my fish are unhappy?

[christina soulia]

We got Tilapia fingerlings 3 days ago and they still seem "unhappy" ie. not seeming too interested in food, hiding in the back corner of tank and not moving around much. The pH of our system was lower than the system they came from (came from 7.6 and ours was about 6.8-I mixed the waters together over a period of a few hours then added them with about 2 gallons of the water they came with. our system has been at about 7.2 since them, as far as I can tell from the color chart). Ammonia and nitrites are near or at 0 and nitrates are at or above 160ppm. I will keep looking for answers on here but figured I'd post this in the meantime. Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Glenn]

Can you describe the dissolved oxygen, the temperatures, the flow rates, and clarity? Any of these might cause some unhappiness. They may have also experienced a traumatic trip or prior adaptation like being in a salt solution or exposed to things like clove oil to sedate them for travel.?

[christina soulia]

see below

[christina soulia]

christina soulia said:

we have 4 airstones in the tank (125 gal), is that enough to ensure good d.o. (which we've never measured), the temp is  77 (strangely it's been going up since getting the fish after being at a steady 72-73 for weeks-we didn't adjust the heater at all it just started climbing), our grow bed fills about every 15 minutes (is that what you mean by flow rates?) and we have jets positioned around the periphery....thank you so much for your reply

oh yes, and the clarity seems pretty good

[Suzanne Hayes]

It took a bit week or so for mine to acclimate to their new home.  There was a bit of a pH change but I think it was the overall environmental change (tank, travel, food. etc) that was hard on them.  They did come around but as I was told on this forum, be patient, they will come around.  Now the attack food with a vengeance and no longer even bothered when the husky does her "mad dog" bit running all over the house shaking things up.

Hang in there!

[christina soulia]

Thank you Suzanne! That makes me feel better

Suzanne Hayes said:

It took a bit week or so for mine to acclimate to their new home.  There was a bit of a pH change but I think it was the overall environmental change (tank, travel, food. etc) that was hard on them.  They did come around but as I was told on this forum, be patient, they will come around.  Now the attack food with a vengeance and no longer even bothered when the husky does her "mad dog" bit running all over the house shaking things up.

Hang in there!

[Alex Veidel]

Well, since your nitrates are off the charts, that could definitely have something to do with the problem. Why are your nitrates so high? Did you use maxicrop?

Also, what is your fishtank temperature? Tilapia like things hot. Think 70+.

[christina soulia]

Our temp is about 77. Not sure why nitrates are so high but assume it's something to do with using second hand hydroton?.....I do some foliar feeding with diluted organic plant food (with iron) as the plants were looking a little anemic. The fish seem a little happier now but still not quite as active as they were at the farm from which we got them. thanks for your reply

Alex Veidel said:

Well, since your nitrates are off the charts, that could definitely have something to do with the problem. Why are your nitrates so high? Did you use maxicrop?

Also, what is your fishtank temperature? Tilapia like things hot. Think 70+.

[Alex Veidel]

Could you link to the brand of plant food? How much did you use? And did you add plant food before or after the fish were added?

christina soulia said:

Our temp is about 77. Not sure why nitrates are so high but assume it's something to do with using second hand hydroton?.....I do some foliar feeding with diluted organic plant food (with iron) as the plants were looking a little anemic. The fish seem a little happier now but still not quite as active as they were at the farm from which we got them. thanks for your reply

Alex Veidel said:

Well, since your nitrates are off the charts, that could definitely have something to do with the problem. Why are your nitrates so high? Did you use maxicrop?

Also, what is your fishtank temperature? Tilapia like things hot. Think 70+.

[christina soulia]

I've used these 3 products at different times:

http://www.tastefulgarden.com/store/pc/Fox-Farm-Tiger-Bloom--p685.h...

http://www.lillymiller.com/labels/LillyMiller/09602020.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/ALASKA-MORBLOOM-0-10-10-Size-Category/dp/B007...

I dilute them a ton. Also, nitrates were high before I ever used these, befoer we had plants in there

Another question I have is: my fish aren't making any measurable ammonia yet so nitrites have gone to 0, should I add any ammonia? I just checked and nitrates are still high......thanks for your response

[Alex Veidel]

Yeah, second hand hydroton is likely your problem. (Just out of curiousity, did you wash it first?) I'd do a partial water change and then test your water again. Try to get those nitrates down a little. I almost guarantee you that the nitrate levels are bothering your fish.

How big is your tank and how many fingerlings do you have in there?

[Steve R]

Thats perfectly normal for new fish. they will get used to your system in time. one good way to get them used to a new home is to throw your food at he surface or splash when you feed. they get used to disturbances being not a scary bad thing and instead potentially something good.