I have a 30 gallon heavily planted freshwater tank, currently home to a mated pair of Opaline Gourami and a school of Danios.
I was out of the country for 6 months, during which time my father was taking care of my tank. He had to move the tank to have some flooring redone and didn't follow my instructions. He added all new water back to the tank when he drained about 75% of it, and it killed off my Danios and an L187b that I had--probably because of trace amounts of chlorine. Needless to say, I was livid. :mad2:
Since I came home a few months ago, I've gotten the tank back on track. No ammonia or nitrites. Healthy nitrate levels, etc. The tank has been established for years and never had any problems before this incident. Although they survived the move, my Gouramis did not take it too well. When the other fish started dying, they became noticeably upset and began hiding. Before this, they had been very dominant fish in the tank, always out and guarding their food. They don't come out at all anymore. When I got back, I rearranged the tank hoping it might encourage them to come out (and to re-root all the plants my father tore up looking for the Danios), but they hide at the bottom of the tank in the plants ALL THE TIME. I also replenished the Danio school, hoping it would make them feel more secure to have more live fish in the tank.
They come out occasionally at night but if anything in the room so much as moves, they will crash into anything in the way to get back to hiding. They've been like this for about three months. I miss their old, happier personalities. And they're supposed to be a top fish, but instead they're constantly as buried in the vegetation as they can get. Are they just suffering from trauma? Is this the result of damage they may have incurred? Is there anything I can do to make them more comfortable? I've tried adding stress coat to the water. It doesn't seem to have any effect.
I was out of the country for 6 months, during which time my father was taking care of my tank. He had to move the tank to have some flooring redone and didn't follow my instructions. He added all new water back to the tank when he drained about 75% of it, and it killed off my Danios and an L187b that I had--probably because of trace amounts of chlorine. Needless to say, I was livid. :mad2:
Since I came home a few months ago, I've gotten the tank back on track. No ammonia or nitrites. Healthy nitrate levels, etc. The tank has been established for years and never had any problems before this incident. Although they survived the move, my Gouramis did not take it too well. When the other fish started dying, they became noticeably upset and began hiding. Before this, they had been very dominant fish in the tank, always out and guarding their food. They don't come out at all anymore. When I got back, I rearranged the tank hoping it might encourage them to come out (and to re-root all the plants my father tore up looking for the Danios), but they hide at the bottom of the tank in the plants ALL THE TIME. I also replenished the Danio school, hoping it would make them feel more secure to have more live fish in the tank.
They come out occasionally at night but if anything in the room so much as moves, they will crash into anything in the way to get back to hiding. They've been like this for about three months. I miss their old, happier personalities. And they're supposed to be a top fish, but instead they're constantly as buried in the vegetation as they can get. Are they just suffering from trauma? Is this the result of damage they may have incurred? Is there anything I can do to make them more comfortable? I've tried adding stress coat to the water. It doesn't seem to have any effect.
