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Hello everyone.. Dont know if this is totally normal. Almost seems like a constant lounging, sedate attitude in my community tank since I introduced the bottom gravel. Everyone is no longer zooming and zapping all over . they all seem to be lying down EXCESSIVELY on the gravel like they are constantly relaxing.. I dont know if this is normal? No conditions have changed. temperature, ph etc have remained normal. I had a cray fish in there and I dont know if that scared the hell out of most of them but I removed him.. He was a tiny one and can you imagine he tore my angel fish to bits over nite. I am so angry. I could just dump his butt in hot water for doing that! But Im learning..



Hobbyists

What fish are in your tank? How long has it been? Did you switch substrates or was your tank bottomless before?

When you change something, normal behavior should resume shortly, but if their prior behavior was stressed behavior then you don't want that. On the other hand, not many fish sit on the bottom other than bottom feeders, so this seems somewhat unusual. Did you check ammonia or nitrites?

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I got zebras and mollies and 2 angel fishes... They all live very good together...

I did a water change... the tank had no substrate before and I then put it... Ammonia and nitrate levels are fine... They are beginning to get a bit more active though.. just seem a bit sluggish a few of them!



Hobbyists

I have never seen mollies lay around on the bottom of the tank. Even when they are sick they tend to hang closer to the middle or top.

I have some zebras and they do hang out closer to the gravel. The smallest one I have (the albino) hides amongst the gravel on the bottom. The other ones 'patrol' the bottom area of the tank. So they may just be getting used to it.

I have no experience with angel fish but I am sorry to hear that your cray fish did damage to them. That's a shame.

Hopefully your fish will become more active within a couple of days. They probably need a day or two to adjust to their new surroundings. Imagine if you had hard wood floors and then one day you came home and you suddenly had carpet! Let's say you never saw carpet before. You might lay on it too. lol Okay, so maybe it isn't the best analogy but still, they might be getting used to it.

They were actually 'asleep' on the bottom as if they were drugged for up to 16 hours! Foruntately, trhey only got back to normal spritey self a few hours ago..

I did a water change and put some anti fungal/bacteria tablet in the water and that seem to help ALOT..

But, I also suspect maybe they were scared of the 2 inch cray fish? He was terrorising one of the angel fishes which he ate up . Boy was I pissed off..

I got 7 mollies: 4 black, 2 spotted and 2 pure white and they all were sleeping on the gravel floor of the tank!

So it still remains a msytery what caused this weird behaviour which I noticed instantly!



Hobbyists

They were actually 'asleep' on the bottom as if they were drugged for up to 16 hours! Foruntately, trhey only got back to normal spritey self a few hours ago..

I did a water change and put some anti fungal/bacteria tablet in the water and that seem to help ALOT..

But, I also suspect maybe they were scared of the 2 inch cray fish? He was terrorising one of the angel fishes which he ate up . Boy was I pissed off..

I got 7 mollies: 4 black, 2 spotted and 2 pure white and they all were sleeping on the gravel floor of the tank!

So it still remains a msytery what caused this weird behaviour which I noticed instantly!

Has anyone had similar experience?



Hobbyists

Posssible temperary oxygen drop, possible caused by ambient bacteria, sounds like the treatment and the water change fixed it, but id be tempted to make sure oxygenators were used or turned right up, also worth checking if the surface layer got oily after a fish death, that sort of thing.

Thankns alot Git... That is very itneresting on the low oxygenation.. I had actually taken off the Filter ( Millenium) one for a few hours BUT I still had an air stone pumping air bubbles in the tank so maybe that had caused it. I figured I leave the filter off for a few hours for wear and tear but maybe that caused it.. But then again, they were behaving weird even before that happened!

Today, they are totally hyper and darting all over the tank like their normal selves.



Hobbyists

You should never turn your filter off for a couple of hours, When im cleaning mine i keep it to 15 mins max. This could have killed off a considerable amount of bacteria, and you could now experience a mini cycle in your tank. Glad to hear the fish are doing okay, but moniter closely and also check to see if the tablet you put in damages filter bacteria.

The filter should never be turned off for too longer period the bacteria needs the airated flowing water to survive, and it dies off very fast as well, the airpumb is merly disrupting the surface allowing ammonia etc to escape faster.

Now you have added the gravel though it will rapidly fill with bacteria, and hopefully it will go into your filter also so it should recover

Ah that explains it, bacteria cant process ammonia that isnt brought to them and doesnt pass through the filter, probably temporay ammon spike, this causes initially a gill lamellae thickening, and then depending on the spikes severity, some literal damage, it will of course reduce the oxygen level available to the fish by ruining its breathing efficiency. Filter back on again without the culture being entirely dead,combined with a water change, the ammonia is processed again, the damage reduced, and fish get some o2 and back off the bottom. That was probably a close one.

As advised, dont ever turn off a filter during day to day routine. Even when changing media or maintaining it most experienced fishkeepers try to keep times filters are turned off to under 15 minutes, the point at which a noticeable beginning of bacterial death can occur under certain conditions. Even changing media and running through pipes on a big external filter can be done in under 5 minutes with a little practise, and it helps as part of your skillset , to get filter maintenance done in the shortest possible time for maximum tank stability.

just curious but i thought fish hung closer to the top when oxygen is low?

The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we dont know what to do.

Actually guys, this happened way before I took off the filter... If I recall, there was a power cut for a couple hours the day when it happened!

This makes so much sense with the cycle..

Now, you guys mentioned the fact about the tablet that can potentially kill out the bacteria in the filter.. Is that why they tell you to remove the filter catridges when you put the diffusing type chromate tablets???? Am I correct?

There is a green tablet that has effervescent.. I put a bit to kill the bacteria and fungus.. But how do you ensure this doesnt kill out ALL the bacteria in the substrate too??

Now just supposing, the filter was turned off for a couple hours BUT an air stone with a powerful air stream was maintained 24/7. Wont that have work in preventing the ammonia cycle then?

Thanks alot guys..great work!

many thanks



Hobbyists

Actually, they tell you take out the filter cartridges because the filter cartridges contain carbon, which will suck medications right out of the water, making your treatment useless.

What's with all the meds? Is something wrong in your tank? You shouldn't need to be adding anything and worrying about it unless something is wrong, something I'm not sure you've mentioned.

If the tablet is going to kill the beneficial bacteria, then I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can do to stop it except not using it in the first place. You just have to monitor your ammonia and such and make sure it doesn't get too high.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.