Black skirted tetra question

[jayellestevens]

Hi,

I noticed one of my black skirted tetras fins are blackish at the ends and are getting frayed. My other two have beautiful clear fins. Not sure if it's normal or not? Just curious, it's a new tank but I obsess over them, a lot... Lol thanks for any help or advice

Here's the questionnaire

1~What type of fish is afflicted?

Black skirted tetra
In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability: fins seem to have a blackish colour at the ends and they are a bit frayed


2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values. Not sure about ammonia, nitrites are 0-1.0 (just did a 25% water change to rectify that) nitrate is 0-20, temp is 78, ph is7-7.4


3~ How large is the tank? 10 gallons
How long has the tank been set up? Fish less cycle for 14 days added the fish 3 days later. Fish have been in for about a week and a day


4~What type of filtration are you using? Penguin 100 bio wheel


5~How many fish are in the tank? 5
What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? 3 tetras, 1 dwarf gouramis and 1 cobra guppy


6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? Today
How often do you do this? Weekly
How much water do you remove at a time? 25%


7~How long have you had the fish? A week and a day
If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them? Placed bag in the tank and water temp acclimated them then took out 25% of bag water and added tank water, did this 3 times at 30 min intervals


8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? Everything is new


9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? Normal community tropical flakes and frozen bloodworms

 

[FWFishTanks]

May be nipping, which could lead to an infection of some sort. I would bump water changes to 50% minimum with the listed stock

 

[Coursair]

Skirt Tetras can be nippy. Having only 3 can aggravate this, but you don't really have room for more fish.

They usually do best with 6 or more and IMHO do better in a 20g min. But that's just my experience.


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[Coursair]

They may settle down. Add some live plants to hide in perhaps.


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[jayellestevens]

Thanks for both replies, I would hate doing another unnecessary water change, the water chemistry is perfect on all levels.

I see what your saying about them being stressed with only 3 to school. I wish I would have known they liked larger groups. That's unfortunate, as I absolutely would have picked a different species with the right advice. I wish the "pros" at the fish stock store actually knew what they were talking about!! They assured me 3 was more then enough. But seeing as one is getting picked on i use stand.

My whole tank is planted with live plants and 2 are fairly tall that reach the top, there are lots of great hiding places.

I'll keep an eye on them, I do hope they can settle down and live peacefully. They are lovely.

Thanks again for your advice, truly helpful. It seems you can never know enough with fish lol

 

[Coursair]

Most small fish are social. I think all Tetras, Rasboras, Danios, Cories, etc... prefer schools or groups or shoals of 6 or more. 6 is just a random number, but more is even better.

The idea is that that way, no single fish gets picked on. Plus, they are so busy interacting with their own group, they are better neighbors for other fish.


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