Bala shark uder the weather

Question

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Followup To

Question -
HI Chris,

I have had a fish tank for a two months. It has been established
for at least 3 years now.

It has 3 Bala sharks, and one big spotted weird looking catfish.

The other day the catfish came alive with what looked like glee.
She is still out from under her rock ocasionally to hang out with
the others.

The last 3 days, the sharks were looking listless, I changed 25%
of the water, and treated for bacterial disease.

I have never had a tank, and inherited this one with the house
when I bought it.

One of the sharks is still not so happy, but the other two seem
to be feeling better.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you SO much for any advice that you may have.

Grateful,

Carole Z

Answer -
Hi Carole;

Do a weekly water change of 25% as normal maintenance. You
might want to do them every 3 or 4 days for a couple of weeks
and see if that helps him feel better. It would be helpful to know
how big the tank is, what kind of food you give them, how
much, how often they are fed and how big all the fish are. Also,
the kind of filtration. Balas get to be a foot long or so. If the tank
is too small or not adequately filtered they can get very
depressed and become sick. I know how difficult it can be to
take on something like this that you aren't familiar with and
don't really know much history on. Let me know what you can
and we will figure this out together.....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Hi Chris,

Thanks for being so quick with your reply!

The tank is 55 gals, there are 3 Bala Sharks (3-4") one brislte
nosed spotty catfish (5-6"), and one 2" Pleco. ( which is relatively
new)

I was feeding them twice a day, with "Nutrafin MAX", but will cut
down to once a day.

The total hardness is about 120, the ammonia is at 0, the nitrate
is about 20, the ph is 7.6, the nitrites look an almost a brownish
tint, when it calls for a pinkish tint, and the alkilinity is about
180. ( I just changed and treated their water today)

I will bring a sample in for testing tommorow, as the nitrite
sampling may not be accurate.

The sharks are still looking kinda sad though, the other day,
when I was worried that thay had something horrible, I may have
treated the water with too may things at once. Hopefully they
will forgive me, as I did change out  their water today.

I know I sound like a dork, but i'm just learning.

Thanks for your advice,

CZ

p/s- their tank has been established for a few years now, but
their water had not been changed for a couple of months.  

Answer
Hi Carole;

You're definately on the right track. It's a good idea to get a second opinion on strange test results. I have had that happen from residue in test vials.

Make more frequent small changes to keep the water at a more stable chemistry. Replace 25% a week, or twice a week if you are trying to correct an already existing water quality problem. Too much water replaced at once can cause the fish to go into shock.  

You don't sound like a dork. Just a newbie. ;-) We all have to start somewhere!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins