# Piranha going blind??



## gtc

i got two reds in two different set ups and both were doing fine till one day i noticed that one of them stopped eating and developed a calus thing on its eye like what u see on a serra's chin from finger chasing. After a couple of days, he started going crazy in his tank like swimming in circles, darting from one end to the other end of the tank and he keeps hitting his head everywhere like he cant see where he's going. I've trained both reds to eat from my hands and i when i tried feeding him it just seems like he cant see the food. Eventually he died and upon looking at him, both his eyes where cloudy as hell and his jaw was messed up big time, his whole jawline was visible and his head was messed up too from hitting the glass so much. After a week or so my other red did the exact same thing. I dont understand and i checked my water params. and it was dead on in both tanks. Pissed me off big time cus one of the red is mine and the other was my girls first one and i just got her in the hobby. Any ideas?


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## FEEFA

What type of test kit are you using?
If its test strips get rid of them and get a real kit.
Post your params

Ammo, Nitrite , nitrates and ph


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## Big Den

High nitrate, without doubt.


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## FEEFA

Big Den said:


> High nitrate, without doubt.


I was thinking Nitrites since the Jaws were messed up???


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## Pirambeba

I have a similar problem, after reading a couple of these going blind threads. I'm pretty sure I have a nitrate problem as well, getting my water tested today to find out. It has slight cloudyness on it's left eye that only appeared after the move from the LFS to my House, so it's pretty likely.


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## Big Den

They sometimes get cloudy eye's from freaking out and trying to bury themselves in the substrate, but soon clears and doesn't affect their sight. High ammonia and/or nitrite some times shows up as cloudy eye with associated loss of appetite and heavy breathing, but can be rectified with daily water changes and sorting out the filter. High nitrate on the other hand, above 60, for a prolonged period, will first show in the eye's. The fish swims in erratic circular motions hitting the glass and decor. This in turn causes an irreversible poisoning which affects the internal organs, which shut down one after the other and eventually leads to death. The only answer to controlling high nitrate is regular part water changes.

This is my own experience, and I have learned from my mistakes. Due to regular water changes I have not had any issues with nitrate for over 20 years.


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## Pirambeba

Wow, that's some awsome info. The part where you said cloudy eyes and heavy breathing, mine is doing something similar to that how much water should I change daily i.e. 20%, 30% ect... Current set up for this fish is a eheim 2213 running a 30 gallon, oh and are there any medications I should add? Someone said to add stress zyhme but, I'm not so sure about that one.


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## Big Den

Pirambeba said:


> Wow, that's some awsome info. The part where you said cloudy eyes and heavy breathing, mine is doing something similar to that how much water should I change daily i.e. 20%, 30% ect... Current set up for this fish is a eheim 2213 running a 30 gallon, oh and are there any medications I should add? Someone said to add stress zyhme but, I'm not so sure about that one.


10% per day is sufficent to keep the ammonia at a safe level. I do not use chemicals, but a little salt is beneficial. You say 30 gallon, is that with only one fish? 30 gallons is about 130 litres, your filter is turning over 390 lph, so thats 3 times turnover per hour. No, the filter is too small, needs to turn over at the very least 6 times per hour, 10 times is ideal.


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## Pirambeba

Yeah it's only for one fish, what's the dosage for salt for that size tank? And what filter would you suggest? Brand, model, ect..


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## Big Den

Pirambeba said:


> Yeah it's only for one fish, what's the dosage for salt for that size tank? And what filter would you suggest? Brand, model, ect..


Teaspoon per gallon, make allowance for substrate decor, level of water. 
Filters? quite a choice, If it were me in UK, I'd go for something like a 'Tetratec 1200', cheap, reliable, quiet running. Or the Fluval 405 another good filter, or you could always add another Eheim 2213.
The recommendations for tank sizes quoted by manufacturers is for general community fish. As you know, piranhas are a mucky fish and give off loads of waste, that's the reason for bigger filtration, over filtering is not possible.


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## Pirambeba

I'll add the salt, as for the filtration I have another 2213 that I got a good deal on from kijiji, needs some media but, that's not a problem I can pick up all the media tommarow. They are a mucky fish so agree that there is no such thing as over filtering your water


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