Have a friend with a 90 gal. freshwater tank she got for free from a friend. She then proceeded to drain the tank, clean all the equipment and placed her fish back in. Needless to say, she has lost all of her fish but a pacu and a pleco. Now her pacu does not look good. It has cloudy eye, and is scratching up against a rock. Ammonia and Nitrates are really HIGH. She went out and got stabalizer to re-boost her biofilter, prime to condition water and add straight to tank to help lower Ammonia and nit., mardel ick treatment and fin rot/cloudy eye treatment. She also added some purigen to help make levels safe. Anything else she can do/or shouldn't be doing. Would LOVE some help, thanx nicole
major deaths in tank :(
- Thread starter rastascoob
- Start date
Sorry your friend lost all her fish. I would have her doing partial water changes of at least 30-40% every day to keep ammonia and nitrites down. Add Prime to help neutralize the affects of ammonia on the fish and see if she can't get some filter media from someone else’s tank, anything to help quickly reestablish good bacteria. Hope things get better fast for your friend.
A quick side note, is your friend looking into keeping the pacu long term? Even a 90g tank will eventually become too small for this fast growing fish, commonly known as a ‘tank buster’ because they can bolt when startled and literally crack your tank.
A quick side note, is your friend looking into keeping the pacu long term? Even a 90g tank will eventually become too small for this fast growing fish, commonly known as a ‘tank buster’ because they can bolt when startled and literally crack your tank.
Sounds like she is going through a cycle, do water changes every day to keep the ammonia and nitrite low and monitor the paramaters at least twice a day.
yeah, if it's an red-bellied pacu, i'd need at least 200Gs for just it by itself, 300 if you want to keep the plec with it.
cyberbeer65
Scratch Glass!
fishcatch22 said:
Even a 200 or 300 gallon tank is too small for a single Pacu.
I would consider getting a Pacu if I had a 1000 gallon tank.
but, aren't RBPs just like, 20" full grown? or are they so hyperactive they need even more space than a 300g can provide?
blkwdw13 said:
This is right. A few extra points: only around 20-30% water changed per day. Keep an eye on nitrate as well, use liquid based testers not strips, if you can, get a friend with a well established tank that has not had a disease in at least 3 months to give you some filter media to seed the tank. If no friends
ask for some from your LFS. Also if all else fails and you fear for the fish, carefully transport them to a well established, disease-free tank/hospital tank with the UTMOST care and attention shown in terms of getting them used to the new tank. Check ALL parameters before the move and keep up the water quality and checks in both the tank they are in and the one that is cycling.OK I finally went over the edge with this one.........I'm installing a pond in my backyard so I can provide enough space for my one goldfish. :joke:
P.S. I agree with the rest of the advice here. Water change time for you! Good luck saving the rest.
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