Problem with Syn.Petricola's

[Bonnie]

I have 4 S.Petricolas, they've been in the tank from the beginning, 2 years now. Always looked good, they hide alot and swim around occasionally,ok. I know wild SP's would normally have a tank with high ph. The breeder I bought them from bred them in a neutral ph 7.0, and that's what my tank was at the beginning. I recently started noticing them coming up to the top of the tank and actually bobbing their heads out of the water, and 2 of them look extremely thin, in fact they look like big heads with skinny bodies! None of the other fish are having any problems. All params are fine, 0Ammonia,0 nitrites and 0-5ppm nitrates, the only thing is over time the ph went all the way down to 6.0. I thought maybe they weren't getting enough food so I would put food at night in their area of the tank, in fact I'm probably putting too much food in the tank. Could it be parasites? But if it was then other fish would be having problems as well. I usually clean the tanks once a week, however summer is a busy time so it's every 2 weeks, I went back to once a week. Could it be possible I have too many bottom dwellers? 2 super red BN's, and one whiptail cat, the tank is 75g's. other then the ph I can't figure out what is happening to them. If anyone has some experience with them, if you have any ideas please let me know, I really like these guys, thanks.

[john fox]

I don't have any experience with those fish ; but I was having a problem with guppys I tried every thing and then I tried raising the ph ;now these guppys are so lively I get tired just watching them swim up and down the glass(:-))I bought a bag of crushed coral and use that in my box filters in 10 gallon tanks . In my 55 I have an aqua clear filter and put the crushed coral in mesh bags to bring up the ph . In that tank there is 13 Africans 2 convicts 4 Cory's 1 pleco and 1 striped Rafael all r doing very well ,in fact the yellow labs bred .. Well I hope some of this information helps🐠🐟🐬🐳🐋

[Bonnie]

thanks John, I was going to try the crushed coral but lfs would only sell me a 15lb bag! I just want to bring the ph back to 7.0. I have a AC110 and an eheim 2217. I would throw a small bag of it in the 110. If you have a small amount of crushed coral you can part with I'll buy it from you if you're at the next meeting. Or I can go on another forum and ask if anyone wants to split a bag,haha,like 10 people. Kidding aside I really want to try and get them back to a healthy state. I would put a picture but it only asks for a url which I have no idea about, I need the browser so I can go to my pictures, maybe if someone saw what he looks like it would help. Thanks again John!

[john fox]

If u would like I can bring some crushed coral to the next meeting ; let me know 🐠🐟🐬🐌

[stevem]

first you have to address the issue as to why the ph is dropping
to much food will do it
Do you vacuum the gravel, make sure there is not a lot of debris on the bottom
move around some rocks.
If ph drops there is a reason putting in coral is not the answer
like putting a bandaid on a gun shot.

[john fox]

I think it's not a problem of ph dropping , it's just a matter of raising the ph to the fishes needs our ph out of the tap is 6.8/7.0 so what if u have fish that require a higher ph 7.8 u add something that raises the ph and the easy and cheap way to go IS crushed coral. I did that in my guppy tanks and what a difference . I was down in fla at my brothers his plants ie; hornwort baby tears and fish were doing fantastic and this is guy who nos nothing about fish I tested his tap 7.8 that is y I raised mine and I'm telling u what a difference these fish r so active I get tired watching them🐠🐟🐬🐋

[john fox]

By the way it might not work for everyone but its worth a try(:-)))

[stevem]

she is saying the ph dropped to 6.0
there has to be a reason for that
even if you buffer the water, and there is a problem, it will stiill drop

[Bonnie]

first you have to address the issue as to why the ph is dropping
to much food will do it
Do you vacuum the gravel, make sure there is not a lot of debris on the bottom
move around some rocks.
If ph drops there is a reason putting in coral is not the answer
like putting a bandaid on a gun shot.


Well I finally had the time to do a really good cleaning and not just a water/vacuum bottom change. I moved a piece of wood and O-M-G what came floating out from under there. Like heavy mulm type stuff. I tried to vac most of it up and I moved rocks and vac'd behind and underneath. I guess I have to give it at least 24 hours before I test again? By the time I was finished I must have syphoned out at
least 35-40g's maybe more, it's a 75g. Next thing is the Eheim 2217, that's for Saturday and the 110hob I"ll do tomorrow. Not that I don't clean those but maybe I have to get to the Eheim more often...not every 6-8mos:(
I was told when I first started up the tank that you don't have to do it for at least a year, came to find out that was wayyy wrong. I try for every 6 mos. Is that good or should it be cleaned more often? Everything but the PH is perfect, I never have any ammonia, nitrites and low nitrates usually betwn 0-5ppm. Hope this helps already lost one petricola.

[stevem]

i like to clean hof every 4 weeks, the canister you could ussually go about 2 monthes.
there are factors like how many fish, how much do you feed, the size of the fish.
I feed only what my fish can consune in about 1 minute, to avoid that fallen food that accumulates.
when disturbing the hidden food it is important to vacuum it all up, or you are lickly to get spikes.

[Bonnie]

I don't have my red hump eartheater anymore so it will be easier to feed just a little at a time. I used to keep feeding them because of that fish, he would eat everything. Can you go a day without feeding them?

[stevem]

skipping a feeding every 2 weeks or so is actually benificial to most fish
It helps clean them out
with some large aggresive fish this can sometimes be a problem

[Bonnie]

That's what I thought. We do it with our dogs in the summer. Every Sunday during the heat they
don't get fed, it's actually good for their systems.
Thanks:D