afterwinter
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
First, I apologize for the long post. I will try to give as much info as I can to see if anyone can give me advice.
I have had a planted 6.6 gallon bookshelf aquarium setup for 2.5 years with 5 pygmy cories and a betta. My cories were doing so well that they grew to a group of 10. So when my betta passed a few months ago I decided to leave them alone in the tank.
My four year old begged for a new betta and so I chose to upgrade to a 20 gallon long to give everyone room to roam. About 3 weeks ago a moved in new sand, all of my plants and decor(plus some new ones), my filter media, etc to the new tank. I had a tiny cycle for about 2 days before my parameters settled at: Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 10-20. So I added the betta and continued to monitor the levels, which stayed steady with only nitrates going up to a solid 20. I added a few more plants.
Then I decided to add a snail and 2 ghost shrimp and things went downhill. I added them on Thursday and on Saturday I noticed one of my catfish, who had looked a little stressed from the move, now had a slightly orangish-red tint. I thought I was seeing things until i found her on Sunday floating vertically in a corner. She would swim for a minute or two normally but then float back to the top corner. She was definitely red around the belly. She died that evening. The next day I checked the levels and all were the same; normal. Only now a few of my catfish had reddish tints to their bellies. I looked into it and it sounded like a bacterial infection that could wipe them all out quickly.
Against my better judgement I decided to add antibiotics. I still had a pack of Maracyn 2 and decided to dose the entire tank to try to save some of them. Now 2 days into the treatment I found another dead cory with a red belly. I now also have a tiny bit, less than 0.25, of nitrites, and only 5 nitrates due to my good bacteria dying off. I also have lots of algae now. I know I need to finish to dose or risk an even worse bacteria. In the meantime I added a little Prime to try to help them feel better. Is there anything else I can do to help my poor fish? Also what should I do in the future if such a thing should happen? Now I am probably going lose my poor fish, who were doing just fine until I decided to move them, and my new tank is going to crash :/ I feel so terrible for my sweet little catfish.
I have had a planted 6.6 gallon bookshelf aquarium setup for 2.5 years with 5 pygmy cories and a betta. My cories were doing so well that they grew to a group of 10. So when my betta passed a few months ago I decided to leave them alone in the tank.
My four year old begged for a new betta and so I chose to upgrade to a 20 gallon long to give everyone room to roam. About 3 weeks ago a moved in new sand, all of my plants and decor(plus some new ones), my filter media, etc to the new tank. I had a tiny cycle for about 2 days before my parameters settled at: Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 10-20. So I added the betta and continued to monitor the levels, which stayed steady with only nitrates going up to a solid 20. I added a few more plants.
Then I decided to add a snail and 2 ghost shrimp and things went downhill. I added them on Thursday and on Saturday I noticed one of my catfish, who had looked a little stressed from the move, now had a slightly orangish-red tint. I thought I was seeing things until i found her on Sunday floating vertically in a corner. She would swim for a minute or two normally but then float back to the top corner. She was definitely red around the belly. She died that evening. The next day I checked the levels and all were the same; normal. Only now a few of my catfish had reddish tints to their bellies. I looked into it and it sounded like a bacterial infection that could wipe them all out quickly.
Against my better judgement I decided to add antibiotics. I still had a pack of Maracyn 2 and decided to dose the entire tank to try to save some of them. Now 2 days into the treatment I found another dead cory with a red belly. I now also have a tiny bit, less than 0.25, of nitrites, and only 5 nitrates due to my good bacteria dying off. I also have lots of algae now. I know I need to finish to dose or risk an even worse bacteria. In the meantime I added a little Prime to try to help them feel better. Is there anything else I can do to help my poor fish? Also what should I do in the future if such a thing should happen? Now I am probably going lose my poor fish, who were doing just fine until I decided to move them, and my new tank is going to crash :/ I feel so terrible for my sweet little catfish.
I spoke too soon! Another one has died. I took pictures this time. I am so heartbroken. I love these little guys and they were so happy in the little tank. I thought I was doing something good by upgrading them but instead I somehow introduced something that is killing them!
