Old Black Ghost knife fish acting odd

G

Ghostie

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Aug 27, 2011
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I have a 13 year old 9" black ghost knife fish. He has been acting odd today. He is in a low tech heavily planted tank with moss, anubias and java ferns that he shares with 7 corydoras. He has his own tube and has lots of hiding places.

The pH is fairly low for this aquarium @ 6.2, but I do add Equilibrium and have some shells in the Eheim Ecco filter
78-80 degrees temp
Add weekly ferts for the plants(Kno3, Equlibrium, etc.)

Yesterday I did a monthly 50% water change with the usual Seachem Prime added. Today he tried to jump out of the aquarium and hit his head on the glass top and looks visibly distraught. Since he seemed so unhappy I changed another 25% today. Now he is hovering in the middle of the aquarium(which he never does) and is looking generally disturbed by any plant that touches him. I dropped in a little food but he seems uninterested. Other than acting strange his body looks healthy with no lesions. They cories seem perfectly happy.

I have been prepping a much larger aquarium for him to move in to... I hope he gets better as I am quite attached to him!
 
What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings in ppm?

Do you do weekly water changes?
 
9 inches sounds small. Have you actually measured it? Or are you guessing? Regardless, knowing the tank size would be helpful. Have you always changed the water once a month?
 
I measured him again, he is 10.5 inches.

Is there anything that can be done? He seemed very calm and happy until a week ago. I will test the Nitrate today. He acts agitated, starts swimming around fast, and tried to jump out of the water. Then he acts like he is having a seizure with fins fluttering and curling into a circle.

I fed him a blanched pea for the last several days plus his usual Hikari Carnivore pellets and he did eat them.

I acknowledge that he is in a too small tank(20 gallons) and have spent the last several months preparing a larger aquarium for him which is set up and ready(40 gallon high tech planted tank) but now I am concerned the transfer will just upset him more. I should have provided him with a larger aquarium sooner and I feel guilty about it.
 
I would say if it is really a 13 year old BGK that has been kept in a 20 gallon tank, it is dying, and there is probably nothing you can do about it.
 
Holy cramped quarters, Batman!

Good luck. You're going to need it. And for the record? 40 isn't big enough for a BGK, either. You seriously need to look at a 75 or larger. Some websites say 150 is the minimum tank size, but that may be considering maximum wild size, which is about twice as big as it's likely to get in captivity. This is definitely a case of researching your stock being needed, so you can provide proper care.
 
Check that none of your electrical equipment is shorting out, e.g. heater, or other in-tank equipment.
 
I know... I don't have room for a larger aquarium than a 40gal as I am in NYC. If he pulls through, I will see about someone adopting him locally. In the meantime, he will go in the 40. I unplugged the Ebo Jaeger heater(now also 13 years old.)

I checked Ammonia levels and they were 0. Nitrate was a little high, so I did a 50% water change.
 
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