While it's important to know approximately where the nitrate level is so that it doesn't get too high, the exact number is not as important as you are making it. It's not 0, that's what matters. You see the fish are better after the water changes so that's your sign. They will do better the lower you get the nitrates. You get the nitrates lower the fastest by doing water changes. The number one thing you need to always remember is that you have large fish in a small tank and that is a recipe for bad water. In order to keep the water from getting bad since you can't put them in a larger tank is to do more frequent water changes. Fish do appreciate water changes as they don't live in stagnant water so there is little to no harm in doing daily water changes.
Hi, first I just wanna mention that when I don't reply right away it's not because I didn't see your message; it's because I can't reply through my phone (I gotta log into the forum and I keep forgetting to check my password lol) but I can see your response through my email notification. So I do check to see your responses, so that I know what to do, etc. But this explains my delay in responding.
Secondly, thanks for clarifying the above regarding nitrates. I will do a 30% water change tomorrow morning (wanted to do one tonight but I'm so afraid of stressing them out at this time and at night they are very sleepy). Once I get it down low enough, I'll try to do even a daily 5-10% water change.. to maintain good water quality and like you said, larger water changes take so much time so it's much easier to neglect doing them in a timely fashion...
I'd leave it for the next 3 days but to be honest, at this point, it's pointing more towards this being an anatomical shift of an internal organ ( most likely the ovary) and you are going to have to get used to seeing the fish with a bump.
Very interesting. I wouldn't have thought the ovary thing could even be a thing! So sad. But also, does this mean she could be okay and live this way? Just deformed? If this anatomical shift is not something I need to worry about, just look at, I can force myself to get used to it (while kicking myself every time) but at least I know she's fine.
If it were disease, it should have gotten worse by now. If it were a blockage, the fish should not be feeling well enough to want to eat so at this point ( after the next 3 days), you have done all that you are capable of doing. As I've said in previous posts, the next step is to place the fish under Veterinary care but my experience says that the final outcome will be anatomical and not worth the risk of surgery. The bump is obviously not effecting the fish's ability to eat so it looks like the bump bothers you more than the fish. That's on you to change.
Okay so my question is, yes she is eating, but like I mentioned, not the way she used to. At all. But you're right that she's probably feeling fuller due to the bump, etc. She does come to the veggies when my blood parrot lets her.. she comes waaaayyy less than she used to, but she does come to eat. Like I mentioned, she was my strongest eater. But I'm gonna keep feeding veggies, and today she came to eat the blood worms so tomorrow morning I wanna try to feed them more of that. So.. that being said, even though she's eating so much less than she used to, you're saying that the fact that she even has appetite and comes to eat at all, that's a good sign? And potentially means there's probably no infection or stuff to worry about? Or constipation? Because I never tried giving her any medicated food.. which of course I don't want to do if I don't have to, or if you feel it's not something that can be medicated. So I'm just checking all these details with you.
Unless you remove or separate the Parrot with a divider, that behavior is not going to change so you have those 2 choices. If you want your Dollars to eat in peace, you HAVE to do one of those 2 things.
So I have an idea I'm gonna try before I try the divider idea. I hope it works. I ordered more food clips and I'm gonna clip 2 or 3 spots of vegetables instead of only one, so that when my blood parrot harasses one of them, the other one can feed on one of the other 2 spots where the vegetables are. Right now my parrot stands guard at that one feeding spot. Gosh, the dictatorship here! Lol. But honestly it's stressing me out like crazy when I see it because I want my silver dollars to be left alone and be able to get stronger peacefully. I'm hoping they're used to it and won't be affected by the harassment.
As for the change in tastes for the fish, that happens. They either don't like the food(s) anymore or there are other reasons why they reject them. As long as they are eating something else, it's not the fish, it's the food. Give them something else to eat.
As long as the bloodworms do not get freezer burned, they should be good to feed however, in the future, I'd cut the cubes in half while they are frozen. I will add that if the fish do not eat the refrozen ones, I'd try a different cube as fish can smell and taste bad food better than we can see it.
So interesting to know that fish can be so sensitive to detecting the freshness, etc of food!
There is no hard and fast timeline for this. The better the fish eat, the more weight they will gain. Keep in mind tho that as they get older, they may not gain weight at all. Older animals tend to just eat enough to stay alive, not to put on bulk. As your fish are geriatrics, that may become the case.
So... does this mean I shouldn't worry myself crazy when I see how skinny they are..? The one that's eating well is looking pretty good. Maybe he even gained a bit of weight. The other male is extremely skinny but is slowly eating more and more. And the female that's got the bulge is skinny other than the bulge.. (and before this she was such a beautiful, perfect shape and thickness :'( :'( I'm so upset Omg.) But should I not worry because as long as they're eating, they're sustaining themselves? My blood parrot is also eating less, strangely. But he's eating. and grabbing all the food. He loves peas actually. I should feed him that more often.
As with every hobby, learning everything you can about the hobby is the best way of being the most successful with it. Sadly, (imo) with the invent of the internet, there are a lot of people who share information and a bazillion groups but they often lack one major thing: They are not working with your water, your fish source or fish similar to yours. With tropical fish or any live animal, join a local fish club and attend meetings. Talk with people in the group as many will be working with the same water as you are, going to the same shops as you go to or have more experience than you have. There are 2 ways of learning: Learn from other people's mistakes or learning from your own mistakes. I'm not sure you will not find many who will agree that keeping Silver Dollars to full adult size in your sized tank is good. But here's the thing, it can be done but it will take a lot more work on your part ( and if the internet has showed us anything, it's that fish people are lazy and don't want to do the work
). You proved that you didn't do enough work because while you did get them to full size, the fish came down with nitrate poisoning so you did 90% of the work. The last 10 % tho could have killed the fish. Thankfully it didn't but you are paying a price for that. Learn from that mistake.
You can't change the past. Now you know you have to do water changes if you want healthy fish. If you want to do a no water change system, you are very restricted in what fish will do well in these kinds of systems. I've seen many " internet gurus" preaching the no water change systems but I've yet to see ANY of them tell the people the WHOLE story. There is even a gentleman who developed a whole filtering system so that you didn't need to change water. I saw his fish at a local fish auction. They were undersized for their age and colored artificially through foods. I was at a fellow hobbyist's house in another state who had gotten his fish and they too were undersized. I spoke with another fish wholesaler who was getting fish from this same gentleman and he said the same thing and stopped dealing with him. So I don't care if it's a planted tank, a fish only tank, a bare tank or whatever, if you don't change water and not add vitamins and feed the most nutritious diet, the fish will not grow well. There is a lot of "junk" out there in the fish world. It's up to the hobbyist to do their research so that they don't buy the junk. As the saying goes, "You get out of an item when you put into the item." So junk in gets you junk out. ( Oh look, I went off on a tangent.
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Go off on a tangent!! It's the best way to learn. I appreciate information and when you're in that zone, please don't hesitate. I wish I knew more before this happened. And hearing about your experience with others, etc, helps me gain knowledge and perspective. It's crazy what people say on the internet while they claim to be experts. In one of my searches (gosh I've forced myself to stop because it was driving me nuts and now that I have you to consult with, I'm focusing on what you're saying) there's a guy who advised someone to do 100% water changes daily!!! For some disease the fish had or something. Um!! Hello!! What about the whole bio-system?? I don't get it how people give such twisted advice. Let alone the no water change system.
You mention adding vitamins.... what do you mean by that...?? I didn't even know that exists. When I do a water change, I add prime to the water and then stability. It's been doing its job I guess... it's good stuff, right?
Also, how much of natural plants would I need in the tank to make a difference in keeping the nitrates low...? Would it be worth it for me to try and figure out a way to keep them in there, for instance like I mentioned netting them or something? Or am I making no sense... ? Meantime I'm gonna focus on my water changes. I'm just worried for those long weekends I might be away, or for times that I travel (I do travel from time to time and it could potentially be a full week away from home, maybe a bit more. Doesn't happen often, though. Just trying to figure things out in my head.
No, past what I've told you in this thread, there's nothing more you can or should do.
Okay.. It's good to know I've done whatever I needed to do. I'm so worried the bump shouldn't grow bigger, though. I'll keep you posted. Do I need to worry? Okay there's really no point in worrying right now. I'll keep putting in a prayer!
