Bala Shark died... other two doing fine (as far as I can tell)

H

hardnozehockey

AC Members
Sep 21, 2005
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The tank...
25 gallon (i'm upgrading to a 75 gallon in 4 months)
79 degrees faranheit with a 100 watt heater.
aqua clear filter #50
5 serpae tetras
1 clown pleco
8 amazon swords (10")

I decided after a month to get a bala shark. The first one came from a different LFS than the other two. I made sure that the ammonia and nitrite levels were very low. The bala (2 inches) was doing OK (i think) but he wasn't very energetic. He was eating but not swimming very well. I introduced two more bala sharks (3/4 inch each) 2 days later which were alot more energetic. On the third day, the first bala started swimming upside down and in random directions. After about 30 minutes of seeing this, I took him out and put him in a small hospital tank to avoid any kind of epidemic if it was caused my a parasite. I went to the LFS and they said it would be best to give the fish a generic antibiotic because the symptoms were of an infection to the swim bladder. I tried to administer the antibiotics, but the fish died about 6 hours later. After a close inspection, the dead bala had a greenish stomach. I checked the other balas and they were completely silver. I'm not sure if that green is because it died, but does anyone know what may have happened?

Should I be worried about my other fish? Did I do something wrong? Is it possible that it was sick or had picked something up at the LFS before I brought him home? I did alot of reading about this type of fish and I thought i was doing everything correctly... I guess I was wrong and I do not want to kill anymore fish.
 
hey there..

is ur tank cycled?
and i think its not enough for ammonia and nitrite levels to be low.. they should be at zero from wat ive read and heard..

wait for other responses..
:o
 
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Followup

I thought the tank was cycled. Ammonia was 0 and Nitirite was 0.5. Low nitrate, forgot the level but I do have quite a few plants and I think they absorb alot of the nitrate.
 
If you still have nitrIte you're not quite cycled yet. You're almost there, but you'll want to test the water every day and do water changes as needed to keep your nitrIte down. (below .5)
 
yeah Balas won't do well in anything less then 150 gallons at least. Even then I would err on the side of closer to 300 gallons. Far too large and active to be in anything smaller.
 
Just to add my .02, I have 3 in a 180g the biggest one is about 4-5 inches. It was AWFUL in the 55g I had him in before, they are sooo fast, he would hit the side of the tank if I came too close too quickly. Now it is doing much better b/c it has more room, but I would not keep them in anything smaller, I actually hope I'll have an even bigger tank before this biggest guy doubles in size.

I would think you might have gotten a bad fish/and your water conditions were what happened. Balas are pretty active fish, so if he wasn't from the start, that makes me think it wasn't the healthiest. Plus they are very easily stressed, which makes any water quality issues that much more important
Sorry to hear it
 
Thanks for the advice

I'll start water changes right now... I guess I'll have to return them. Since I only have two left :( does anyone think that a 150 Gal Long 60 x 24 x 25 would work for only those two (or perhaps just one)? It would give them some more room to turn around when they get bigger, the 5 feet of distance would be a nice long run distance. Would 72 inches long be better? The only problem between the 60 inch to 72 inch is about 200 dollars... however if it's not going to make a difference, I will take them back.
 
hardnozehockey said:
I'll start water changes right now... I guess I'll have to return them. Since I only have two left :( does anyone think that a 150 Gal Long 60 x 24 x 25 would work for only those two (or perhaps just one)? It would give them some more room to turn around when they get bigger, the 5 feet of distance would be a nice long run distance. Would 72 inches long be better? The only problem between the 60 inch to 72 inch is about 200 dollars... however if it's not going to make a difference, I will take them back.
Click to expand...

im not very bright about bala's but i do know that they are community fish so i dont know about keeping less than a group but i'd wait and see what others have to say.

just my 2 cents,
Troy
 
If you could get at least a 150, you could definately keep the ones you have. I think 3-4 in that size tank would be fine. The bigger the better, keep your eye out for used tanks too.
 
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