pictus cat fish, and keeping fish alive?

[bradwc2002]

i got a pictus cat fish, and ive had him about 2 days and he kicked the bucket tonight, i bought a master test kit, and the ph is fine, and the amonia is at the right lever and the hardness is a bit low, he seemed ok but about 12 hours after i had him home he started swiming around straight up and down, so he died i got another one from a different store, and same thing....anyone know if im doing something wrong thanks...

 

[kansei]

Is your tank new , is it cycled? You say that the ammonia is at the right level - both the ammo and nitrites should be 0ppm . Also if new did you declorinate your water

 

[Devilishturtles]

How do you acclimate the fish to the tank?

 

[bradwc2002]

the nitrites and ammonia are at 0 just tested again yes the tank is cycled yes the water is dechlorinated used aquaplus.

I floated the bag for approx. 25-30 mins adding water every 10 mins till the bag was 3/4 full then netted the fish and added them.

P.S the first ones that died were my albino and red oscars appologize that i didnt put that in before

 

[Zagz]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Did you check your nitrites as well as ammonia? Both should be at 0ppm for a cycled tank.

 

[bradwc2002]

yes i checked both are at 0

 

[Devilishturtles]

Perhaps check if it isn't the place you are getting the fish from? Oscars are, in general, rather hardy fish. Sounds like maybe you are getting bad fish from the start.

What size tank is this, btw?

 

[courtnee]

I had a 10gl tank cycled, with no nitrItes or nitrAtes. I went through several pictus cats. They would all die. Same thing every time, get sluggish, swim funny and die. They were babies and very small so the 10gl was a temp solution and was okay at the time. I thought I had a fungus or something taking them out.

I now have healthy pictus. The only thing I changed water wise was PH. I have a 55gl now, but the only thing different in it is my PH level. In my fishless cycle I had off the chart PH as my tap water is 8 and after sitting in the tank it just went off the chart. I treated it BEFORE I stocked my tank and got it down to a healthy range and knew once I got it down I would have to come up with a solution to the problem to KEEP it down and not have it bounce around and I dont want to add stuff to maintain it. My LFS gave me a great idea bottled water.

I use the same amounts of bottled water and tap every water change. If I do a 6 gallon water change I add 4 bottled and 2 tap. I dont change from this. I know if I add more tap next time my PH will swing. If I add more bottled then I usually do it will swing. It works out well for me. The added cost of bottled water sucks but it works. I have healthy pictus.

My sister has two pictus and her tank sits around PH 7 they are healthy. She lost her first batch of pictus when her PH was around 7.5 to 8.

I am no expert but it seems to me pictus are picky about PH!