Normal Behavior?

[Trabba]

I recently added 6 moon fish to my 55 gallon. In addition, I have 6 cory's, 1 BN pleco, 6 serpae tetras.

Last night, 2 of the moons were laying on the top of the water. At first, I thought the worst but just when I was about to net them, they swam away and were acting fine. Also, I checked them this morning and they were fine.

Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates were zero and pH was at 6.8. Temperature was 76 which is where it has been. So, reading seem fine to me.

I have not kept moons before so I guess my question is, is this normal behavior for them or does this sound like I might have trouble coming in the near future?

 

[KaylNeko]

What kind of moon fish are you talking about? A search on moon fishes turned up monos, which are brackish fish, and a handful of marine fish that aren't usually kept in aquariums. Or are you talking about moonlight gouramis?

 

[Trabba]

Neon Sunburst Moon, Moons & Platies | PetSolutions

I didn't get them from here but these are 1 type I am talking about. I have 3 of those. The other look the same bodywise but have red tails and black bodies.

 

[KaylNeko]

Ah! Ok. I forgot platys were also called moon fish. As far as I know, that's not normal, but give them some time to settle in. If it starts to happen more often and you're water parameters are still good, you may have weak stock.

Just out of curiosity, is the tank planted? 0 nitrates isn't normal unless a water change was done recently or the tank is planted. Are you using strips or a liquid reagent?

 

[Hobgob]

Yes nitrates at 0 even with a water change it would be hard to be at 0. Unless you did a 100% water change. How long has the tank been set up? Did you cycle (nitrogen cycle)? What filtration do you have on your tank? We need more details... As much info about the tank as possible will help.

 

[Trabba]

Filtration is an Aqueon 55/75 rated at 400 gph. Did a 25% PWC on Saturday, the new fish were added Sunday. Nitrates at 0 could be my test kit too, using strips right now, but have the API one ordered, so that could be slightly inaccurate but I would say under 25ppm at the most seeing as the strips didn't really show anything. I guess we'll see.

The tank has been setup for about 6-7 years (had a Jack Dempsey up until end of January), was fishless for about a week but left all the media running. Did a 75% water change before switching to a community tank. Also, have 2 airstones (forget what the pump is but has 2 outlet valves), 200W heater, gravel substrate (same as was in for JD), not planted. That is all I can think of.

 

[Hobgob]

When the tank was empty did you feed the bb at all? It could have died off. Also if you added all the plates at the same time you could be going threw a mincycle and the strips not picking it up. The bb in your aquarium is balanced to the fish. If you add to many fish at once it would have to balance itself out again...

 

[Hobgob]

I believe platys put out a decent bioload so 6 at once may have put it into a mincycle. Using the strips makes it hard to tell though. From experience they have read 0 in ammo and trites and my liquid kit would read differently...
I would do at least 50% water change just to be safe.
It could possibly be bad stock as well. Do you know anybody that has purchased some as well and see how they are doing?

 

[absolutangel04]

I am guessing you may have gotten some bad stock. 6 fish is a fair amount, but if they were small like most fish available for purchase are, it probably wouldn't have affected the cycle too much. The bb can actually live for over a week without any source of ammo, so I am guessing the bb colony is still intact.
The strips are pretty innaccurate, so I suggest making sure you do rather large pwc for a bit until you get a better test kit so you know for sure what you are dealing with.
Since the issue started the day after you added the fish, that indicates a potential stock issue to me rather than water quality. Thats a pretty big tank for the amount of fish in it, so assuming that you have been dutiful of your pwc beforehand, I think it may just be the fish. Hopefully they do ok though. The whole fish whole-saler to lfs to tank trip can be a bit traumatic and not all places treat the fish well along the way. Let us know if how the fish are doing and give us an update once you get your api kit.

 

[Trabba]

OK, will do a 50% PWC tonight and test again when the new kit arrives. Will also keep an eye on the fish and see what is going on, if their behavior changes, etc...don't know anyone else I can check with on the stock issue.

Not that it helps the fish any, but they do give a 14 day guarantee but obviously would like to avoid that if at all possible. I will keep everyone updated, thanks for the adivce/info.

 

[Trabba]

OK, well to update, when I got home last night, 2 of the fish were dead. I did a 50% WC. Also, I stopped and got a new thermometer on the way home and it seems my old one had stopped working as the new on read closer to 84. So, I turned the heater down and am going to slowly decrease the temp to around 76. I got the test kit too. Nitrates were around 20 and nitrites and ammonia were both 0. pH was higher, around 7.8 actually.

Would the higher temps have caused it or would this just actually be a case of bad stock? Should I do another water change soon or just wait a week as I normally would? Any other advice at this point?

 

[Trabba]

I just thought of something else too. I have a water softener. Should I bypass that when filling the aquarium? Would that cause issues?

 

[savage]

I have a softener as well, and do not by-pass it for water changes. Shouldn't be a problem. It's probably a good idea to test your tap water as soon as your API Master kit comes in though.

 

[absolutangel04]

OK, well to update, when I got home last night, 2 of the fish were dead. I did a 50% WC. Also, I stopped and got a new thermometer on the way home and it seems my old one had stopped working as the new on read closer to 84. So, I turned the heater down and am going to slowly decrease the temp to around 76. I got the test kit too. Nitrates were around 20 and nitrites and ammonia were both 0. pH was higher, around 7.8 actually.

Would the higher temps have caused it or would this just actually be a case of bad stock? Should I do another water change soon or just wait a week as I normally would? Any other advice at this point?

No, 84 is not high enough to cause issues. They will be great at 76 like you said, but 84 honestly wouldn't have killed them. People raise the temperature to 86-88 in order to treat ich and platys can handle that.
How did you acclimate the new fish?

 

[Trabba]

Float aclimation, adding tank water every 15 minutes until volumes were equal, about an hour, then the fish were netted and released.

 

[absolutangel04]

Thats how I acclimate my fish, so that sounds fine.

 

[Trabba]

Well, to update, all of the red tails died as well. Still have 1 neon from original batch. Took the 3 red tails back today and the LFS tests the water everytime. Readings were the same, had 20 nitrates, 0 for nitrite and ammonia. the neons from Thursday seem fine now and the red tails are so far so good for today. Let's hope this stock is a little better.

 

[Hobgob]

Have you got your API kit yet? What is the store using to test?

 

[Trabba]

I didn't ask exactly but they are using some type of liquid reagent to test. The new red tails and also the neons are all back up towards the top now as of this morning so my guess is that they are not going to make it. Maybe I just can't keep these type of fish. I don't know. If these end up not making it, I will just get a credit and try a different type of fish. But there is nothing in the water that is killing them and the teras and cory's are all still fine. I'm really not sure what is going on at this point.

 

[Hobgob]

You used dechlorinator right???