Unwell Bala Shark

[castiel]

Well a day or two ahead of us taking the bala sharks back to the aquarium where we got them, one of them is very unwell today. Is obviously bouyant and struggling to stay the right way up. Is he a goner? Or any chance of saving?

It's anus looks quite red ... more so than the other shark.

 

[KittyKat]

Some information would help: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/2330-please-read-before-posting-to-emergency-section/

 

[fluttermoth]

It doesn't sound good tbh; my mum says that the smaller bala sharks are sometimes very difficult to settle into new tanks.

All you can really do is a couple of massive water changes and get back to us with the info, as KittyKay indicated.

 

[castiel]

Hi guys

Sorry for the lack of reply, realised that we were experiencing a nitrite spike (was at 5.0ppm) so have been busy with water changes to get back under control. The shark seems to be doing better, though is still a little unbalanced it seems.

The nitrite was down to 1.0ppm before the change we just did, so getting there.

[edit]now to 0.5

Cheers

 

[castiel]

Okay so this morning, the shark is looking at lot better! Zipping around and 'eating' off the plants and wood as normal. The other fish have a new lease of life too! Quite scary what nitrite can do ...

In other news, we saw our first fry this morning! Popped him into a breeding net (we are still waiting for the moss we ordered to arrive) to see how he goes. Wish he hadn't arrived when we need to continue doing water changes =0/

 

[fluttermoth]

Just pop the fry into a jug of tank water while you do your water changes, and pop him back in when you're done; as long as you dechlorinate and (roughly) temperature match, he'll be fine

 

[castiel]

Good, thanks! Still trying to work out which fish he came from, but by the colour it looks like the sunburst platy (though she is still very fat ... more to come?)

 

[fluttermoth]

Oh, it's honestly almost impossible to tell who's the mother of different fry as soon as you have more than one female! They can often look totally different from both parents!