My fish have torn fins.

[Vincenia]

Some of my fish in my 37g have torn or injured fins, from the move to my bedroom. I picked up a small bag of aquaruim salt. Should I put some into a cup of water and add some during a water change?

 

[stephcps]

I do, on occassion, add salt to my freshwater tanks. So, that is certainly something you can do. However, I prefer to do frequent water changes for damaged fins.

 

[Vincenia]

I don't want to do to many water changes cause it may stress out my bottom feeders.

 

[Fishfriend1]

I also recommend water changes. To reduce stress you can use a siphone for the first half. Stress wise the refilling process won't be so damaging as not doing enough water changes will. It's one of those cases where the benefits outweigh the cost.

That said, what bottom feeders do you have? I've found that cories actually seem to enjoy the rush of water from a bucket but that ottos and plecos just dislike the entire idea of something big and powerful being near them and hide. The same for rams in my experience.

 

[Glabe]

You don't need to bother the bottom feeders. You can siphon off the top and leave the gravel alone.

For refilling slowly, you can set a bucket on a ladder and siphon water back into the tank. I used to do this for my fry tanks through air tubing just to make sure acclimation went smoothly and no one would get blown away

 

[MostlyHarmless]

Salt and heat, Salt helps stimulate the fishes natural defenses, i typically add varying amounts from none to some. You can pick up 40 lb bags at hardware store, water softening salt. Cichlids love it. Heat also speeds up their metabolism. If you just moved the tank, a massive water change may not be the best idea. You just added lots of new water, and may of lost some beneficial bacteria to chlorine or cloramine in the water. Another large water change would mean that the bacteria is going to get another dose and you run the risk of an ammonia spike.

 

[Fishfriend1]

Oh, continuing what MostlyHarmless said, have you tested your perms? You could be suffering a recycle of your tank because of the move. Also, did you drain/clean/dry out your filter?

 

[Glabe]

Oh, continuing what MostlyHarmless said, have you tested your perms? You could be suffering a recycle of your tank because of the move. Also, did you drain/clean/dry out your filter?

Der! I should have mentioned this... I'm too used to authmal and freshy beating me to it...

 

[authmal]

She has indicated that she has neither chlorine nor chloramines in her water supply.

 

[authmal]

Der! I should have mentioned this... I'm too used to authmal and freshy beating me to it...

Heh. The only reason I didn't mention it is because I read her thread on the move, and if she did what she said, the parameters should be fine, aside from the possibility of things getting mucked up by the move from the substrate.