New Silver Dollar problems

Hi,

I just introduced a silver dollar into a 40 gallon breeder community tank. The other fish in the tank are doing well and look healthy. The water is well cycled with stress coat added in with a couple other things for the plants and the nitrogen cycle. Anyways, I bought the fish from my lfs and there is looked super healthy, very alert and active and after a 45 minute ride in the car, I put him in the tank to soak for 20 minutes and then let him into the tank. As soon as he entered the tank, he swam to the bottom and now is residing there leaning over, occasionally moving. The water is good, it is slightly alkaline the only fish I could think of him being intimidated by is my Clown Knifefish (I'm moving him to a bigger tank in the future, no worries), but it's not showing a threat to him whatsoever. What could possibly be the problem and what should I do?!

-Seth

 

Welcome to Fishlore.

What are your water parameters? Did you test the store water to determine how different it may have been from your tank?

When acclimating fish to a tank we need to acclimate to the water chemistry by gradually adding tank water to their bag/container for an hour or two prior to releasing into the tank.

As the fish swam to the bottom and is not doing very well now I suspect that there is a difference in parameters, most likely hardness or pH that is stressing him. That and the face that Silver Dollars are schooling fish that do not do well on their own.

My recommendation would be to add him to a QT tank and do daily water changes using a detoxing water conditioner, such as Seachem Prime or Kordon AmQuel+ with NovAqua+. Not only will these products make the water safe for fish, but they remove harmful metals and detox nitrogen waste (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate) to help the fish survive the toxic environment.

Good luck.

 

Welcome to Fishlore,

You didn't acclimate him properly per what Dena said.

His behavior for a newly introduced SD is normal. Especially after a long car ride. He's stressed is why hes sitting like that. Mine do that when I do a water change. I'd shut the light off and let him settle in. These fish do best in subdued lighting. They are also schooling fish and need a much larger tank. Being alone he may hide more and be skiddish.

Great fish if you can accommodate them.

Best of luck.

 

yes after 45 minutes in the car 20 minute acclimation time isn't long enough. I float for 30 min add tank water every 15 minutes for 1 hour. Total time of acclimation 90 minutes and I don't put LSF water in my tank, net the fish and put him in. The main reason thow could be that Silver dollars are a schooling fish one alone would be streesed. Mine always stay in a groups of 3, should probably have 5 or 6

 

Aside from acclimation, silver dollars can go into a sort of shock if they get scared or are unsure of their surroundings. I have a 180g silver dollar tank and all my silver dollars got scared and went into shock just over a new piece of driftwood lol so just keep an eye on him and hopefully he'll be alright. If you don't have more silver dollars though I Hope you get more... they're very shy and need to be in schools. Mine usually stay in groups of six. They're really great fish so I hope yours will recover! I suggest you turn off the lights and not bother him/the tank until he recovers.

 

He is doing great now! I'm sure there was just some stress going on between the car ride and all of the middle process, but now he is doing fine, venturing the tank and seems to be happy.