Hello,
I'm a new memeber and i have to admit that a concern with our small community tank has brought me here.
I was hoping some of you could help me. Note that I'm a novice keeper, still learning the basics.
We have a small tank with a male 2 year old hoplo catfish who is acting out of character. We have had him for 18 months with no problems up until now.
He is usually a voracious feeder and likes to rest on the bottom of the tank. Over the last ten days he has stopped eating and spends his time hiding behind the filter (at the top back of the tank) and gulping air. We have lost two juvenile mollies and a guppy in this time although strangely the juvenile bristle nose cat fish seem unaffected.
I have noticed this morning signs of tiny white specks on him but I think this is secondary to his problem.
We are having problems with water hardness of late in our area but I was unaware of this and continued to add the recommended amount of salts to each water change. Yesterday our water tested at 260ppm. Nitrate was 40 and ph 7.8. tank temperate is 28 which is it’s normal setting.
I did a 30% water change with no added salts. Ph is now 7.5 and I lowered the temperature slightly to 26 as I discovered hoplos like to be around 25. The hoplo’s behaviour has not changed.
I am still concerned that prior tank changes have raised the hardness up drastically and I’m concerned about how fast to bring it down and the best method to use.
Also is there anything else I can do to help the hoplo.
The tank is a small community tank which presently houses 4 tetra, a small clown loach, two juvenile bristlenose and one remaining guppy. My main concern is the hoplo though.
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
Thankyou
I'm a new memeber and i have to admit that a concern with our small community tank has brought me here.
I was hoping some of you could help me. Note that I'm a novice keeper, still learning the basics.
We have a small tank with a male 2 year old hoplo catfish who is acting out of character. We have had him for 18 months with no problems up until now.
He is usually a voracious feeder and likes to rest on the bottom of the tank. Over the last ten days he has stopped eating and spends his time hiding behind the filter (at the top back of the tank) and gulping air. We have lost two juvenile mollies and a guppy in this time although strangely the juvenile bristle nose cat fish seem unaffected.
I have noticed this morning signs of tiny white specks on him but I think this is secondary to his problem.
We are having problems with water hardness of late in our area but I was unaware of this and continued to add the recommended amount of salts to each water change. Yesterday our water tested at 260ppm. Nitrate was 40 and ph 7.8. tank temperate is 28 which is it’s normal setting.
I did a 30% water change with no added salts. Ph is now 7.5 and I lowered the temperature slightly to 26 as I discovered hoplos like to be around 25. The hoplo’s behaviour has not changed.
I am still concerned that prior tank changes have raised the hardness up drastically and I’m concerned about how fast to bring it down and the best method to use.
Also is there anything else I can do to help the hoplo.
The tank is a small community tank which presently houses 4 tetra, a small clown loach, two juvenile bristlenose and one remaining guppy. My main concern is the hoplo though.
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
Thankyou
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