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Author Topic:   Green Terror is ill
zeke5336
New Member

Posts: 5
From:Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 08-17-2003 04:20 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for zeke5336     Edit/Delete Message
I am having a problem with my Green Terror. It seems that she has "seizures". She flops all over the tank running into everything and scraping her scales on the rocks. For the past month she can not swim level. If she is hovering in one spot her tail end falls down and she floats with her head facing up. She will fall to the gravel and let her tail sit on the bottom. I have asked 3 different fish stores and no one can seem to come up with an answer. I'm really worried something is terribly wrong. I have raised her since she was 3 cm and you could see through her. She lives alone in a 30 gallon tank.

Can anyone help figure out what is wrong?

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gr8fuljames
Member

Posts: 277
From: Indy
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-20-2003 04:10 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for gr8fuljames     Edit/Delete Message
I realize this is a few days old but it seems it has slipped through a crack.
If you are still having problems first answer a few questions and maybe someone can help.
1) have you or do you check water parameters such as amonia, nitrite, ph, ect.? are they good?
2) have you done any water changes latly? how much?
3) do you see any signs of disease or infection? discoloration,lumps,redness.
4) have you introduced anything new into the tank? (lately or say a month ago)

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James (The Grateful One)

[This message has been edited by gr8fuljames (edited 08-20-2003).]

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zeke5336
New Member

Posts: 5
From:Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 08-21-2003 05:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for zeke5336     Edit/Delete Message
This has been going on with my Green Terror for over a month. I have done 50% water changes. The amonia level was alittle high before I changed the water. The only marks that she has on her are the scrapes she gets when she has the "seizures".

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gr8fuljames
Member

Posts: 277
From: Indy
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-21-2003 09:03 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for gr8fuljames     Edit/Delete Message
Is this a new tank or old tank? I don't like to see any amonia it's very bad even lethal to fish. Very possible that's your problem.

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James (The Grateful One)

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zeke5336
New Member

Posts: 5
From:Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 08-26-2003 05:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for zeke5336     Edit/Delete Message
The tank is as old as the fish...about 6 or 7 years. I checked the water and the amonia was only slightly detectable. Nothing a water change didn't fix. Would amonia make a fish swim vertical? And can the effects be reversed or will she swim this way from now on? I have never heard of a fish that did this.

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gr8fuljames
Member

Posts: 277
From: Indy
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-26-2003 08:44 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for gr8fuljames     Edit/Delete Message
Hey,
Your original post was from 8-17-2003. Does the fish still have all of the same symptoms?
I'm not sure about making it swim vertical but I'm positive that amonia would make a fish scrap against rocks and generally freak out. Just imagine what swimming in amonia would do to you or me. Even if your water change cleared the amonia I would continue to test. A well established tank should not show any amonia unless you get a spike due to O.T.S. If you are getting zero amonia and the fish still has same symptoms I'd start looking at something else. Let us know.

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James (The Grateful One)

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zeke5336
New Member

Posts: 5
From:Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 08-26-2003 08:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for zeke5336     Edit/Delete Message
The fish isn't flopping around right now but she is still swimming vertical. Is there anything besides water changes that I can use to ensure that the amonia does not come back? I do put plenty of salt in the tank when I do a water change.

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kc5gvn

Moderator

Posts: 806
From:
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 08-26-2003 08:47 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for kc5gvn     Edit/Delete Message
1)How often are you doing water changes?
2)How much water do you change in your water changes?
3)How much salt do you add when you do your water changes?
4)What other chemicals do you add and at what dosage when you do your water changes?

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zeke5336
New Member

Posts: 5
From:Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 08-27-2003 05:40 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for zeke5336     Edit/Delete Message
I change 50% of the water once a month. I have a 30 gallon tank so I add 3 well rounded tablespoons of salt plus some B-Clear to clear the water. I have a bio-chemical tank and was told that I do not need to put anything else in the tank.

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gr8fuljames
Member

Posts: 277
From: Indy
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-27-2003 10:50 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for gr8fuljames     Edit/Delete Message
Some may disagree but It's my opinion that if you get an amonia spike the only safe thing to due is do large water changes daily this will dilute the amonia untill your bio system catches up.By large I mean 40 to 50 percent. If you still have amonia I would do this starting now. When you get the amonia out go to smaller changes every other day untill you read no nitrites.
After you read no amonia and no nitrites you need to change your maintenance schedule. 50 percent once a month is to large of a change. Do smaller changes more often say 25 percent every other week.
There are products on the market for amonia but the ones that I have seen and researched do not eliminate the amonia they just detoxify it. In my opinion this can be very dangerous. Like I said "Just my opinion".

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James (The Grateful One)

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kc5gvn

Moderator

Posts: 806
From:
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 08-27-2003 10:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for kc5gvn     Edit/Delete Message
zeke5336, Wooooo! If your adding 3 tablespoons of salt every month when you do a 50% water change you're way overloaded on the salt content. Remember, water will evaporate from the tank but salt does not evaporate. In less than a years time with that type maintenance you have a freshwater fish trying to live in a Marine environment. If you're changing out 50% of the water, only add 50% of a full dose of salt. This quite possibly could be the reason you have a problem with ammonia. You could be creating a cycle hang. Since there is no way of knowing at this point how much salt is in the tank my best suggestion is to GRADUALLY get your tank back to a freshwater environment. I would suggest changing 10% of the water every other day for two weeks without adding any salt. After that, get on a regular schedule of changing 20% of the water once a week and adding 2 TEASPOONS of salt with the water change. Salt contents that high on freshwater fish will not only affect the swim bladder but every other function from blood to digestion. Once a fish has acclimated to salt content that high it is hard to get them back to freshwater, so it must be done gradually.

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