# HELP! Im losing my Bala sharks :-(



## Copachick (Jun 7, 2011)

Hey everyone, I need Help! 

I have a 36 Gallon tank. We recently bought 3 tiny bala sharks. Well, we bought two, and then a week or two later bought another one. In the last week we had noticed that one of the sharks was starting to lose alot of weight... He seemed fine, he ate and everything. None of the other fish bother the sharks at all (We have 5 Silver tip tertras, and 5 Serpae tetras). We woke up thos morning and the shark was dead *frown
We feed them all flake food, as well as brine shrimp, which everyone in the tank just love. What can cause the sharks to start getting so sick? PLEASE HELP!
*c/p*


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Copachick said:


> What can cause the sharks to start getting so sick?


Many things. First off, how old is the tank? Secondly, what are your water parameters? (More specifically, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate). Observe your fish carefully - are their gills red? Are they breathing fast? Are they swimming in the upper/lower part of the tank? Are they staying in the current or hiding? Are they chasing each other? Are there any wounds, "pineconing" scales, ragged fins, fuzzy spots, etc.?

My initial guess is that it could be internal parasites. You might have to get them used to it, but mashed garlic will help them rid themselves of the parasites, and most fish go bonkers for it. Internal parasites are usually denoted by white stringy poop (the eggs). If you see this, you might want to dose an anti-parasitic water treatment to kill the eggs in the tank as well.


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## Copachick (Jun 7, 2011)

Well I am at work at the moment, but as soon as I get home I will test the water and reply with the stats on that.
We have had the tank for about a month and a half. But from what I can see, their gills are not red or anthing...no spots or damage that I can tell. They are just getting thin. The one fish (who just died this morning) always hung at the top corner where we have a floating plant (Its fake. I guess he felt like he was hidden in there). The other two swim around and just hang out, nothing unusual. They all eat when we feed them


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Copachick said:


> The other two swim around and just hang out, nothing unusual. They all eat when we feed them


My experience with parasites is limited, but that's sure what it sounds like. Also, what's your feeding schedule? Once a day, twice a day, and how much each time?


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## Copachick (Jun 7, 2011)

I know you said you have little experience with the parasite thing, but if for instance that is the case, is there a way to help them?
We feed them once a day around dinner time. They get the normal flakes, and sometimes the brine shrimp. I cant say exactly how much we feed them, we definitely dont over feed... and I i doubt underfeed. we see when they are getting full so we stop.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

For parasites, mashed garlic or flake food soaked in garlic juice will kill anything internal in their digestive tracts. For the eggs they poop out, an anti-parasitic water treatment that you can buy at the pet store would be best.


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## Copachick (Jun 7, 2011)

Results from my water testing..*w3

Ph- 6.7ppm
Ammonia .15pmm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 20ppm

So everything seems good in there.


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## Copachick (Jun 7, 2011)

....and actually the ones tail fin looks a little red.. if that means anything


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Copachick said:


> Results from my water testing..*w3
> 
> Ph- 6.7ppm
> Ammonia .15pmm
> ...



I could be wrong, but shouldn't Ammonia be 0ppm? (I thought anything above would cause problems?)


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## Copachick (Jun 7, 2011)

Yeah it can cause problems sometimes. But its barely over 0 so Im not worried yet. My other tank had a real bad ammonia problem at one point and the fish were fine. Maybe we just caught it in time. But we fixed that and its all good


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Your water specs look OK, but what is your nitrite reading? 0.15 ppm ammonia isn't anything to worry about. Just to be safe - do you do water changes? And how did feeding garlic to them go?


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## Copachick (Jun 7, 2011)

Well my boyfriend said the nitrite reading was 0ppm
We do partial water changes when we vacumm the bottom of the tank. And we just did one, I want to say about 2 weeks ago. We did about a 25% or so water change


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## Copachick (Jun 7, 2011)

We didnt get a chance to feed them the garlic yet, but we are going to try that later on today when we get home


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