Someone said on another forum that they acclimated their fish straight from freshwater to marine the fish were fine in a reef tank for a short while then died, so no I’m stuck, did the salinity kill them or the reef environment.
I added yet more live bacteria yet my aquarium won’t cycle. Won’t even ...
Search found 23 matches
- 05 Jul 2020, 18:01
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 43940
- 04 Jul 2020, 19:52
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 43940
Re: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
Ok, the tank still has not cycled and I cannot keep the ammonia down it keeps rising to over 1ppm with no nitrites or nitrates, despite adding live bacteria for salt and freshwater and having a ton of biomedia so I want to raise the salinity with every water change by 2 points until I get to 1.021 ...
- 22 Jun 2020, 09:05
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 43940
Re: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
Ok I increased the salinity of the aquarium from 1.005/1006 to 1.007 and this appeared small lumps across the fishes sides I have a picture I will attached then the columbian shark keeper I was talking to advised me it maybe parasites and more salt will kill the parasites so I increased the ...
- 20 Jun 2020, 05:26
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 43940
Re: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
Ok I increased the salinity of the aquarium from 1.005/1006 to 1.007 and this appeared small lumps across the fishes sides I have a picture I will attached then the columbian shark keeper I was talking to advised me it maybe parasites and more salt will kill the parasites so I increased the salinity ...
- 16 Jun 2020, 11:17
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 43940
Re: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
Columbia’s sharks are born in fresh water to my knowledge and return back to the sea as they grow. As such kept three in fresh until around five inches when I started increasing the salinity of their six foot tank. Finally over the course of 6 months reaching 1.025 by which time they were living ...
- 16 Jun 2020, 11:14
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 43940
Re: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
I'd probably do more searching and reading online on the topic of how young is too young to go into full marine because there is no telling when you'd be helped sufficiently here, could be today, or could be never. IDK who keeps brackish or marine tanks on here. I am a 100% freshie. I think most ...
- 16 Jun 2020, 11:05
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
- Replies: 33
- Views: 67610
Re: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
Chlorine and fluorine in our uk water is not your problem, both can be overcome by a decent dechlorinator. Although, I live in Yorkshire and have never used the stuff. All my water changes come straight from the tap for my freshwater stock and have for 40 yrs. flouramine amd chloramine are our new ...
- 10 Jun 2020, 02:41
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 43940
Re: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
The issue I have is I dont want to hinder them in anyway putting them in full marine conditions at such a young age, If I do it, it will be in slow increments by adding more salt into each bucket during the water change, increasing the salt amount in each bucket to raise the overall aquarium ...
- 08 Jun 2020, 00:17
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 43940
Re: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
Here's a picture of one I caught in the Caribbean Sea off the northern coast of Venezuela. At this age they can move between freshwater and marine. 1555_G.jpg
Jools
Cute :), so they can, I increased my salinity by just 0.001 today and they stopped eating and started hiding, I dont think I ...
- 06 Jun 2020, 20:24
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 43940
Are Columbian sharks ok with full saltwater?
Basically I have some sort of bacteria growing in my aquarium and I think I found a treatment, however I have noticed a lot of products are either fresh water or saltwater only, this goes for beneficial bacteria ph testing kits etc so I wanted to know if Columbian sharks are happy in full saltwater ...
- 04 Jun 2020, 23:32
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
- Replies: 33
- Views: 67610
Re: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
Hi all, .........I had been told by 2 3 manufacturers the GH of the marine salt is already quiet high even at low salinity but I had to check myself and it turned out they are correct (of course what Im saying is based purely on Columbian sharks) the GH would probably be too low with RO water for ...
- 04 Jun 2020, 12:17
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
- Replies: 33
- Views: 67610
Re: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
Well, I appreciate the help, I have contacted several places regarding GH in Brackish water using RO water since I last came onto the forum, this includes different manufacturers, forums, websites etc and then calculated things such as the marine salts calcium/magnesium/potassium content in the salt ...
- 21 May 2020, 01:06
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
- Replies: 33
- Views: 67610
Re: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
Don't mean to jam it down your throat, so treat these as my thoughts caused by our exchange, not orders, God forbid...
*****
IDK the situation with tap water in the UK but I cannot fathom it'd be so problematic requiring the RO! It must be potable water that people wash their face and shower ...
- 20 May 2020, 02:27
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
- Replies: 33
- Views: 67610
Re: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
Update so I researched reverse osmosis and you’re right about the water hardness but because Thames valley water is from a river where sewage water is pumped back into the same river from many towns and in the past they have even poured the sewer into the river as is Uncleaned killing animals and ...
- 19 May 2020, 09:06
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
- Replies: 33
- Views: 67610
Re: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
I also used reverse osmosis water.
As these fish come from brakish water, RO water will not only not be helpfull, it will be harmfull to the fishes.
Your fish feel a certain pressure from the tank water to enter their body - a feeling which should be abandoned. In hard water this pressure is ...
- 19 May 2020, 03:15
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
- Replies: 33
- Views: 67610
Re: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
No I think you’re right the problem is ones belly has gone completely flat the other ones is exactly the same, you’re also right about prime so what I did was buy a sachem ammonia tester that takes into consideration both binded and unbinded ammonia apparently the api test kit still shows the real ...
- 18 May 2020, 20:13
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
- Replies: 33
- Views: 67610
Re: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
Thanks for the replies :) im happy that it is probably just over eating/full stomachs, as for the cycling it’s true the tank wasn’t cycled but the original aquarium sprung a leak so I had to start again by that point the fish had already been purchased and getting the aquarium replaced and ...
- 18 May 2020, 12:37
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
- Replies: 33
- Views: 67610
Re: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
Thanks, but if you look at a comparison from Friday the first image to today there’s a big difference in their stomach size, also what’s wrong with the gravel 

- 18 May 2020, 11:01
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: Need more help with my columbian sharks please
- Replies: 33
- Views: 67610
Need more help with my columbian sharks please
Hi, I posted a few days ago about possible finrot on my columbian sharks whitish grey on their dorsal fins that had just arrived but it appeared it might be normal however today I have noticed two new things both fish have developed dark patches on the skin near their gills and have bloated stomachs ...
- 15 May 2020, 21:00
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: What steps to take with columbian sharks that arrived with possible fintot
- Replies: 7
- Views: 30641
Re: What steps to take with columbian sharks that arrived with possible fintot
Ok thanks I appreciate the help I will just monitor the water wait and see what happens.
- 13 May 2020, 21:17
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: What steps to take with columbian sharks that arrived with possible fintot
- Replies: 7
- Views: 30641
Re: What steps to take with columbian sharks that arrived with possible fintot
The fins loke more like attacked by fungus, and hey presto fungus cannot withstand salt.
So having them in 5 % salt is way more than needed for the fins, but I would assume the fish will enjoy it.
Good luck raising them - I did read they are hard to raise
Thanks, they are the only ones in the ...
- 13 May 2020, 21:15
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: What steps to take with columbian sharks that arrived with possible fintot
- Replies: 7
- Views: 30641
Re: What steps to take with columbian sharks that arrived with possible fintot
Welcome to the Planet!
It doesn't look like any disease to me, nor fin rot. Fin rot leads to inflammation and reddening, etc.
When I look through the Cat-eLog photos, I see things similar to what you are pointing out in your photos, lower on the dorsal rear edge:
https://www.planetcatfish.com ...
- 13 May 2020, 19:12
- Forum: Other Catfishes
- Topic: What steps to take with columbian sharks that arrived with possible fintot
- Replies: 7
- Views: 30641
What steps to take with columbian sharks that arrived with possible fintot
Hi, I Need some help I purchased two columbian sharks online and they arrived yesterday with a slight white patch on the back of their dorsal fins today it has gotten worse so I’m worried it’s finrot, what steps should I take, the water is 26-26.3 Celsius the ph is 7.8 near zero ammonia or nitries ...