Fuelleborni acting wierd

[bingerz]

Ive got this one fuelleborni juvenile that's been acting wierd. he's the smallest of the three and the other guys seem to pick on him alot. last friday night...he looked fine. a few hrs after that...his eyes are buldging like he hasn't slept in weeks. i did a water change...and the next day...it went down and he looked like he was getting better. later on that night...popeye came back again. i went and got a water testing and here were the results:

NH3/NH4: 0.5
NO2: 1.0
NO3: 15
PH: 7.6
KH: 13deg.

the guy at the LFS said to do daily water changes and that's helped alot. i haven't seen it since. but it gets wierd. that same fuelleborni will have these twitches and i noticed him swimming and he'll rub up on the rocks. ive got some vids of it, but i can't upload it until my power adapter comes in. any ideas on what's happening with this guy? his eating's fine...when i feed...he's all up on it like the other guys.

[bingerz]

btw...that water test results were from monday (28th). like i said i've been doing water changes daily since. i'm gonna go in and get another test today. i'll post the results when i get them.

[Mferko]

if his eyes are filling up with fluid as well as him scratching on the rocks my guess would be you need to increase the hardness its probably affecting its osmoregulation
can you take a GH reading?
your KH could stand to be a bit higher as well
my fish itch themselves on rocks when the water isnt hard enough and stop when i buffer it up

hope that helps

[bingerz]

the LFS by my work does tests for free, but they don't do GH though. i just got back from there and here's the latest.

NH3/NH4: 0.5 > 0
NO2: 1.0 > 2
NO3: 15 > 20
PH: 7.6 > 7.4
KH: 13deg. > 11deg.

with ea. water change i do, i always put in some Cichlid Lake Salt and Malawi/Victoria Buffer.

[bingerz]

the girl at the LFS was saying that my ammonia went down...but the other numbers went up...that it would be from the ammonia being converted. i just have to keep on doing the water changes and use my stability.

would you recommend using the epsom salt/table salt/baking soda as a replacement for that Seachem stuff...that stuffs pretty costly.

[Mferko]

i havent tried it so i cant recommend it currently im using the seachem stuff, for now id suggest just add maybe 25% more than you did before on the next water change and then test again

heres an article on making your own buffer, i plan to try this once my seachem stuff runs out which shouldnt take long once i get the 125G

Rift Lake Buffer Recipe - Cichlid Salt

the hardness in my tank is usually around 18 degrees kh and gh and i notice when it gets down to about 12 they start doing the scratching
try dissolving some of the buffer in hot water, stir it up, and then add it slowly to the tank, add an additional 25% to what you put in on the last water change
expect the water to be cloudy for a little while but it wont hurt the fish if you do it slowly to an area with high flow