# Help With my bala shark



## yusufm52 (Dec 22, 2010)

Hi,
please can anyone help me out my bala shark or sliver shark as they call him here, is acting quite strange. it darts around the tank, which it didn't do before i cleaned the tank.
i used drinking water when i cleaned the tank, and did a 90% water change, and replaced my UG fliter with an internal filter which is easier to clean than the UG.
pls pls do help me out here.:-(


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 2, 2010)

yusufm52 said:


> Hi,
> please can anyone help me out my bala shark or sliver shark as they call him here, is acting quite strange. it darts around the tank, which it didn't do before i cleaned the tank.
> i used drinking water when i cleaned the tank, and did a 90% water change, and replaced my UG fliter with an internal filter which is easier to clean than the UG.
> pls pls do help me out here.:-(



This is going to be REALLY tough little guy I hope he can hold on.

It looks like he is under ALOT of stress due to the huge water change and it probably is WAY too cold or hot and it can send the fish into shock and death, and if you swapped the filters out completely and have a brand new one running. The filter pad media hasn't had time to build of the necessary bacteria to filter out toxin in the water.

Here are a few things to note from now on,

1) Weekly water changes should become normal, and only do about 10-25% water changes depending on how crowded your tank is with fish. Also, make sure the water you are getting from the tap or where ever is around the same temperature as the water in your tank. This will take care of temperature shock. 
2) If you are ever going to switch to a new filter, leave the original one running with the new one for a period of time until the new filter media has had a chance to colonize with the beneficial bacteria that are needed to help with removing the toxins in the water that come from decomposing food or fish waste.
3) when cleaning the tank, you should pretty much just vacuum the gravel to get out all the decomposing materials stuck down there. No need to take everything out and scrub scrub scrub, because bacteria lives on everything too and this is needed for the tanks ecosystem as well.

I hope he makes it, Keep us updated on what happens.


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## yusufm52 (Dec 22, 2010)

thanks for the info, well as of now he's stop darting around, and will keep in mind your tips next time i clean my tank.
and will keep you updated on his health


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

Out of curiousity, what size is your tank and do you keep more than one bala? These fish are shoaling fish and don't do all that well by themselves. They need the comfort of their own kind, and due to the adult size they attain require a very large tank.


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## yusufm52 (Dec 22, 2010)

the tank size is 36x12x15 (LxBxH)


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