Just not having any luck with fish!

I'm just not having any luck with fish at all these days.

Visited one of the sponsors the other day, and got some healthy fish to stock my recently neglected tank.

So far, 3 hemiodas, and 1 boesemani dead. 1 more hemiodas shimmying at the moment, not holding up much hope for him. however, any lower level fish seem to be thriving. otos, corys, and a catfish all doing great.

Tbh, it's pissing me right off!

Jeepers sorry about your losses......I have kept the Hemiodus twice...the first time,i put 6/7 of them into an established tank with bottom feeders,a few Angels and a few others i think but like you,they were dead within a few days....i got talking to a fella on here and he said he kept them no problem in a species only tank.....set up a planted tank with just a few cory's and added maybe 10 of them....kept them for 4/5 months and they thrived,so maybe because of there very nervous nature,adding them to an established tank just stresses them out too much....well thats what i concluded...sorry again

Ger

so, I just checked my water parameters.

Ammonia, 0.0
Nitrite, 0.0
Nitrates, a little above 0.

pH however, it's up at 7.7/7.8!

Could that really have done the damage?

It depends on the ph of the water they were kept in prior to you buying them, Rainbows in general live in harder Water but hemiodus, I have kept them, should be kept in larger groups, 3 really isn't enough, they should be in softe water, lower ph too, 10 would be acceprable, they also require longer Aquaria to let them swim as they do in nature.
Shimmying is not usually assosciated with lack of numbers, it is usually due to water quality and illness. It may be that the other fish that were in your Tank had grown accustomed to the gradual change in your water quality and the newer ones are not able to adjust.

Do some Water changes over the next few days and see if there is any appreciable improvement.

Kev.

Hi i would agree with Kev, Hemidous are SA characins and should really be in a low PH 6.5 would be as high as id go.... 7.8 imo is way too high as they are wild fish as they have never been bred in captivity. They are also sensitive at the best of times so i fear with a high PH its just too much for them to cope with. Hope you get it sorted you are keeping fish that shouldnt really be together as mentioned before.

I'd review the transport and transfer methods used.

The Hemiodus are very easily stressed. It would take pretty far-out incorrect water parameters to kill them so fast. However, a rapid change in water quality will kill very rapidly. The shimmying is one symptom of that.

Physical stress during transport and transfer is problem with these very skittish fish anyway.....as is the stress caused by the method used to catch them (it needs to be a swift quick action without chasing).

Once established, the Hemiodus are pretty tough cookies and will tolerate a few minutes on the carpet (as is likely to happen if you take your eye off an open lid !!)

Your water parameters would make me suspect it is quite new water and may not be stable enough to cope with a group of new fish.

Although Hemiodus do prefer soft acid water, a pH of 7 to 7.5 is going to do no harm if everything else is stable and good.

If you decide to get anymore, then slowly transfer them with the lights off. But do not take too long as that will simply stress them. If you use the floating bag method, then make sure non jump out of the bag too quickly.

I would recommend using a trickle system to introduce your fish.

Make sure the water has a decent conditioner (I recommend Tetra AquaSafe for the more stressful fish, many conditioners just address the chlorine issue).

In short....your tank parameters may be perfect for a given species, but that does not mean it is perfect for a given specimen coming from different water.

Ian

Hmmm,i dont think i worded what i said correctly.....When i said i kinda blamed adding them to an 'established' tank for there deaths,what i meant was....They were added to a tank that was up and running for a long while with a stable PH and with lots of stock in there....some of which were (if i remember correctly) very zippy.....From the moment they were introduced,they looked stressed,but in contrast when i had a second go at keeping them,they were added to an also established tank,but with no stock in there (just 3 cory's),they looked happy and there colours really came out in a very short time,so i hope you get what i was trying to say now!!

Also agree with the lads,if you want to keep SA fish,i would be looking at getting the PH down

Best of luck,Ger

I'll be honest, I lost the love for the tank a while back, this was a half hearted, ill thought through attempt at getting the love back.

I didn't check the param's since moving to where I currently am. Coming out of the tap, it's about 7.2. and as I mentioned before, albeit some time ago, I've a ton of bogwood in. I would have thought the bogwood might have kept it down, even to about 7.1 ish, but for it to so high?!

Transport is always going to be a problem, I'm at least an hour and a half from the nearest decent supply. I've always used the floating bag method.

Last hemiodas gone.

plan now is to keep on top of the water changes, to try and get that damn pH down! Fish selection can wait.

Sorry to here about the last hemiodus but your doing the right thing in getting the water right before adding more fish Check your hardness too, you may have hard water in your area, check for KH carbonate hardness you may not be able to lower the PH until you lower your KH

Apologies if I sound harsh, but unless the transfer method is perfected you could import water from the amazon and you'd still lose these fish.

I happen to keep mine with Wild Rams, Wild Congo Tetras, and Empire Gudgeon in normal tapwater by the way.
To be honest, if we are going the route of water chemistry then conductivity and redox would be the more important measurements.

The fish need to be able to rid themselves of ammonia and destress during the transport and transfer.

So....make your tank water peaty, add ammonia adsorbing zeolite in being ready to get the fish.

I would then recommend that you take a small stocking of ammonia adsorbing zeolite with you to the fish shop and ask them to plonk it in the bag when bagging up the fish.
Make sure you ask a member of staff who knows what they are doing to catch the fish.....someone calm, and quick. (now, that is pretty contentious I know.....but we all know that some people simply cannot catch fish).

When you get the fish home, float the bag for 15/20 minutes. Then empty it into a plastic tub (take care...the hemiodus are jumpers) that will fit just into the tank.
Add Tetra AquaSafe to the main tank water.
Slowly Siphon the water from your tank into the plastic tub (you'll have to keep it covered). Then slowly lower the tub into the main tank and gradually allow the fish to swim out. Keep all lights off, and do not feed for a day.

Often, there are fish where they die during or after tranport because of ammonia build up.....you may not be able to detect that ammonia as it is within their bodies.
The pH, conductivity, RedOx and base levels within the transport bag may work to prevent the fish expelling ammonia. Recovery is difficult. If additional stresses affect the kidney, then the fish has no chance of survival.

ian

So, to make the water peaty, I can just get some sphagnum peat moss, throw some into a pair of tights, and whack it into my filter, correct?

And water chemistry is not a route I REALLY want to take, I don't have the patience for it.

Ha,water chemistry is a route no one wants to go down,trust me....ooops sorry Ian

As for getting your PH down,try peat balls....You can put them in your filter or as i do,just plonk them in the tank and give them a squeeze every now and then....does the job for me

Ger

Sofiztikated wrote:

So, to make the water peaty, I can just get some sphagnum peat moss, throw some into a pair of tights, and whack it into my filter, correct?

And water chemistry is not a route I REALLY want to take, I don't have the patience for it.

That is why I often warn caution about messing with the water.....and I will always go into water chemistry to explain why messing with the water chemistry is not a great idea when simple good fish-keeping methods will give 95% of the solution in 99% of issues.

I have seen too many disasters plonked at my doorstep for autopsy from ‘death-by-kindness’ from people trying to get the “perfect” water for their fish……most of them have been Discus and Malawi by the way.

If you buy the JBL peat, then that comes with a pair of tights !! Simply soak it over night before use (else it could burst a canister filter pretty easily when it expands).
Else……a bag of peat, and some pop-sox of medium denier rating (not too small a mesh and not too big a mesh) from Pennys (a pack of 5 pairs for a few euro) will do the trick. (soak the tights before using though !!....even if not second-hand)
Even if it does not shift a measurable pH, then it will still add vital organic acids and remove certain compounds from the water.

Ian