# HELP QUICK....RBP looking really sick



## tnpeter (Dec 17, 2005)

sry i know this isnt the right spot but i bond to get a reply here quicker..

long sotry short....

i got a free 100gallon tank with a 5 year old RBP...

since the first say she was acting odd.....the second day i got feeders she ate 3 and i fed its pike 2-3 times...and she was acting odd for the full week

she had a mionr case of ich , that is cured and today when i fed her all was good , 40 min later her eyes are bloodshot and shes resting on the gravel and glass wall..

it looks like its gonna die.....i dont have a test kit...iam out and i need help quick water is at 80 and last time i check water wat wensday and it was okay.......

if she lives to tmdw ill get a kit tmdw and test it asap...what can be wrong with it...?


----------



## P-22 (Oct 5, 2005)

the feeders you gave it could be the problem. water qaulity could be it. id change 30% of the water (put a dechlorinator/water treatment into the water you add, seachims prime or other).

how did you treat the ich?


----------



## tnpeter (Dec 17, 2005)

salt and warmer water....its was very minor...well the fish was acting odd before i got feeders....but the feeders are fine.....ill change the water tmdw and water treatment also...should i also add salt?


----------



## P-22 (Oct 5, 2005)

how much salt did you originally add and how long ago?

was your tank ever cycled? if you dont know what cycle means just say so, it's ok


----------



## tnpeter (Dec 17, 2005)

8 teaspoons in total..5 when i was setting it up and rest yesterday

not tank was not cycled..didnt have a chance to....the fish needed a tank asap....


----------



## P-22 (Oct 5, 2005)

the tank not being cycled is not helping, id recommend almost daily water changes but you need to get a test kit asap, if it's just the lone fish in a 100 gallon i doubt the parameters can be too out of whack this quick but you need to test it. as for salt imo it would be fine to go ahead and add about a TABLEspoon full for every ten gallons, id like to hear some other peoples thoughts on the salt before you tossing it in though so stay patient. also make sure the salt is fish safe

more on salt.... ive used the water softener salt from home depot (big blue bag) that he mentions
http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=22679


----------



## tnpeter (Dec 17, 2005)

well i think the water is fine....but better safe then sorry....i just looked at it again , the red is getting less...but can it be that i got a new light and its too brihgt...its much brigter then my old light..


----------



## P-22 (Oct 5, 2005)

tnpeter said:


> well i think the water is fine....but better safe then sorry....i just looked at it again , the red is getting less...but can it be that i got a new light and its too brihgt...its much brigter then my old light..


"getting less"?
light shouldnt effect the fish to the point of it looking deathly, go ahead and dim it none the less (with paper or whatever) it cant hurt. the amount of salt you added originally was negligible not enough to really do anything imo, im by all means not a disease expert but id go ahead and add the salt at 1 tablespoon for every 10 gallons, hopefully someone else will chim in as i dont know what else to recommend.

get that test kit, you can get them online for about 15 bucks (petsolutions.com) and get your water tested at your lfs until it arrives. sorry i cant help more


----------



## Ex0dus (Jun 29, 2005)

so many things can be wrong with the fish.

not properly acclimated - are the gills moving hard?
tank water not properly treated for chlorine
bad water parameters.


----------



## tnpeter (Dec 17, 2005)

well its still alive....oh and i ment there geting less red....or becoming....
iam going to test the water after i shower and eat and i good pick one up from a LFS. Exodus the water was treated porperly for cholirne...i awlays added the same amount to my 55 and 10 gallon tanks...and never had a problem.

it looks like it dose have problems breathing still.....

this moring some other things i noticed.....that the fish is lossing colour, his red belly is becoming whitish from the end , the whole body the green.goldish look is fading into a pale white....what can it be???

*****EDIT*****

so i tested the water...NH3(ammonia) is around .7 it went up .4 over 5 days...nitries are abotu .15-.20tops , and ph is at 7.6..

ill do 25-30% water change today and dim my light....

and is it okay to put electric tape over a floresint light?>

and also....how do i treat water...when there water in the tank...i always did 100% water changes...do i add the water and then treat it in my tank and treat roughly how much i changed the ater.....so in this case 25-30 gallons?


----------



## Handikapped (Nov 5, 2004)

if the tank isnt cycled take a filter cartridge from another tank and throw it in the tank and let it chill for a day or 2. This will jumpstart the proscess of your tank cycling. Also do 30% water changes almost daily and keep it up!! Good luck with your fish


----------



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

oooook, few things you're going to want to do

Your tank is in the middle of a cycle, which means your fish is going to get exposed to toxic waste products. A bottle of ammo-lock will neutralize the ammonia converting it into it's much less harmful form that will still be available to your biological filter. I strongly reccomend investing in ammo-lock.

To deal with the nitrites, put in one teaspoon of salt with every water change.

Changing 100% water is not recommended. I do 50%, I would recommend you start with 30%. Buy a water treatment product to dechlorinate the water and you can either treat it in the bucket before putting it in your water, or put the treatment in your tank and then add the water.

I strongly suggest the ammo-lock and salt though. I've had to go through a crash cycle before with 4 different tanks (rhom, red bellies, cichlids and a puffer) and not one single fish showed any ill effects from the cycle.


----------



## tnpeter (Dec 17, 2005)

when i got they tank from i only clean the filter with warm water and the tank walls ....and 50% of the gravel..all the decoration where untouched...and also i brought back 20 g of hs old water...

ill change the water today...but i need to pick up water condtioner....forgot thtat thwne i was at the LSF ...

ill do it today and tell you guys how its doing after it...

*****EDIT******

i changed the water....30% added water condtioner and salt....4 teeaspoon of water condtioner and 3 of salt...

i took away the fake plants and and she is swiming around more...

her breathing got quicker.....too soon to tell if shes doing better but ill post pics when my camera is fisnished charging


----------



## bc_buddah (Dec 18, 2005)

YA... read this to try and help myself but . . nothing really helped!! SO!! can someone help ME ASWELL?!?!

Hey this is my first time raising piranhas and I would love to see them grow from babies to preditors. HOWEVER they are in trouble and I need help from somebody with more experience, ANY advise would be more than appreciated. Here's the WHOLE story so u can diagnose with an educated opinion....

I have a 20 gallon, I set up the tank and didnt even let it run 48hrs before i introduced my FIVE new RED BELLIES into the tank . . new gravel, artificial plants, heater, undergravel filter..they were about 1.5 inches long so they are still very young and tiny. By the next morning they seemed to be doing well in their new home, ofcourse they're still pretty scared by any movement i do let alone opening the hood to feed them FEEDER GOLDFISH. They were doing GREAT and I WAS SOOO HAPPY!! I was feeding them feeders for about 1-2 weeks and decided to switch to "BEEF ROUND" i found at SAFEWAY , it was just normal good looking beef that came in these little strips .. NOT GROUND BEEF! .. the very day i bought the meat i gave them a little sample that seemed to fill all five of them as much as the usual 1-1.5 inch feeder. They accepted their new snack alot faster and easier than i thought they would. A DAY OR TWO LATER WEIRD THINGS BEGIN TO HAPPEN. By the third day of their new beef diet they all of a sudden stopped eating it .. i thought OK they must b full maybe i dont have to feed them 3 times a day like i was with the feeders and the newly found beef , maybe i can just feed them one decent meal instead of three smaller meals, BUT THAT WASNT THE CASE.. WHY WOULDNT THEY EAT?!?!? THEY PIRANHAS!! i had 3 feeders left so i through them in the piranha tank just to see if they'd eat live fish instead, sure enough , they ate all three . . the next day i wake up to find ONE dead piranha IN PERFECT CONDITION







i cried and grieved all day .. >.< my uncle an experienced fish hobbiest who had piranhas once said, CHANGE THE WATER , that MUST be it .. so i did, 25% just like he said .. AS SOON AS I CHANGED THE WATER and closed the hood BAM!! another piranha starts floating weird and looks like he's going to die .. within one min he's dead .. i'm thinking uh... why?!? lol I HAVE THREE LEFT , they just kinda sit at the bottom not even floating, they just sit, dont swim much, my usual motion by the tank doesnt scare them anymore which is really odd, and when i open the hood and stick a net in there they seem too dead or sick to even notice .. *** tested amonia and it's fine, doubt the PH would do this to my fish . . ***i cut up the beef on the first day into small portions and rapped them in tin foil and put them in freezer, defrosted for no more than an hour before feeding

WHAT IS WRONG? i've given u sucha detailed paragraph about the life of my 5 little babies which goes to show how much i care for them ..

SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!!! IF NOT FOR ME THEN AT LEAST FOR THESE YOUNG RED BELLIES WHO NEED TO LIVE A FULL HAPPY LIFE!! PLEEAAAAAASE!! i'll thank you in advance for your detailed responses, any comments would be greatly appreciated, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

- one piranha virgin, bc_buddah


----------



## tnpeter (Dec 17, 2005)

well my RBP is still alive but it dosnt move...only when the lights are out it started moving...it ate a feeder so iam happy....but can the light be to bright and that wat cause it too not move..ill turn it off today and see if i get any movement


----------



## t_rent8 (Dec 15, 2005)

p's dont like bright lights if its to bright they wont move much try using a brown paper bag or some tin foil to dim them he'll start to move around sooner or later reds get skittish after being moved or having water chages


----------



## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)




----------



## tnpeter (Dec 17, 2005)

ya thanks..i just needed a reply fast but now iam okay....

i had dimmer lights but my plants started to die....what can i do about that


----------



## darth balls (Dec 13, 2005)

I know this might be too late but it seems as if the nitrite levels are too high in your tank, you should have waited at least a month before introducing piranhas into a new tank, as that is too late, place a carbon filter pad into your filter and just hope the nitrogen cycle works quicker than it should! Best of luck with the tank, oh yeah and a 2ft tank will not house 5 rbp's for very long i'm afraid, probably about 2 months, think about doubling the size of your tank at least or thinking about keeping other species.


----------



## tnpeter (Dec 17, 2005)

yaya .....my tanks doing fine now....and its not two feet....its 48 inchx24x20..around there...100 gallon i think i can put 4-5 in there....but i will need a better filter


----------

