[philipraposo1982]

As i am still very worried about my fish and its starting to make me think its not solely stress from the ph swing. I need you guys to have a look and see if your trained eyes see something that I am missing with her. any signs of disease / illness?

 

[Oxl]

Looks like a bacterial infection to me, a bit of aquarium salt added to the water may help him fight it off.

 

[philipraposo1982]

what makes you say that? what picture shows a bacteria infection? what should i be looking for?

 

[Italionstallion888]

not seeing anything external on the fish. Loss of color from being stressed. Is it getting chased around the tank by the other male at all?

 

[philipraposo1982]

nope, the stress is from the big ph swing due to a wc. happened 3 days ago. colour is slowly returning but breathing heavily still remains and fatigue.

 

[Italionstallion888]

How big of "swing" did you have? How's the water temp?

Did you get these from a LFS, private seller?

 

[jmf3460]

Shoot I don't see nothing in the world wrong with her, what makes you say she is stressed or sick, what are her symptoms?

 

[philipraposo1982]

i have had both of them for about 4 weeks.

temp 79-80
ammo 0
nitrites 0
nitrate less than 5

the ph went from 6.4-7.4... my tap is 8
i did 15g wc and it bumped a full point, she loss all of her colour at that point but its been coming back over the past few days.

she is just really fatigued and breathing heavy but not as fast as before. eating very little. not active like the past few days. its been roughly 3 days since the ph swing. ph is slowly going back down. this morning was at 6.8


she was hiding most of the day so far. she comes out once and a while when the male gets her. they have spawned twice already since i got them.
she is out now but just not doing a whole lot. i am just very worried that my poor girl is going to stress out to death or maybe something else is going on.

all my other fish are perfect. even my 7 otos are eating and active like crazy. everyone is thriving.

 

[jmf3460]

so your ph swing went from low to high?? this doesn't hurt fish, its when a ph swing goes from higher to lower that causes ph burn. if your swing went high to low, she is being stressed by something else.

 

[philipraposo1982]

i am telling you thats what it is. the first time i did a wc it was a larger one and just simply removing water from the tank she freaked out and swam around like a crazy bitch for a few seconds then froze and breathing like crazy. all i did was remove water and that was the reaction i got.

she was frozen and wouldn't move for like 30 min. i was freaking out like she was having a stroke.

this time removing the water was fine but after about 30min to and hour she lost all the color and breathing so heavy.

she seems to freak right out. but yes the ph went up a full point. she was fine up until the wc. and as you can see from pics physically there is no signs of anything.

 

[jmf3460]

well I think she might be freaking out from something else, its not the ph, a rise in ph does not cause ph burn...im sure you do but, you do de-chlorinate right??

 

[Italionstallion888]

The water you put back into the tank was about the same temp as the tank water?

I do not believe it's ph that's stressing the fish out. My ph swings a full point daily and my rams do just fine.

 

[Krispyplants]

so your ph swing went from low to high?? this doesn't hurt fish, its when a ph swing goes from higher to lower that causes ph burn. if your swing went high to low, she is being stressed by something else.

Actually if a fish tolerates lower ph levels and a water change with high ph certainly will do something. Don't know if it will hurt or effect them dramatically but it will stress them out. It goes both ways, high to low and low to high depending on the type of fish you have. Most people states that only the drop of ph will effect fish but this opinion is created because most beginners will have hardier fish.

i am telling you thats what it is. the first time i did a wc it was a larger one and just simply removing water from the tank she freaked out and swam around like a crazy bitch for a few seconds then froze and breathing like crazy. all i did was remove water and that was the reaction i got.

she was frozen and wouldn't move for like 30 min. i was freaking out like she was having a stroke.

this time removing the water was fine but after about 30min to and hour she lost all the color and breathing so heavy.

she seems to freak right out. but yes the ph went up a full point. she was fine up until the wc. and as you can see from pics physically there is no signs of anything.

Maybe you should try doing small water changes per day if you have the time. I found this very useful when I use to have fish that would hide in the corner for days after a big water change.

 

[Italionstallion888]

If these are not wild caught rams, the ph really shouldn't have impact on them, as they were more than likely raised in water similar to yours, unless you bought these from someone out of your local area. Have you been "messing" with the tank a lot trying to figure out what's wrong. It might not be anything tank related, it could just be you messing with the tank stressing her out. My bolivians turned very pale anytime I would mess the tank for about the first month or so of having them. Just food for thought.

Turn the lights off for an extra day and see if she comes around.

 

[Kubla]

"simply removing water from the tank she freaked out and swam around like a crazy bitch for a few seconds then froze and breathing like crazy. all i did was remove water and that was the reaction i got"

Why are you trying to blame the water you put in the tank? According to what you said here the stress came from removing the water.

 

[philipraposo1982]

well I think she might be freaking out from something else, its not the ph, a rise in ph does not cause ph burn...im sure you do but, you do de-chlorinate right??

i prime each 5g bucket before it goes it

"simply removing water from the tank she freaked out and swam around like a crazy bitch for a few seconds then froze and breathing like crazy. all i did was remove water and that was the reaction i got"

Why are you trying to blame the water you put in the tank? According to what you said here the stress came from removing the water.

i am referig to another time, 2 weeks ago. but after the wc was done and about 30 min she was back to normal.

this time the heavy breathing and loss of colour came after the wc. like an hour.

The water you put back into the tank was about the same temp as the tank water?

I do not believe it's ph that's stressing the fish out. My ph swings a full point daily and my rams do just fine.

temp never moves i swear. i match temp

Maybe you should try doing small water changes per day if you have the time. I found this very useful when I use to have fish that would hide in the corner for days after a big water change.

i plan to do this going forward, doing 5g wc a day and letting the water sit 24 hours in between wc's.

i will not have this happen again. and if she still continue to freak out then i duno i will do more further digging.

If these are not wild caught rams, the ph really shouldn't have impact on them, as they were more than likely raised in water similar to yours, unless you bought these from someone out of your local area. Have you been "messing" with the tank a lot trying to figure out what's wrong. It might not be anything tank related, it could just be you messing with the tank stressing her out. My bolivians turned very pale anytime I would mess the tank for about the first month or so of having them. Just food for thought.

Turn the lights off for an extra day and see if she comes around.

this tank is really low tech and low maint. i don't mess with it. i feed and top off as needed. thats it.

anytime i trim plant she has been fine. or if i added or moved plants she never worries. i can pretty much pet her during feeding. my rams don't fear me at all. my pearls are far more skittish.

this morning i added 80ml of api stress coat just to see if it would have any effect.

i also just turned off the lights for the night to see if that helps calm her down. she has been more mobile as the day goes on. moving spot to spot but not doing much else. i did see her poop today too which seemed normal to me.

 

[Italionstallion888]

I meant more so looking in the tank from the visible sides, quick movements anything that would or could freak the fish out. Not so much being in the tank. Mine tend to go pale right before a spawn. :whoknows:

 

[philipraposo1982]

i spend a good part of each day seated in front of my tank and observing behavior and checking on plants. she comes to the glass when i am there, she goes to the top if i look in. the stress is coming from the ph swing. nothing else makes any sense.

 

[Italionstallion888]

what are your kh and gh levels?

 

[bsantucci]

I think you're stuck on wanting it to be ph, but I think it's much more likely just stress from the water change as noted. I would do more frequent smaller changes to see if that helps reduce the stress.

My tank runs a daytime ph of anywhere from 6-6.1 now and I do 50% water changes weekly from the tap which runs ph neutral without any ill effects or stress on the fish. What was noted above is correct, going low to high isn't really an issue, it is going to a lower more acidic water that you end up with burning their gills.