White spots, but not Ich??

Deezil

Ok I did anaother water change and I tested my tap water. You were right about the pH in the tap. Here's the results from my tap water:

ammonia 0
nitrate 0
nitrite. 0
hardness. 150
alkalinity. 250-300
pH. 7.8 - 8.0

1 small rubber pleco (1 1/2")
1 angel
1 snail
1 small eel (4")
2 medium algae eaters (1 1/2")

Twistersmom

Can't believe your 4" eel ate your bala sharks! That is pretty amazing!
I have peacock eels, they act like a small earth worm is to big for them, they cost me a small fortune to feed, because they will only eat small black worms. Spoiled eels!
Try the daily 25% water changes to lower ammonia and nitrate. If you are still having problems, please do keep us posted. Best of luck!

Deezil

My eel may be more like 5" but he's got the appetite of a starving dog. When I feed a frozen bloodworm cube the eel always smells it and heads straight for it, attacking it and shaking it like a dog does its prey. His mouth looks tiny cuz he normaly just slurps up bloodworms, but he can hyperextend his jaw like a snake and swallow things bigger than i thought he could! It's really neat because he's usually pretty docile. I can even hold the cube and he'll come right up and try to pull it out of my fingers.

Deezil

I did another water change last night and now (12 hrs later) The Ammonia level is down but nitrates are still high. New readings:

Ammonia 0
Nitrates 40 - 60
Nitrites 0
Hardness 150
Alkalinity 300
pH 8.0 - 8.2

Should I be concerned that nitrates aren't going down with the ammonia? I haven't fed them in three days hoping that would help the levels. I guess i'll just put a few flakes in, they're really hungry now. The inhabitants seem to be feeling better this morning. My angel is swimming around instead of floating near the bottom. The rest are looking better too, colors are returning.

Twistersmom

So glad to hear your fish are doing much better!

I would go ahead and start feeding them again. Just be careful not over do it. Till the nitrates drop some more, once a day feeding would be better.
The high nitrates, is not nearly as hard on your fish as any ammonia or nitrite readings, but I would continue with the daily 25% water changes till the nitrates are closer to 30 ppm.

Deezil

I did another water change today. Ammonia is zero and nitrates are down to 30. I'm gonna keep doing daily water changes and see if i can get them even lower. My tap water Has really high pH, alkalinity, and hardness. pH is about 8.0-8.2 out of the tap. Is there anything i can add to my tap water to soften it and maybe help lower th pH a bit? I read that peat works but it's risky and makes the water dirty. What do you suggest.

Today i pulled out my decorations in which my eel usually hides. I could not find him anywhere! he wasn't in the log or the driftwood and he wasn't flopping on the floor. For some reason i decided to look in the filter and sure enough there he was! Good thing i just cleaned it out thouroughly the other day. I scared him pretty good when i opened up the filter and put my flashlight on it! The water line is just below the spillway so he must have jumped in there. WEIRD!

Fishin Pole

glad to hear you got things back to a working order.......I think you might want to invest in a tank cover.....if your eel got into your filter, i think its just a matter of time till you find him somewhere else that might not be so forgiving.....

Twistersmom

My aquarium with eels, has all holes covered, so no way out for them. Mine are to large to fit into the filter now, but when they where smaller, I wrapped nylon netting material (you can find it in a fabric store) around the out take area of the filter. I used a large rubber band to hold it in place.
Eels are very clever about finding ways out of the tank.