L02 Tiger Plec

[iihay]

Hi,

I bought a LO2 tiger plec earlier today and introduced him to my mature cycled tank. Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Nitrate <5 pH 7 CO2 30ppm

The LFS tank temp was about a degree higher and pH alledgedly was 7.6 but 9 by my calibrated meter. when I got home. I did the usual very slow change of water due to the high pH difference and eventually moved him in. About an hour later he hadn't moved and then suddenly rolled onto his back panting furiously. He is now that right way up and looks a little calmer as I did a 50% change of water immediately to bring the pH up a little and also reduce the CO2 in case that was the problem (I measure by KH and pH so might not be accurate). pH is now 7.7 in the tank. I also dropped in an airstone and turned on the venturi on my filter to get loads of O2 in there. It was about an hour after doing this that he righted himself and moved off.

My question is can I do anything else or do I need to sit it out and see if he is ok. It was a scary hour, never spent more than two quid on a fish and he cost 25, he is a lovely fish as well.

Cheers

Iain

 

[WILDER]

If there was a big difference in ph it sounds like you have climatised his to fast.
It can takes hours if the ph is a big swing.
How is he now.

pH Shock

As its name suggests this condition occurs when a fish is introduced to quickly into a new environment which has a very different pH from the one it came from, when the pH is adjusted to quickly and the fish have little or no time to adjust themselves, or when the pH is to far outside the fishes normal range.

It is very important that any change in water chemistry is made slowly and fish should never be exposed to changes of pH greater than 0.5 of one unit on the pH scale in either direction.

Avoidance is by far the best solution because in most cases the symptoms don't appear until the second or third day by which time the damage has been done and the fish will probably die.

A fish suffering from this condition will show all the typical signs of shock -

Lying on the bottom and paying little or no attention to its surroundings and ignoring potential threats.
It may even lay on its side or go upside down completely.
There could be other signs to, related to Acidosis and Alkalosis
Excessive mucus production.
Rapid breathing.
Swollen abdomen. (Alkalosis only).
If the condition is allowed to go on for one or two days then the chances of a successful remedy are greatly reduced because a lot of damage will have taken place. If the symptoms are spotted early enough there are a couple of things that will help.

Begin to return the pH to the original pH in steps of 0.4 of one unit on the pH scale and allow 3 hrs in between the adjustments. Make these adjustments until the pH is returned to a safe and satisfactory level.
Treat the tank with a broad spectrum anti-Bacteria/Fungus compound to prevent secondary infections of the Skin and Gills.
Prevention is easy. A successful treatment isn't!

 

[rabbut]

Probibly the CO2 that did it. Fish that are not used to CO2 in large amounts will often go belly up when placed in a new tank with high CO2 levels. Sounds like you acted swiftly and correctly to fix the issue though. In future drop the CO2 to 15ppm before adding new fish, and build it back up again over a few days.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[iihay]

If there was a big difference in ph it sounds like you have climatised his to fast.
It can takes hours if the ph is a big swing.
How is he now.

Thanks, I took about 4 hours to do it originally so not long enough. He seems fine now the tank pH has lifted. I 'll treat the tank as suggested and keep a close eye on him. The advice is greatly appreciated and will almost certainly be useful for next time as the lfs pH readings are obviously very badly out.

CO2 wise I'm still pumping in the O2 with CO2 totally off so I'll adjust it back up over a few days. I just moved to a fire extinguisher set up so very easy to control now, a gradual increase should be easy to do.

Iain

edit. He's looking full of beans now, settling in nicely, thanks for the advice