Is there a community for asking questions about pet symptoms? Maybe a place where vets share advice?
I already go to my local vet with our dogs when needed but we have no vets for aquatic animals here and I could use some advice about an issue some of my fish have.
I could imagine though that it could also be a good place to share experiences and advice about more obscure issues for any pet, like SLO in dogs. We got a diagnosis from the vet, but a lot more advice online about it.
I’m already there but I feel my question about swim bladder issues may be a bit too niche, ezpecilly when I’ve covered the basic treatment of raising temps, treatment with salt and flushing their systems with peas after starving them for a few days.
Well, the only way you’ll know if it’s too niche is by asking and seeing what the responses are. If posting on lemmy doesn’t get you enough information, you might try posting on reddit, they bring the information back here tob possibly help others in similar situations. I mean, I’ve left reddit, but if my cat’s health was potentially at risk, I’d ask anyplace I could get a decent answer.
I’ll give it a try
I had some decent communities on reddit and Facebook but I too have deleted my account on reddit and haven’t used Facebook since they asked for payment for untargeted ads
I may go back in if needed but I believe that there are a few discord communities too that are quite active and knowledgeable
You may be doing too much, let the water stabilise. Is your filtration sufficient, on the other hand is the filter not too strong for the tank volume?
Thanks! I did get some good pointers over at the aquarium community
https://lemmy.world/post/9636595
I’ll trey to change less water and see if that helps. We have no chlorine in the tapwater here, but I suspect the change still may be causing the issue.
My two tanks are 920 lit (190gal) and 530 lit (140 gal) so I can’t really let water age before I do the water change. It would require too much space
Glad you found some answers. I may have a bit of old school approach but fish are usually happier in a stable environment, the less you change things the better. I was never a fan of using additives until they’re needed. Purigen in the filter, some Melafix / Pimafix if things went downhill. The water will age if you make small water changes. With large water changes you flush out the beneficial bacteria and while you still have them in your filter, they will need time to repopulate in new water. Shrimps are great cleaners if you don’t mind them and if your fish can tolerate them, they will need hard water and some minerals added every now and then to help with molting.
Thanks! I have a pretty solid grasp on the chemistry of fish tanks and I don’t think bacteria are free swimmers. This is also quite evident when I do the large water changes, as the rate at wich the bacteria still break down ammonia and nitrite seems the same.
Even though I am not concerned for the bacteria as such, and actually not at all concerned for the nitrogen cycle at large, there might be other circumstances with fresh water that may be affecting the most sensitive of the fish. I am considering apilitting the tanks into hardy and sensitive fish and experimenting with smaller and more frequent water changes for the sensitive ones.