Zemerister2154

Shark Seizures:

Hey guys and gals I need your help as I’m out of ideas. I have two small Columbian sharks both are over a year and a half old now, Pauvlo and Sokka. Yesterday I went ahead and did an 80% water change and cleaned out the filter and today my fish seem to be having some very serious problems. When I cleaned out the filter I made sure to do so in the old tank water to prevent damaging or killing any of the good bacteria growth and maintained the same media and sponges as I’ve kept in the filter for over a month now. The only thing I added when returning the filter and adding new water was a pre-filter sponge on the filter intake to encourage further good bacteria growth. All night last night and threw this morning though Pauvlo has been acting weird ever since the water change and Sokka is keeping his distance from Pauvlo and seems to be worried about him. Pauvlo was hovering near the top this morning, not gasping for breath or anything, but just staying in the corner of the tank and hovering there. This is very unusual behavior for him as he usually rests on the bottom or is very active during the night. This morning though the situation seems to have gotten much worse as he now appears to be having what look like either muscle spasms or small seizures. I have tested the water twice and all my tests have come up empty as there are no detectable standard toxins in the water. The water smells fine and I used even more amquel than I usually do fearing that might have been the problem.
He just seems to be getting worse, so I did a 60% water change first thing this morning and uped the salt and temperature a little bit thinking this may also be the problem. It was rather cold in the tank from last night (dropped to 74 when adding new water) and its usually at 78, I figured this could be the problem but after adding more warm water with more salt than usual. Thus far it doesn’t seem to be helping. I also went ahead and removed the new pre-filter sponge thinking it might be leaking toxins into the water somehow even though I have another one on a different tank and it seems to be doing just fine. Still though he doesn’t seem to be doing any better. Another possibility that came to me this morning (after noticing he had thrown up his food from the other day) was that he may have gotten food poisoning. We recently went out to go get some little red minnows for the sharks and the puffers as we usually do for them twice a month as a treat. These are from Petsmart as we no longer trust Petco as their minnows just seems to keep dying no matter what. Pauvlo ate almost all of them I think about 10 of the 20 and Sokka got a couple too. The remaining ones that we’re left went to the puffers which they quickly pursued and tore apart. I was wondering if this could be the problem (food poisoning) and if there’s anything I can do to help him? I just can’t figure out what else it could be as I’ve tested everything I know and come up empty. Especially after doing the 60% water change and adding more salt, and then removing the pre-filter sponge.
I’ve had Pouvlo for well over a year and a half and never had a problem like this before and don’t know what else to do. He doesn’t seem to be breathing very hard he just keeps having the seizures or spasms. So far that I know Sokka seems to be ok and hasn’t displayed any similar symptoms despite eating the same food source. I’m also very careful not to bring anything from my hands that could be harmful into the tank too and wash them well before and after touching the tank. On a side note though Pauvlo also seems more silver than usual.

If you guys can think of anything else please let me know. Also if you need additional details I will try and provide them. I think that’s just about everything but if you need further test history or have ideas for other tests that I can perform let me know.




Below is a link to my blog with the pictures of the Sharks from today. Please note that the tank is not cloudy as you might guess from the pictures but just has a lot of algae on the glass that I let go on purpose. This is how they like their tank so they can hide better. The last time I cleaned off the algae a couple months back they got angry at me and became very skittish.

Here are today’s and yesterdays test results:
Yesterday:
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 0
nitrite: .50-1.0
Nitrates: 0
Water temp: 76 before water change, 74 after water change

Today (Feb 8th 2010)
PH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates: 0
Temp: 75 before today’s water change and 78 afterwards.

There temperature usually climbs to 76-79 during the day as I leave the lights on.


Water is changed out weekly and at the most every two days if it should become necessary.
Filter is cleaned monthly and filter cartridges are replaced every two months. Sponges are washed or replaced every 3-4 months.
This tank has been running for well over a year and a half.
Last full cleaning was on January 3rd 2010.

PICTURES: http://tanksquared.blogspot.com/2010...-problems.html

sirdarksol

It may have been due to the nitrite. If you had some reading of nitrite in your tank, part of your cycle crashed at some point.
However, it may have also had to do with tank size. Which tank is the shark kept in. I see the words "10g shark tank" in your aquarium profile. If that's the tank in which you're keeping a year-and-a-half-old Colombian shark, it could be that it has hurt itself on the tank, or that the continually stunted growth is damaging it. Colombian sharks need very large tanks because they grow so large and because they are extremely active.

Zemerister2154

Hmmm alright. Yeah hes in the 10 gallon. We know hes been in there for far too long but we simply don't have the room yet to set up the 55 gallon bow tank for them yet. I've read a lot about his tank requirements since buying him and am aware that he needs a bigger tank I just don't have anymore room left to set up the bigger tank nor do we have a stand for it yet. Unfortunately the space hes presently occupying wont quite fit a 20 gallon long tank either. We had figured we could at least get that for him to tide him over. Eventually they're going in the 100 gallon long tank were getting in a while.
As for the nitrite cycle I don't believe it crashed I think it was more due to the fish we had given them earlier that month and from them the ammonia they had produced. I monitor it pretty well and today and yesterday it seems to be running fine and there doesn't seem to be any buildup of toxins to indicate a crash.
In the event of a crash though how would I got about getting the cycle running again?
I don't know though, I just find it hard to believe that after a year and half he'd suddenly begin having seizures or spasms as a result of the tank size. I just really feel there's got to be something else I'm missing. Do you know of anything else that could cause such a reaction? The only other thing I've been able to think of is that maybe he inadvertently rammed into something and hurt himself? Or like I said in the initial post perhaps food poisoning which I'm most worried about because those minnows we've been getting from petco and petsmart seem to be declining in quality. The last ones from petco all died before they could be fed to the fish, (hence why we don't go to petco anymore) and the batch before that had some kind of parasite attached to it. I think I'm going to find another store for the live fish requirements.
I just hope he'll be ok till the end of the month. That's when we'll be able to set up that bigger tank for them. Thanks for your response dude I appreciate it I haven't heard anything else from anyone so I'm guessing no one really knows.