough surface aggitation.

oh ok, I thought you meant in an addition to.. gotcha