CO2 and Rummynose Tetras

[shane]

I have rummy nose tetras, discus, german blue rams, and cory cats in my planted tank. About 2 months ago I increased CO2 to battle BBA to about 3BPS for 9 hours/day (60 gallon with 2-39 watt T5HO; 9 hour photoperiod). It has worked pretty well in getting less BBA. At the same time, I noticed my rummy nose tetras acting weird. In the morning they are acting normal with red noses. By the middle of the day they are huddled in one spot with a few with no red noses. The discus are fine.

I tried to turn off the CO2 for a half day to see what the rummy's would do. They did not act weird.

So now I figure I will have to back off the CO2, but am worried the BBA will come back. I was thinking of keeping the CO2 rate the same but turn it off 1 hour earlier. Good idea? Anybody seen rummy nose tetras that are showing signs of gassing?

 

[Henry Hatch]

I have run my 50 gallon with rummy nose tetras as high as 6 bbs with no ill effects. Rummy noses can be delicate sometimes, but it's hard to determine what the exact cause might be. I was adding baking soda at the time to prevent a big drop in ph since I have soft water low in kh.

Henry

 

[tedr108]

IMO, 3 bps isn't really overdoing it for a 60G (I've done that much or more in a 50G) -- at least not if you have good flow. What is your filter's gph?

I had a little tough time with tetras in general (rummy noses, too) in very hard water (over 30GH). They were just more sensitive and had more problems. If everything else was fine, they were fine. But, if I bought a fish with ich, for example, they had difficulty overcoming it. Now, when I had my tetras in very soft water, I had no fear whatsoever in even buying a fish which already had ich (not that I'm recommending such things).

 

[Tom Barr]

I've added a lot of CO2, rummy's are rather insensitive.
Discus tend to change color, turning darker if the CO2 is higher, and larger fish will respond worse that small fish(at least to higher ppm's of CO2, using some good methods for CO2 measurement).

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[shane]

Thanks guys,

I run (3) filters on this tank. A 2217 pushing the CO2 reactor, a 2215 running a UV, and a PRO III running a inline heater. I think the flow is pretty good.

I know the time I gassed my discus (I was able to revive all of them), the rummys were fine. I did think it was peculiar that the rummys were acting weird and the discus were fine. I was thinking perhaps the rummys were sick but it didn't make much sense for them to be fine in the morning and weird in the afternoon.

I did make a 40% water change yesterday and cleaned out one of the filters.