Everytime a clean the tank all of them die...I buy new ones everytime the others die. They are in a 150 gallon along with columbian sharks, angels, ghost knife, and kissing gouarami's. Everyone else is fine. What am I doing wrong? I use aquarium salt...is that what it could be?
2007-04-09 15:24:00 · 9 answers · asked by ascloud@sbcglobal.net 3 in Pets ➔ Fish
Balas are hardy fish except...they don't like salt in the water. With that size tank, everything else (parameters, etc) should be great. My bet is on the salt.
Balas are skittish and as such, they get stressed quite a bit from transporting. The other possible cause (and #1 suspect in bala deaths outside of stunting in too small of a tank) is simply environmental stress. Being moved too often (ie from breeder to airport to pet store to hospital tank to selling tank to home tank), can cause these skittish fish undue stress, which leads to weakened immune systems. Again, they aren't big on salt either and putting them in a tank with salt will add more stress to your new fish.
2007-04-09 15:34:48 · answer #1 · answered by Barb R 5 · 3⤊ 3⤋
First off, how much water are you removing during a water change? Secondly, stop adding additives your carbon is going to pull out anyway (Salt) Bala's DO NOT LIKE SALT! A lot of fish do not. Stop adding it.
since everyone seems to quote this page here is one for you
www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_bala.php
Do not add salt to bala shark water. that may be your problem. Most fresh water fish don't like salt and thank God for carbon filters pulling it out. However until it does it has certain effects on certain fish.
try that as well as only doing 25% water changes with no salt.
you'll see a big change
2007-04-09 17:27:10 · answer #2 · answered by danielle Z 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Bala sharks don't like salt at all. Keep the salt out. It really doesn't do anything for your fish anyway, and the filter will pull it out so just omit it.
2007-04-09 18:53:26 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I actually had a similar problem before every time I cleaned the tank... is not the salt. Bala sharks are very skittish. They panic every time you clean the tank, and they hit themselves hard enough to kill themselves. Make your water change last no more than 3 minutes. You can do more often water changes, but make them last very short period of time. And when you are pouring the water back into the tank, do it as far away from them. Doing it w low light also helps.
2007-04-09 16:02:54 · answer #4 · answered by kitty98 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
If it only happens when you are adding new water then there is something wrong with the water you are adding. Bala sharks are usually a pretty hardy fish and aren't extremely sensitive to water changes. I would take a sample of your aquarium water and a sample of your make up water and have them compared at your local fish store or do it at home if you have all the test kits. Figure out whats differant in the water you are adding and the water you are maintaining.
2007-04-09 15:36:34 · answer #5 · answered by Brian 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Its not your salt for sure. As magicman said your angels would have been long gone. If your balas keep dying it might be because the other fish in your tank single them out, or they arent being fed properly. There could be many reasons why they die. You mentioned that when you clean your tank they die, its possible that your water is bad, try buying water from your pet store and try if they survive
2007-04-09 15:45:21 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
rainbow sharks shouldn't be kept with other sharks as they are aggressive towards them as you have found out. continual stress like this is bad for any fish, weakens the immune system which can lead to disease and death so your best bet is to find another home for one of them-pet shops sometimes take problem fish off your hands. edit: try two nets for catching him-one to chase him in to the one thats waiting-and capt quint don't give up giving answers just because of the idiots that thumb down good answers on here-nobody with any sense pays much attention to that!
2016-03-18 07:16:20 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it's not the salt. If you were using enough salt to kill bala sharks then the angels would be goners too. Without more details I wouldn't even begin to guess.
2007-04-09 15:32:13 · answer #8 · answered by magicman116 7 · 0⤊ 6⤋
They could be going into shock from a rapid change in PH or temperatrue. How much water do you change at a time?
2007-04-09 15:34:24 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋