I'm hesitant to post on here due to earlier posts in other forums where no one actually read what I posted and screamed at me for paragraphs on end for keeping fish in a bowl, but here goes:
The problem Now: I have 7 fish in a 20 gallon tank, 1 of my 3 White Cloud Minnows has started listing towards her tail(they're all about as big as they'll get--not tiny like neon tetras). She's tilted upwards. Was fine three days ago. Is it swim bladder, can this be fixed? She eats goldfish flakes, there are two small goldfish in the tank as well--all get along well. Heat set to 72. Had them since June, always healthy. I know other people say flakes are bad, but several people have said their minnows eat them with zero problems. Fish shop feeds them the same thing. PLease read on for the horrible history of my tank.
Our ongoing hellish nightmare of a problem: Long story, as short as possible. Some idiots gave out goldfish at a trivia night. I took two home to keep them from certain death. I had a tank throughout my entire childhood, many fish lived close to ten years with nothing fancy(filter and tank, never tested). While I cycled a tank for them, I kept them in a bowl, no other choice. This is where other forum people would stop reading and lecture me for ten paragraphs. I work with animals constantly, many exotics, never had a fish problem before, but it has been years since I had a tank. The new tank wouldn't cycle. I tracked down a couple of knowledgeable locals, they gave me some starter bacteria. It backfired. Tank smelled awful. Found another expert, water changes, constant testing and couldn't get it to zero. I started over, still no zero. This went on for two months. He suggested just using a few minnows to start as my levels weren't terrible. One week, all was well. Then nitrite skyrockets, then nitrates. All eventually self corrected in a few days. guy was always right. I switched gradually from plastic to live plants. Got a decent light, plants were growing everywhere. I don't know all the names, but creeping charlie, hornswort, red wendth, moss ball, vallisneria, something that looks like a spiral grass. They all grew, I had to throw out tons of plants. Life was good, all plants growing, fish healthy. Then, orange brown spots appeared on the glass, the glass would appear foggy, then a spot would appear, about one cm in diameter and grow until removed. I cleaned them, they regrew in two days. Then, I noticed my tank had partial sunlight on it for maybe 30 minutes/day due to changing sun pattern. I moved it, no sun hits it. The stuff kept growing. Store guy showed me a tank he had with it, named it(I forgot). He said it wasn't technically algae, but harmless to fish. Do a few larger water changes, it will go away. it didn't. Most of the substrate was covered. Filter, everything. He gave me two algae eaters(Cory) and said to use phosGuard in the filter. They are helping a lot. However, now every plant that had the orange/brown spots(plants still growing with brown spots but some were stunted) have either 100% died or been covered in black spots. They look nothing like the brown spots, much smaller like blackspot on a rose. The red wendth did have some spots like this from week two in our house. It spawned a new plant, I chucked the original, it took two months for the new plant to show the spots. The Creeping charlie is gone, leaves curled and died. The spiral plants quit regenerating and turned brownish, any new growth is clear, not green. Removed the hornswort as it shed constantly. Vallisneria rotted off and new shoots are clear, all covered in black. My whole tank is dying, why? Will all my fish die? For Now it's only one fish. She was the smallest from the beginning. Not quite as active. I see zero evidence of the goldfish bullying her. One of the other minnows occasionally goes after her to chase her, but he does that to everyone. Some pest snails have also taken up residence. i was told unless their numbers are large, they are harmless. This has been so much more trouble than it was worth. When I clean it, most of the dirt is all plant waste, not animal. Filters are disgusting in two weeks. Again, when plants and fish were healthy, very little dirt in tank.We cannot afford to start over with yet another new tank and filter and substrate and plants. it took two months to cycle this tank. This guy has never steered me wrong. His shop is so clean, all fish very healthy, none of his plants are turning black and dying.
Please help.
The problem Now: I have 7 fish in a 20 gallon tank, 1 of my 3 White Cloud Minnows has started listing towards her tail(they're all about as big as they'll get--not tiny like neon tetras). She's tilted upwards. Was fine three days ago. Is it swim bladder, can this be fixed? She eats goldfish flakes, there are two small goldfish in the tank as well--all get along well. Heat set to 72. Had them since June, always healthy. I know other people say flakes are bad, but several people have said their minnows eat them with zero problems. Fish shop feeds them the same thing. PLease read on for the horrible history of my tank.
Our ongoing hellish nightmare of a problem: Long story, as short as possible. Some idiots gave out goldfish at a trivia night. I took two home to keep them from certain death. I had a tank throughout my entire childhood, many fish lived close to ten years with nothing fancy(filter and tank, never tested). While I cycled a tank for them, I kept them in a bowl, no other choice. This is where other forum people would stop reading and lecture me for ten paragraphs. I work with animals constantly, many exotics, never had a fish problem before, but it has been years since I had a tank. The new tank wouldn't cycle. I tracked down a couple of knowledgeable locals, they gave me some starter bacteria. It backfired. Tank smelled awful. Found another expert, water changes, constant testing and couldn't get it to zero. I started over, still no zero. This went on for two months. He suggested just using a few minnows to start as my levels weren't terrible. One week, all was well. Then nitrite skyrockets, then nitrates. All eventually self corrected in a few days. guy was always right. I switched gradually from plastic to live plants. Got a decent light, plants were growing everywhere. I don't know all the names, but creeping charlie, hornswort, red wendth, moss ball, vallisneria, something that looks like a spiral grass. They all grew, I had to throw out tons of plants. Life was good, all plants growing, fish healthy. Then, orange brown spots appeared on the glass, the glass would appear foggy, then a spot would appear, about one cm in diameter and grow until removed. I cleaned them, they regrew in two days. Then, I noticed my tank had partial sunlight on it for maybe 30 minutes/day due to changing sun pattern. I moved it, no sun hits it. The stuff kept growing. Store guy showed me a tank he had with it, named it(I forgot). He said it wasn't technically algae, but harmless to fish. Do a few larger water changes, it will go away. it didn't. Most of the substrate was covered. Filter, everything. He gave me two algae eaters(Cory) and said to use phosGuard in the filter. They are helping a lot. However, now every plant that had the orange/brown spots(plants still growing with brown spots but some were stunted) have either 100% died or been covered in black spots. They look nothing like the brown spots, much smaller like blackspot on a rose. The red wendth did have some spots like this from week two in our house. It spawned a new plant, I chucked the original, it took two months for the new plant to show the spots. The Creeping charlie is gone, leaves curled and died. The spiral plants quit regenerating and turned brownish, any new growth is clear, not green. Removed the hornswort as it shed constantly. Vallisneria rotted off and new shoots are clear, all covered in black. My whole tank is dying, why? Will all my fish die? For Now it's only one fish. She was the smallest from the beginning. Not quite as active. I see zero evidence of the goldfish bullying her. One of the other minnows occasionally goes after her to chase her, but he does that to everyone. Some pest snails have also taken up residence. i was told unless their numbers are large, they are harmless. This has been so much more trouble than it was worth. When I clean it, most of the dirt is all plant waste, not animal. Filters are disgusting in two weeks. Again, when plants and fish were healthy, very little dirt in tank.We cannot afford to start over with yet another new tank and filter and substrate and plants. it took two months to cycle this tank. This guy has never steered me wrong. His shop is so clean, all fish very healthy, none of his plants are turning black and dying.
Please help.
