Help with JD

[SirChiefton]

Hi, I am looking for some guidance with my JD. It is a 5 year old 8" fish now. I have had him since he was an inch or so. He (I really dont know the sex but, will refer to it as He) has stopped eating. This all started about 3-4 weeks ago. It started with him clamped fins in the corner not moving with a white sheen over him. So, let me give yall some history...

Late november (27th ish) - set up 125g, fluval fx5(biomedia only) and twin 250w heaters. I ran the tank for a few days with a few cups of substrate from his tank hanging in a stocking in front of the intake. Put 20 feeders in a few days later.

Early December (6th ish) - transferred JD from 29g to new 125 seeing that 80% of the feeders lived

Dec 20 ish - fins clamped, white sheen, stopped eating - did 25% H2O change and added carbon and pre filter media to filter. Next day he was up and about and ate. Couple days later, he is still up and about but will not eat.

Dec 28 ish - added 8 plants to aquarium, some type of sea weed looking plant, some swords and curly grass (sorry for the terrible descriptions, I got them from PetSmart) Plants are planed in small terra cotta pots and sunk in the sand substrate.

Jan 3 - 25% water and reposition exhaust nozzles to agitate waters surface in attempts to aerate the water. I had a feeling that he might nit have enough oxygen since this canister filter is a closed loop system.

He is up and swimming around, looks ok but will not eat. He looks as though he is struggling to breathe? I dont remember him sucking water through his gills so noticeably

water parms are good, ph 8.2, ammonia 0, no2 0, no3 10ish. My no3 was at 20 prior to the carbon, all other pars the same.

I am stumped!! What gives? I have never seen this fish not eat or attack anything that moves by.

Is my water flow through the tank too much? Does anyone think that pantyhose used to hold the carbon a bad idea? Sand substrate bothering him?
Plants (I know he will tear them up but I like plants)? I dont have a lot of light two 24"ers, one 9800k one 3500k.

I dont want to see my JD belly up :(

Loring in Louisiana

[skullduggery1]

could it be to much CO2 in the water?

[SirChiefton]

Maybe, how does one check CO2 levels?

[Brhino]

I don't know why you'd suspect CO2, I've never heard of CO2 poisoning except when someone is actually injecting it into the tank. Also, a high level of CO2 would drop the pH, so I think we can rule that out.

What kind of fish were the feeders? Where did you get them from, how long did you have them before you added them to the 125g? Did you take them out, or are they still in there with the JD? The 20% that died, can you provide any information about their deaths? I'm wondering if the JD didn't get a disease from them.

[Lab_Rat]

I'd guess the feeders brought in some sort of disease. Clamped fins and a white sheen does not sound good. Is his poop stringy and white?

[SirChiefton]

They were little gold fish. I did not take them out he promptly ate all of them within the first few days. The ones that were dead didnt look bad, most were caught in the filters intake screen. I assume they got too close and sucked into the grille.

Well, the white sheen is gone as are the clamped fins. He is up and swimming around now but wont eat and isnt nearly as agressive as he once was.

[openbook]

I looked in this old book I have and it says a white slime coat could be bacterial. Treat with melachite green. Sounds like he may be recovering on his own. Maybe the move stressed him out enough that he became susceptible to illness.
When I got my JD he didn't appear to eat for 6 weeks plus. It wasn't until after I bought a pleco, my tank came down with ich and I treated it with rid ich that the jd started eating. I don't know why but the treatment helped somehow.

[SirChiefton]

Thanks, I was trying to avoid chemicals. Is this the same type of product as Melafix?

[openbook]

I don't think it's the same. The product I used had melachite green.

[briang6]

How long did you have the JD in the 29g?