help needed quickly please

N

newstu

AC Members
Dec 13, 2004
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Hi folks

I know this is slightly off-topic as it is coldwater but it doesnt look like the coldwater forum gets as much traffic as this one and i need some advice pretty quickly

I have recently set up 2nd aquarium in my bathroom with the intention of keeping coldwater fish - just went to my LFS and bought two shubunkins and popped them in over a period of about 1/2 an hour - more or less straight away they are pretty lifeless and just not moving at the bottom of the tank - i did tests on water and ammonian nitrite and nitrate seem OK - the thing that i think i may have done is misread the term coldwater pretty drastically - i have just done a temp check and it is 12.5 deg Celsius (54.5 deg Farenheit) - I may be able to borrow a heater for now to try and bring up the temeperature but is there a 'safe' way to do this?

Any help would be gratefully rec'd as I feel pretty awful about letting them die through my inexperience

Thanks

Stu
 
How cold is your bathroom? :( :eek: :( :eek: :(

Are you expecting this tank to come up to room temp at some point?

You're near the low end of what the AqC Species profile lists as its temperature range, but still inside. They do colder than that. Fishbase lists 0-41?C. Wow.

It may just be stress from moving, settling in. Do they have any decorations in there (ie. places to hide)?

Hope that helps a bit, but I'm a warmwater guy.
 
carpguy said:
How cold is your bathroom? :( :eek: :( :eek: :(

Well pretty cool! - the building is over 100yrs old and single brick at that end of the house (hey it means that the missus tends not to linger in there!)The rest of the house is heated by wood / coal burners so that part of the house does tend to be colder than the rest.

Will I harm the fish by popping in a heater from an tropical tank with the stat right down? I can borrow one for now until i can sort out the electrics in there - cannot really put power points into a bathroom in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well) hence I have had to put the pump outside of the bathroom and may have to try and source a heat source that will be the same

If I am going to 'heat' the tank any ideas of what sort of temperature I should be running at to keep these 'cold'water fish happy? I cant find shubunkins in the species profiles

Thanks

Stu
Click to expand...
 
I looked up goldfish on AqC and got 52-70? F.

This article on keeping goldfish lists Shubunkins as a variety that can be left to overwinter in a pond, as opposed to others that should be kept above 60?F. So a temp in the low to mid 50s should be fine for them. But somewhere in my googling I read that tthey like a steady temperature.

My fish seem to take a day or two to move in. So it may be stress from the move. Some hiding spots are going to make them more comfortable.

Also, you mention this is a new setup. Are you cycled? That could be it as well.
 
Just an idea but did you dechlorinate the water before adding fish? Chlorine or chloramine treated tapwater affects my tropicals, so would assume it has a similar effect on coldwater. Also shubunkins can be kept outside all year round and it must get pretty cold out there when it's frosty so would doubt that temp. is a real problem.
 
Newstu - it's possible the fish were kept in much warmer temperatures at the store, and they've been shocked by a sudden transfer into cold water.
These fish can be kept at colder temperatures, but no fish tolerates rapid swings in temperature well - they need to be acclimated to their new temperature. I'd call the store, find out what temp. they keep their shubunkins at, and raise your tank's temperature if need be. Then gradually lower the temperature over the course of a week or so, giving the fish time to adapt.
 
Hi and thanks to all for your help - I am pretty sure this is a temperature issue - the fish were kept in a bank of tanks right next to the trops so it stands a good chance that they will be pretty close to trop temp - the water is cycled and treated to rid of tap water nasties - i shall be taking your advice and slowly raising the temperature - my concern is how to do this - i can borrow a heater for now but it is the type used in a Juwel Aquarium and will not be enclosed in the 'tower' in a Juwel Aquarium - will this be sage to just pop in the tank or do I need to enclose it (if so any hints?)
They have plenty of fake foliage to hide behind and that is exactly what they are doing!

Thanks again for all your help and in anticipation of any further!!!


Stu
 
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