Dissent in the ranks :-(

[Fishy monkey]

First off my tank- 43us gallon, stocked with 6 (now 5) congo tetras, 5 pearl danios (Danio albolineatus) and a young bristlenose pleco i got last week. Been set up since September, did a fish in cycle with the danios then added the tetras gradually. That's the history, now the problem-

One of my congo tetras died yesterday, was fine in the morning, then I went to bed for a few hours (I work nights) and when I got up it was swimming diagonally upwards but kind of floppy, not straight. It died soon after. All parameters at 0 (yes it's cycled, I just have lots of algae that is using my nitrates, been discussed in another thread) and pH 8.0.

I've just got home from work and a couple of my other congos are looking like they've done 10 rounds with Tyson, fins are almost all gone :-(

I can't tell if its the pearl danios or other congos that are doing it, they all seem to play chase together. I don't have a quarantine tank and due to snow I can't get to the LFS. What do I do?

 

[Fishy monkey]

 

[Aqualove]

I have read that danios can be aggressive. So that could be the problem.

 

[Fishy monkey]

Yeah I figured it was them, rehomed them a couple of days ago. The congos look to be doing ok now, the ragged fins don't look quite as ragged and they all seem calm.

I'm about to venture the snow and ice and get a couple more congos to fill the group up, and getting some neon dwarf rainbow fish on Friday or Saturday (weather permitting). The tank looks so empty without the danios, they were so active they made the tank look full despite their small size.

Just wondering if its too soon to get the rainbow fish though, since my tank went through a fish in cycle I don't want to do too much at once and start a mini cycle, any advice?

 

[freyar]

Hm... maybe you can get 2-3 fish at a time and slowly add to fill in the schools.

 

[Fishy monkey]

Hm... maybe you can get 2-3 fish at a time and slowly add to fill in the schools.

Yeah looks like I'm going to be forced to wait, they didn't get them in the delivery and suggested fire red rainbows instead, but we've lots of snow forecast so won't be able to get there anytime soon :-(

 

[microd0t]

You could float some hornwort In the top of your aquarium that will give them a place to hide at the top and run to when being chased.

 

[Fishy monkey]

You could float some hornwort In the top of your aquarium that will give them a place to hide at the top and run to when being chased.

Ooh I've never done live plants, is hornwort really easy to look after? Does it need to be tied down at all?

 

[microd0t]

Hornwort is vary easy, dosent need much light almost grows in the dark and yea id just float it

 

[freyar]

Mine grows pretty fast, I accidentally got a piece that was 3" long and now in total I probably have about 4 feet of it floating around/being tied to a rock/stuck to the filter intake.