HELP! I can't get her to eat...

[fishlips28]

As some of you may know, I have Adam's Krib now. The boy died last night, but I still have the girl! Anyways, she has been in my tank since Saturday and I can't get her to eat! She hasn't eaten anything since Adam has given her to me! Is something wrong with her...why won't she eat? My other fish eat tropical flakes, but she won't swim up and eat those, so I bought her tropical granules because they sink and the label says cichlids pefer them. I dunno what to do with her...she doesn't like me!!! My mom says that I should spoon-feed her, lol!

[jeffs99dime]

why did the male krib die? do you know why? does the female look sick at all? does she hang in the lower reaches of the tank by herself? what are your water parameters? what is the temp. in the tank?

[Drumachine09]

She might be stressed from the move. Give her some time before we jump to conclusions.

[fishlips28]

I'm not sure why the male died. He was probably just stressed b/c we no more and got him from the store and he was at Adam's house for a day or so and then he got moved to my tank at my house. Anyways, I kinda knew that he was going to and I didn't kno what to do with him, so I just kinda let him go. He was swimming around really wierd and then he would go up to the corner of my tank and just kinda float vertically..like straight up and down, and then he layed behind my filter for awhile and when I came home that night he was dead under a plant. As for the female, she had less color last night but she is ok today, she has all of her color back. She tends to hide out all day and she stays far away from the other fish (1 gourami and 3 platies). My tank is a 20g. It is like 16X24...as for the temperature, it has been at 80..that's where I have kept it since I've had the tank...is that too high for the kribs?

[cocoa_pleco]

Is your ph and hardness close to adams?? That factors in a lot for cichlids

[fishlips28]

As far as I know...we have pretty much the same water...we live about 5 minutes from each other, I will go test my pH and get back to you and see what you think!

[fishlips28]

Well...on the other hand maybe it is too high...b4 my tank was cycled it was like 8.0 but now it is between 8.5 and 9.0...more close to 9.0. Is that bad?

[kimmers318]

Was she eating flake at Adam's? One thing that is almost always is a sure fire winner with fish is frozen bloodworms, and surprisingly, I have found that all but my puffers like the algae wafers I buy for my bottom feeders! My kribs went nuts over any frozen food just about.

[Drumachine09]

As for the female, she had less color last night but she is ok today, she has all of her color back.

Color loss is atributed to stress. I have a Rainbow shark (normaly black) that when i moved the tank deco around a little bit, he turned to a light grey. Two days later he was back to his REALLY dark black color.

[fishlips28]

my hardness is 13..if that is right???put it this way, it took me 13 drops for the color to change from red to green...for general hardness of my water. As for diet at Adam's...I'm not really sure...I'd have to ask him...he has so many containers and is now trying different types of frozen food...I'll have to ask. All's I know, is that she doesn't like me, lol!

[Severus]

Well...on the other hand maybe it is too high...b4 my tank was cycled it was like 8.0 but now it is between 8.5 and 9.0...more close to 9.0. Is that bad?

Yes 9 is too high. I would say right around 7 -7.5 would be ideal. How are your other readings (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)

[fishlips28]

Well...no wonder why...I thought 9 was a little high, I'll do a water change first thing tomorrow. As for Ammonia... 0..for now..takes awhile to develop , Nitrites...0 Nitrates...12.5...but i may have got the drops a lil off...my scale jumps a lop too from 0 to 12.5 to 25 to 50, etc. I dunno if anyone understands that or not, or if it makes sense! Also, I put in tank buddies...they will lower my pH to 7...that will help her!! I forgot to put those in...i think it was past time...thanks for the reminder in that case.

[Severus]

Your nitrates jump?
It sounds like that your high PH is contributing to their demise... with either stress or poisoning them.

[fishlips28]

no my nitrates don't jump....my tank cycled last week...so it was at zero. now it is at 12.5. I didn't kno if that was normal or not, so I tried to explain my test kit thingy

[Severus]

You should be fine. Nitrates are generally recommended to be below 40ppm. I would work on getting your ph down as soon as possible.

[Severus]

Any luck with the Ph yet?

[fishlips28]

I will check it as soon as I can...my mom baby-sits and there is a little one sleeping in my room where my tank is, so I'm not sure!! It should be going down if it's not already to 7.0, since I put those tank buddies in my tank to lower the pH!

[fishlips28]

Ok, here's the scoop...I checked the pH and it is down to 8.0, so that is good that it is going down! I also did a 25% water change...it's been a week, so it was time to change the water. She seems to be doing somewhat better now. She comes out of hiding more and swims around a lot more...she doesn't hover real close to the bottom anymore, so maybe she is coming out of her shell a little bit. I think that she may have been bloated before because I told Adam that her poop strand was about an inch or so long, and that is what he said was wrong with her. She has colored up a little bit more now too, so maybe she will eat tonight...Fingers crossed!!

[Abbeys_Mom]

You mentioned shell. IF you have shells in your tank, take them out. The will mess with your parameters.

[fishlips28]

No, I don't...I kinda meant it as a fishy joke...lol, sorry! I do have a small and very open cave and then Adam gave me like 2inch pvc pipe to put in it for now until I get another cave or something for her to hide in! That's okay right?

[jeffs99dime]

test your tap water and post them in this thread. (ph, ammo, nitrite, nitrate)
do you have well water or city water?

[fishlips28]

I have well water. I just did a water change about an hour ago....is it too soon to test my water?

[jeffs99dime]

I have well water. I just did a water change about an hour ago....is it too soon to test my water?

no. it's not.

i meant to test all the parameters of your tap water (source water) too though

[fishlips28]

Wait...you want me to test the regular water that I use, and test the water in my tank?? And what are parameters??? Are they water conditions, dimensions??? I'm sorry I'm just clueless! Bear with me please.

[Drumachine09]

Wait...you want me to test the regular water that I use, and test the water in my tank?? And what are parameters??? Are they water conditions, dimensions??? I'm sorry I'm just clueless! Bear with me please.

Paramaters are water conditions, nitrate, nitrite, hardness, PH, and so on.

[Severus]

If you test your tap water it will give you an idea of what you are contending with and possibly an answer to the high ph

[Nautilus291]

Kate settle down a little bit lol. Our ph is high around here anyways mine is 8. out of the tap and Im pretty sure hers is close to that too, unless she posted other wise. Also she is using a test kit where all of the numbers for nitrite ammonia and nitrates are different. Ask hobbs she had a heck of a time trying to figure out what my real numbers were.

As for my numbers I had her in a tank with a ph of 7.4 so 9 is really high. I think the male died from stress and the store I bought him from, I lost 3 guppies and they all came from that store too.

[fishlips28]

Ok Adam, I'll try :) I'm at school right now, but I'm sure my water is similar to Adam's! I will check my well water when I go home tonight and try to figure out what is wrong with my water!

[jeffs99dime]

yes. 9.0 is way too high for a krib. keep in mind, kribensis, although they inhabit africa, do not live in the same ph as say cichlids from malawi. that right there may very well be the reason the krib died, i suspect.

[Severus]

Im too lazy too look and see if you already said this, but what are the other tankmates?

[fishlips28]

I have 3 platies and one gourami...i'll look at my parameters now, lol, since I know what they are.

[fishlips28]

My parameters of my well water are as follows...Ammonia-0, Nitrite-0, Nitrate-between 0 and 12.5, pH-7.5......so is there anything wrong with it?

[cocoa_pleco]

your PH is 7.5, thats good for some fish, but not all cichlids

[Severus]

For a community tank your Ph should be around 7-7.5, so you arent too bad.

[cocoa_pleco]

yes, most common tropicals and coldwaters like a even 7, especially goldfish