Escape attempt

[jayhitek]

Very odd.
I noticed an escape attempt. No idea where he was trying to go to.

[matti2uude]

Maybe it's trying to tell you something. Have you checked your params lately?


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[Shane]

Agreed. If I saw this behavior I would immediately hit the tank with a good water change.
-Shane

[jayhitek]

It happened shortly after I put in Equilibrium.

But that was a few days ago. And I do not see him to check on him.
but that's not unusual since I hadn't seen him for years and its a 300long gallon tank so there are plenty of places to hide..

[Barbie]

I used to have my computer next to a set of stacked 29 gallons. They were behind me and the lights were on timers. The timer would go off and every so often I would hear this scratching that sounded like something trying to crawl through the wall. You know, while I was sitting there alone, in the dark with only the computer screen on. I started realizing it was happening the same day of the week every time and got a flashlight and tried to figure out what the heck that noise was!

It finally turned out to be a 6" Royal pleco that would crawl up the return of his back filter on the day that I did water changes and rasp all the algae and film off the plastic . Evidently he couldn't reach the lip most of the week, but that day I did water changes gave him the little bit of a reach that he needed. He caused me so many nightmares and he just wanted to help me with filter maintenance! Your guy might just be cleaning algae off the lip of the tank above the water level ;).

Barbie

[jayhitek]

Something similar to that happens to me in my 36 gal. Every night around 11pm when the lights go off, I hear a scratching sound coming from the tank. It's the clown loaches sifting through the gravel looking for snails.

[dw1305]

Hi all,

If I saw this behavior I would immediately hit the tank with a good water change.

So would I, if any plec is right up near the water line it is nearly always because the level of dissolved oxygen in the tank is too low. Rheophilic plecs like Chaetostoma spp. have lost the ancestral ability to take up atmospheric oxygen via their gut (like Corydoras and non-rheophilic plecs can), but they still gasp air at the waters surface when DO levels are low.

Dissolved oxygen is both difficult to measure, and influenced by a lot of different factors. Short term a water change with cooler water is always a good idea, but often the thing you need to look at is your biological filtration capacity compared to your bioload.

cheers Darrel

[jayhitek]

I made a 150 gallon water change yesterday and a filter change the day before.
The air pump runs about 15 hours a day.

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I made a 150 gallon water change yesterday and a filter change the day before.

Could be chloramine in the water? (if it was tap), or loss of biological filtration capacity due to the filter change, might depend on what you mean by "change".

The air pump runs about 15 hours a day.

Why 15 hours rather than 24? and was the fish at the water surface when the pump wasn't running?

cheers Darrel

[jayhitek]

The air was running when I found him up there.
I drained 50% of the water and put fresh tap water in (dosed with Prime).
I changed the water and filter After I started this post and s him up there..
as far as the biological goes, there is 4" gravel in the tank that's been there for 6 years. I don't think the filter and water change would cycle the tank.
The runs for that time because I use co2 for plants. If the air is on while the co2 is on it completely takes the co2 out of the water. And the co2 also helps keep the ph down.

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I understand about the air pump now, and you look to have most things covered. Planted tanks usually have good water parameters, mainly due to the plants beneficial effects on water quality. If you use CO2, at the end of the photo-period the water would normally be saturated with dissolved oxygen, but a possibility is that the CO2/O2 ratio was higher than normal, leading to problems with the Bohr effect (haemoglobin has an affinity for both CO2 and O2, which diffuse in and out of the gills along their diffusion gradients).

Do you use a drop checker? and is there any possibility of a CO2 dump (near the end of the canister)? If it is chloramine in the water supply (in the UK it is used where the water main has been compromised, even if disinfection is usually with chlorine) the plants should keep on top of it.

Have a look at this post <http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =5&t=33883>

cheers Darrel

[jayhitek]

Actually, the co2 hasn't been running in a couple of weeks (regulator / solenoid problem) so I just shut it off until I have it figured out.

I think the big white cloud from the Equilibrium was the main culprit. Probably blocked the O2 for a little while until things settled.
But that's just my opinion.

[apistomaster]

I bet if you stopped using Sea Chem's Equilibrium you would not notice any difference in plant growth.
Unless of course you are using RO water devoid of all dissolved minerals.
It should not have any effect on the DO.

I suspect the Chaetostoma was merely taking advantage of being able to reach algae or Aufwuchs near the water line which may be out of it's reach most of the time but is whenever you top off your tank as others have described. It probably isn't really trying to escape or is in any distress.

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I suspect the Chaetostoma was merely taking advantage of being able to reach algae or Aufwuchs near the water line which may be out of it's reach most of the time but is whenever you top off your tank as others have described.

Good point and could tie in with the water change, you would need to see whether he is just hanging there or actively moving/feeding. Oxygen stressed plecs don't feed.
cheers Darrel