Fish are listless and not eating very much!

[dcallen]

Hi,

Here's the situation. I have been noticing that my Taiwan Reef has been staying in the same spot in the tank, he's staked out the upper right hand side of the tank which he hadn't done until maybe a week ago, before that he was very active. The other fish are more active but not eating much. Previously they would all come to the top at feeding time and now they all seem to stay hidden and when they do come out they don't seem to eat as aggressively as before. Could higher Nitrate levels cause this behavior? They are breathing normally and I see no outward signs of infections or diseases. But I can tell that things just aren't quite right at the moment. One thing is I can't seem to get the tank temp. below about 80-81 degrees. I do have a fan blowing across the tank but it hasn't done anything to lower the temp. Any help would be very appreciated.

Tank Specs:

70 Gallon Glass Tank
1 Standard Daylight Florescent Bulb

Filtration:

1 Eheim 2213 Cannister
1 Emperor 400 HOB
1 Power Head

Inhabitants:

6 African Cichlids, mostly Peacocks.


Water Parameters:

Ph= 8.0-8.1
Ammonia=0
Nitrite=0
Nitrate=30 ppm or so
Kh=Unknown
Gh=Unknown


Thanks,

 

[Tightdog1]

if you want to lower the temp put water ballons in the tank filled with ice water or jsut totally frozen water ballons, be sure to wash the ballons first and also make sure u have tank water in the ballons.

your problem could be the temperature, probably not the nitrate because nitrate is not harmful to fish unless in very high levels (200ppm+), it is used more as an indicator of when to change the water.
A problem i had before is that all my fish were lively and now they kinda hide all day, even with big pacus swimming around, so i went out and got a few giant danios, and that seemes to make the fish happier now they are out and about all day long and rarely seem to hide at all. you may need to add some dither fish so that the fish are not so scared and come out more. worked for me!

Hope that helps.

 

[valerie]

I dont' think the temp is the problem as i keep my tank at 80* and i have haps and peacocks.

So your fish dont' have any signs of illness besides hiding? What is your water change schedual(sp?) I would do more water changes as they can only help.

How long have the fish been in the tank? Are all the fish hiding?

 

[dcallen]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I do a 30% water change once a week. Do you think I should do smaller amounts more frequently? I have also heard that I should be changing their diet up a bit, is this a good idea? Any recommendations on food would be helpful. I feed them New Life Spectrum Cichlid pellets and Mysis shrimp as a treat about 2 or 3 times a week, and I feed them twice daily.



Thanks again,

 

[dcallen]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I do a 30% water change once a week. Do you think I should do smaller amounts more frequently? I have also heard that I should be changing their diet up a bit, is this a good idea and if so any recommendations on food? I feed them New Life Spectrum Cichlid pellets and Mysis shrimp as a treat every about 2 or 3 times a week.



Thanks again,

 

[Harry Tolen]

I am just curious: why won't your tank temperature come down? Is it still that hot in Texas? And if so, don't you have air conditioning? Your temp is a bit high, enough to make me wonder about a heater malfunction (what is the wattage, by the way?).

 

[dcallen]

Hi Harry,

It's still hot here, generally in the 90's. I have one 300 watt heater in the tank. I do keep the air conditioning on during the day at about 76-78 degrees. I have the heater set to come on at about 77 degrees and it does come on periodically during the day which doesn't make any sense if the water temp. is at 80 degrees. Should I remove the heater and replace it with a better one like an Ebo Jager?


Thanks,

 

[Harry Tolen]

Sounds like your heater is working overtime due to a malfunctioning thermocouple or temperature sensor. I'd suggest replacing it, but I'd look at one of the units where an outside controller and probe run a heating unit that sits inside the tank. Follow this link to see what I mean:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=8172

In my experience, all submersible heaters eventually leak and jam. I get better control with these units.

Incidentally, if your house is kept in the 70's at all times, you don't need 300 watts to heat your tank. That just raises the possibility that when your heater eventually sticks in the "on" position, it will cook your fish. 2-3 watts per gallon is the rule of thumb, and so you could get away with a 200 watt heater easily. In my 75's, I use 150 watt heaters with no problem.

 

[dcallen]

Well the temp has come down to about 78 degrees which seems good to me, but the fish are still not very active and they aren't eating too much. The Taiwan Reef is now hanging at the very bottom of the tank and doesn't move too much unless someone approaches the tank, then he swims off and hides. Is there a medication that will treat this listless behavior? There are still no outward signs that I can see of disease or infection, although I did treat the tank about a month ago for a parasitic infection that several of the fish contracted, in fact I lost 3 fish in the battle before I got it under control, could this be returning? Thanks for the help.

 

[Alaric]

I hate to be the one to tell you this, however since the same sorta thing happened to me I will. I lost my pride and joy my yellow benga peacock whose cheeks were deep sea blue and body so bright yellow he looked like some aqautic butterfly hovering around my aqaurium, I was feeding him twice a week with frozen mysis shrimp and I must have feed him too much protein and one day he quit eating and like 3 weeks later he was "dead and bloated" I was devastated....sniff sniff. His staple was GBH graze and some other dry stuff. Its just a guess but maybe you have been feeding your fish to much Mysis. O yea the three weeks before he died he did tend to stay in one spot or area of the tank,