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Upon returning from a four day vacation I have found that one of my columbian shark catfish has stopped eating. I also lost one while I was gone, but the guy who was taking care of them for me flushed it without getting a good look so I don't know if this is the same issue or not.

It is looking dreadfully thin, the others seem to be doing fine.

I have just intalled a sump wet/dry system that I hope will help keep my water clean. My nitrite levels are
quite high at the moment (3ppm), and I am keeping the water changes going.


I'm not sure what to do... It isn't just being difficult, as there has been no change of diet.

It is a saltwater tank

PLEASE help!

What's your ammonia, nitrate, salinity levels and temp?

Is your old filter still on the tank or are you just using the new sump?

Temp is 79
Salinety is 0.022
Ammonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrate 30

I know that my old setup of magnum HOT with biowheel isn't cutting it, which is why I built the sump. It will be a few weeks before any bacteria can grow there tho, so I do still have my old pump running. As a temporary solution I am adding extra water conditioner(as per the instructions on the bottle) with my water changes to nuetralize the ammonia and nitrites present. I believe even nuetralized ammonia and nitrite will still show up on a test tho.

I could all be in my head, but it almost seems like my tank water is smelling 'fishy'. This is something that i have never noticed before.

I will continue with 5 gallon water changes daily (29 gal. tank, fish are small yet) with reverse osmosis water. Any other questions?? I have almost given up on the little guy, but I still have two left who I couldn't stand to see suffer the same fate. Apart from a couple turbo snails they are the tanks only inhabitants.

PLEASE! If you have ANY suggestions please share them. I need some guidance!

Well, you don't say how frequently your doing the water changes but if your doing them daily and it still smells fishy then I would say the you have something dead hidden in the tank. Some food hidden decomosing in the tank. Or your tank is over stocked. I would guess one of the first two choices though.

I would suggest a head count and lift up some rocks and decorations and siphon under them. The person watching your tanks probably overfed and you have food rotting somewhere. Keept up with the water changes.

Also, you don't say whether or not you have a protein skimmer , it would help out if you had one.

the smell seems to be going away. Im not sure how he could have over-fed as i said one shrimp cube a day(tho i may have... the one that wasnt eating made me a little antsy and prone to feed too often). The smell does seem to be getting better, and the fish is doing much better.

no protein skimmer yet...

thanks so much for the reply!