knife fish in big trouble

[jdoggrr]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and wanted to ask some advice. I have a clown knife fish who has been in my tank for about a week now, and seemed to be doing well prior to the weekend. When I returned home this morning, he was face down in the gravel and immobile. I went to scoop him to send him to the big fishbowl in the sky, but it turns out he was alive! He swims in a weird cork-screwy kind of way, with one side always bent, and his anal fin (the long one that runs along the bottom) is nonfunctional.

ammonia seems ok, but the pH is pretty basic (7.4). is there a way to make it more acidic fast?

I have two dwarf guoramis, three angels, five heteromorpha and a pictus cat in a natural-plant 29 gallon tank.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Kryten]

The quickest way is to use a chemical called "PH Up" (or something similar that does the same thing), which is an additive to add to the water to increase the PH

Make sure you use the correct amount specified, as I have see people use too much (not worth it). You can not increase the PH by more than .02 per 24-hour period. So you can only go from 7.4 to 7.6 over 24 hours. Although it is tempting to increase it straight up to the desired amount (not sure what is correct for this type of fish) but this may kill the fish, so stick exactly to the instructions

Good luck, let us know how you get on

 

[jdoggrr]

Thanks for the input. My next step is to get to the pet store and find myself some chemicals. Alas, circumstances prevent that from happening immediately. Since the pH is basic, does anyone know of any household products (apart from Clorox ) that I can use to safely increase the acidity of my tank?

 

[cichlidmaster]

but the pH is pretty basic (7.4). is there a way to make it more acidic fast?

In order to make the ph more acidic you want to LOWER the ph not raise it!!!!! Try using some peat moss in your filter.

CM

 

[CFC]

Is the knife in the 29g with the other fish you have listed?

 

[jdoggrr]

yes, well, he was. He died last night after three hours in intensive care. Interestingly, the pet shop from which he was bought mentioned that every one of their knife fish was suffering from the same condition, and that they had no idea what the cause was. Everything seems to be ok in the tank now, but I would like to figure out what this may have been since I will undoubtedly buy another knife fish later.

 

[CFC]

Did the fish store happen to mention that clown knifes grow to 4 foot long are highly aggressive and will eat any smaller fish

 

[superman]

I echo what cat fish crazy is hinting at. If you are planning to get a knife fish, make sure that you are sincere in your plans to eventually put him in a much larger tank, like a 100+ gallon tank. I love my clown knife, they don't grow extremely fast, I think that mine has grown about 4 inches in 6 months, actually maybe that is fast? good luck in keeping this fish, he WILL eat smaller fish if he can get them in his mouth, but they generally aren't a fin nipper, just a fish eater. They will actually be a little scared of fish that are at all aggressive that are barely big enough for them to eat, and obvously very scared of fish that are MUCH bigger than them, so good hiding spots are a must. Well, good luck, sorry about your loss, that is sad

 

[jdoggrr]

ah yes, I was fully cognizant of the potential for growth. He would have lived with me until too big, and then moved to my lab to live with the larger fish, or perhaps to the aquarium (Scripps Institute). The real reason that I got him was to hook wires up to a speaker, drop them in the water, and listen to him 'talk'. But then, I am a science nerd... 8)

 

[superman]

Are you talking about the electromagnetic fields that some knife fish eminate? I am not sure that clown knife fish even create an electricity, I am sure that black ghost knife fish do, and elephant noses do (to list a few common fish) I know that almost all fish have a small electomagnetic field, but the BGK and Elephant nose fish are ones that create ones in pulses that are intense enough to measure easily. I haven't heard of the speaker hooked up to the water idea, does it work?