What Have I Done?

[kittilove]

Ok,
I have been a fish keeper for about 8 years now and I had my 75 gallon
well established with perfect water quality and little maintenance.
Then the inevitable started to happen when i started
losing my senior fish to age (my original fish)
My tank suddenly seemed empty with few inhabitants so I
decided to start to slowly restock it
Next thing i know i am like a kid in a candy store and over the last couple of months
have overstalked my tank, as well as ended up with a peacock eel that is far too timid for my tank
noone is picking on him but he is starting to starve to death and even refuses live dew worms
there are no stores in the area at all that supply live food so i purchased
some worms from a bait store but so far no luck and my eel is paper thin
I also have nitrate in my tank. It is minimal and i am doing frequent
water changes. there is no ammonia or nitrite at all, and the PH seems to be sitting at 7.4
The problem is i am contantly overfeeding the tank at night in desperation to save this stupid eel

my tank inhibitants are:

3x buenos aires tetras
3x cardinal tetras
1x lamp eye tetra (i saved him)
2x 4" angelfish
1x 4" pidgeon blood discus
2x Rapheal cats
2x pictus cats
2x upside down cats
1x rainbow shark
1x yoyo loach
1x farlowella cat
1x peacock eel

the only fish that is not happily established to this tank is the eel and yes i am very aware
that he shouldnt be with such competition for food
he was a spir of the moment stupid decision but i would hate to lose him
I don't know what to do!

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Do you test the water on a regular basis? If so what results do you get?

Have a search for "old tank syndrome" see if that is applicable?

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Nitrate in the tank is fine in small quantities - most tap water has nitrate - it is the by-product of the nitrogen cycle.

You should aim to keep Nitrate levels below 40ppm.

Nitrite needs to be kept at 0ppm
Ammonia needs to be kept at 0ppm

 

[kittilove]

Nitrate in the tank is fine in small quantities - most tap water has nitrate - it is the by-product of the nitrogen cycle.

You should aim to keep Nitrate levels below 40ppm.

Nitrite needs to be kept at 0ppm
Ammonia needs to be kept at 0ppm

I realize this and as i have said above the ammonia and nitrite are at 0
But there is more nitrate then usual and although the nitrate is below 40ppm
i am well aware that the tank is being overfed and poluted to compensate
for my eel. I am trying to find a solution

*** i also wanted to add that i am currently trying to buffer my PH back down to 7
for my discus who does not seem stressed, but i do not want to risk his health

 

[Tropical_Fish]

I realize this and as i have said above the ammonia and nitrite are at 0
But there is more nitrate then usual and although the nitrate is below 40ppm

But you added that after I posted!

If your stats are all like you say they are, then I'd be looking into OTS.

 

[drobbyb]

I agree about the OTS (Old Tank Syndrome) being a possibility. OTS happens when the fish have been in a polluted set up for a long time. Any large shift in the water chemistry can spell disaster as your fish are acclimated to the bad conditions. Any sudden change is bad.

 

[kittilove]

OTS happens when the fish have been in a polluted set up for a long time. Any large shift in the water chemistry can spell disaster as your fish are acclimated to the bad conditions. Any sudden change is bad.

How "long" is a long time to be polluted? It has only been so for about a couple of months.
Before then my tank was running beautifully with no nitrate as it was not overstocked,
not overfed and well established. In the last couple of months i have added 9 of the fish listed in my previous post,
two at a time spaced adequately. It has only been since i have been overfeeding to try to compensate
for the eel that the water has been polluted...

Oh and "tropical fish" i didn't see your post until after as my computer froze
and posted before i was done typing so i had to go back and edit

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Your Discus doesn't need water buffered, but he shouldn't be left alone as they are schooling fish. Do you have a hospital tank? Is there a possibility of your eel being sick?

 

[kittilove]

Your Discus doesn't need water buffered, but he shouldn't be left alone as they are schooling fish. Do you have a hospital tank? Is there a possibility of your eel being sick?

well for now the discus is actually grouping with the angels.
He was supposed to be in a group of 3 but i am trying to balance my tank again
from what i have researched, he requires the PH to be 6-7 to be healthy and unstressed
so I was trying to lower it a bit

as far as the eel, i do have a 10gallon hospital tank but it is uncycled and sitting empty right now, as i had to disinfect it.
I have had him for about a month now and he has only eaten once that i have seen ( a tiny earth worm)
but now he is disturbingly thin and showing no interest in the dew worms. They are larger then the earth
worm that he ate but i have been unable to find another in my garden.
I had to purchase live bait worms that are too big. he picks at them but he is too small and weak
to grab them. I have tried chopping them up bu tthen he loses interes because they do
not squirm as much
There is always the posibility that he becomes ill from stress but the water quality has
only nitrate and it is a low amount, and noone is picking on him

 

[ellena]

Sounds like the eel is the only problem really then? Your tank stats are fine. Maybe he needs to go back if you can't house him in a separate tank-he's obviously not happy.

 

[indigoj]

Chances are the eel could have an internal bacteria problem, also how big is he? Small young eels can be very prone to stress/not eating/not settling well but can be very hardy once you get them through the first few months.

Don't worry about nitrate - levels under about 100ppm are not going to trouble your fish too much.

I'd try daily 10% water changes for 2 weeks. I'd also stop messing with your ph for now at least.

If you can isolate the eel I'd try that.

While doing all this have a serious think about your stock -

3x buenos aires tetras
3x cardinal tetras
1x lamp eye tetra (i saved him) - all the tetras need to be in a group of 6 minimum - consider keeping just one type.
2x 4" angelfish
1x 4" pidgeon blood discus - as you know needs more discus
2x Rapheal cats - no problem with these
2x pictus cats - ideally need a bigger group which you don't have space for.
2x upside down cats - shouldn't be a problem
1x rainbow shark - will not get along with other bottom dwellers long term
1x yoyo loach - needs a group of 4 or more
1x farlowella cat - no problem
1x peacock eel - fine if you can get him eating - the greedy catfish and shark will bother him though.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

How often do you change water / clean the gravel? How much water do you change each time?

If you are over feeding at the moment just clean up the excess with a gravel vac on a regular basis and your levels will be fine.


You could do with setting the spare tank up, if you use a bit of the mature media from the main tanks filter you should be cycled in no time. The eel could then be isolated. It was the old fish all dying off together which made me think that it might be Old Tank Syndrome. Have you had a search/read up on OTS to see if you think it does match your symtoms?

Also what are you using to test your water?

 

[arobinson1984]

Can you get hold of bloodworm or other frozen food?

Defrost a block of frozen bloodworm into a cup of tank water and draw some bloodworms and water into a turkey baster and gently squirt them just above the eels head and see if it will eat.

This is a technique often used when dwarf frogs are kept in tanks and struggle to get food.

Andy

 

[kittilove]

well, the tank does not seem to match the OTS description, and the older fish \
seemed to die one at a time spaced out.
I am using nutrafin testing kits to test nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, PH, water softness
everything has been steadily ideal for years without any problems
everyone is co-existing nicely with exception of my eel and my lamp tetra
The cardinals and buenos aires are schooled together.
I am wanting to add a couple of discus and more lamp tetras but
i need to sort out my tank first
I clean my tank once a week (used to only have to once a month)
as for the yoyo, he is fine alone. He is a big fat pig
and prefers to be solitary. he has killed before but has not been agressive
for a while now, since i stopped trying to put him with like fish
My eel is about 5-6" long, he is quite young
I am worried that a 10gallon would be far too small and stressful
for him but maybe it would be ideal just to get him healthy again
while he is small......

 

[indigoj]

The 10 gal will be fine for a few weeks to build him up, just acclimatise slowly and keep the tank quiet with lots of hiding places - tubes are loved by eels.