Help, new to fish keeping!

[sammel88]

Hi, I have no idea if I'm doing this In the right place, I'm new to fish keeping and to using forums. I'm worried about my bristlenose, it's only young but I noticed his fins looked a little shabby. I haven't seen fin rot before, but Is this the start of it? How can I stop it getting worse? I am taking my water to be tested tomorrow so I do not know water parameters at the moment. I have had this tank set up for around 4 months. As you can see he's hanging around the heater, what's a good temp. Tank mates are 5 black neon tetras and 2 sail fin mollies. It's 90ltr Aqua one tank AR-620.

 

[Plantaholic]

Welcome to AA! I am no expert, and cant answer your question on fin rot, but I will chime in on your other questions.
Plecos are nocturnal and like to hide while the lights are on, being between the heater and the glass is a comfy little spot for them. Make sure there are a few spots in the tank that are shaded from the lights(caves), that it can go to. The water temperature for your fish should be around 78°.

While you wait for someone else to respond on his fins I suggest a google search on BN Plecos, and see what info. Is out there that you didn't already know! You can also compare pictures and see how they look next to yours.
This forum has lots of BN owners and some breeders as well. Surely you'll get a response from someone that knows more soon!

Good luck!

 

[sammel88]

Thanks for your reply! I have looked at pics on google, they seem to look a lot worse than his, so dont know if I'm just being paranoid. He has a castle that he normally hangs out in and a few other places. Also I'm soaking some drift wood preparing it for my tank. He does sometimes come out during the day but he has been out almost all day and is hanging out at the top of the tank. I have an air stone in there, any other reasons he'd be at the top of the tank?

 

[Plantaholic]

He's got a castle! Awesome!!! Lol

Though Plecos are bottom dwellers they will spend time "hanging out" on the glass. Possibly looking for algae, What type of food do you feed? And how often?

 

[sammel88]

Tropical fish micro pellets twice a day. this is his little castle lol

 

[Plantaholic]

Is that for all the fish or just the pleco? And are they sinking pellets? Hikari makes a sinking algae wafer that a lot of folks feed their plecos. They are about the size of a quarter and they sink to the bottom, this keeps other fish from gulping them down before the pleco can get to it. You could try those, or maybe add a few extra micro pellets in after you turn the lights out.

 

[Caliban07]

Did you out these fish in all at once?

Finrot is usually an indication of stress. This can be from a number of reasons the most likely being poor water quality.

If you put all these fish in the tank with cycling the tank first then it's likely these fish were exposed to some levels of ammonia. This is bad for the fish as ammonia burns the gills. It is likely that the tank has now cycled after 1 month but there may be some damage to the fish that is causing underlying stress. How are the other fish acting? I think 90litres is too small for a BN pleco and I'm sure others will agree.

9 X out of ten, water tests at your LFS will either be inaccurate or they will just tell you everything is fine when it is not.

I recommend your purchase your own liquid test kit such as the API master.

How often do you change your water and clean the gravel. Hopefully increased tank maintenance should be enough to help the BN recover, that includes regular water changes approaching 50% a week, regular gravel vac and filter rinse in old tank water not tap water.

Hope this helps

 

[sammel88]

I cycled the tank and added fish one by one, I'm guessing it's probably water quality, I will buy my own test kit, can I pick one up from the local pet shop? I wasn't sure if fin rot was a fungal infection or like you say stress, thanks for your reply,

 

[sammel88]

Also while I'm there I'll buy Spec ( my BN) some algae wafers or something specially for him. What minimum tank size would you suggest? Is it correct that BNs grow to around 6cm, I'm not actually sure if it's male or female as it's only young. Is the only way to tell when they're older, by the size of their bristles?

 

[AtHomeWithTwins]

Amazon is way cheaper than pet shop for API test kit.

 

[Caliban07]

I cycled the tank and added fish one by one, I'm guessing it's probably water quality, I will buy my own test kit, can I pick one up from the local pet shop? I wasn't sure if fin rot was a fungal infection or like you say stress, thanks for your reply,

Finrot is a bacterial infection and usually takes hold when I fishes immune system becomes depressed. It is in most cases the first sign that something is wrong. It could be a secondary effect of a more serious disease or simply that the fish is being harassed or bullied or the water chemistry is unstable. Good tank maintenance will usually help it heal up but it will continue to get worse if it is a secondary condition to something more serious.

You can buy the test kit from pets at home (I'm assuming you are from UK as you used litres for tank volume units) but the test kit is double the price of the ones you can buy off amazon.

You need to check your water parameters ASAP without relying on the pet store. In the meantime I would change 50% of your tank water with dechlorinated tap water at the same temp as your tank.

 

[sammel88]

I'm down under, In Australia! I'm pretty sure my dad has been over feeding my fish, I stay at my partners over most weekends and dad feeds them for me, I did a water change last week, about 50% and the gravel is already covered in old food. I'll do another large water change tomorrow and as I said buy some food for him and a test kit and see how my water quality is, thanks for the advice everyone! Also ill have a word with my dad about how much food he gives them!

 

[Caliban07]

I'm down under, In Australia! I'm pretty sure my dad has been over feeding my fish, I stay at my partners over most weekends and dad feeds them for me, I did a water change last week, about 50% and the gravel is already covered in old food. I'll do another large water change tomorrow and as I said buy some food for him and a test kit and see how my water quality is, thanks for the advice everyone! Also ill have a word with my dad about how much food he gives them!

Yes that would definitely cause it. Good luck!

 

[fishyfriends3]

Fish can survive a few days without food, personally I'd take the fish food with you on weekends or hide it so your dad can't overfeed.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[J.Mcpeak]

If it's a new system (under 6 months) you may want to add supplemental algae. Hikari wafers are what I would suggest, not sure if they are available where you are. (High quality food.)


Some plec finnage gets slight damage just as a fact of life (most river or near to river pictures I've seen the fins are in a terrible state.) I have kept 5 loracids from 5 different subfamilies, similar fin damage was apparent in most of the species.


Some people may say mollies prefer harder water with a higher pH (7.5+). This is in conflict with the water the plec and neons need (softer/ neutral to acid) , a decision should be made on which ones to keep.

I haven't kept mollies but I do know the neons and the plec will start to decline if your water is too hard or to basic (high PH 7.5-8)

Those ancistrus (the plec) may be more forgiving as they have been tank bred for many years now, the albino form is a man made strain selected from naturally occurring albino fry.

I'm fairly sure the black neon is at least river farmed if not wild caught most of the time.

Mollies are most likely tank bred.

I agree with the "get a test kit" (get a book on aquariums for beginners too)

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Fish can survive a few days without food, personally I'd take the fish food with you on weekends or hide it so your dad can't overfeed.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

(A+ advice up there)


If I go away, I leave ready made meals in little containers per tank with clear instructions, this is backed up with a day or two of "training" on how and where in the tank certain foodstuffs go and in what order and at what time.

(For the weekend one meal Saturday night would be sufficient and in some ways beneficial to the system overall)

Naturally lots of food doesn't arrive twice a day.

 

[sammel88]

Well I'm really sorry to report, but my BN died overnight. What would kill him so quickly!? It was only yesterday that he seemed a little off. Before that, fine. I'm still going to do everything I said. Can I ask how many fish did you loose when you started keeping fish? I'm starting to feel like an evil human being

 

[Plantaholic]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I lost the first 6 fish that I bought... I started with Cardinal Tetras, which I have since learned was a dumb thing to do, as they are very sensitive to water chemistry and do better in a more established tank.
My advice would be, going forward always research the species you like, before you get them.
Also, once you get your test kit(consider also getting a GH test not included in API Master kit) to check the PH, and GH(general hardness) of your tap water. Have the results on hand when checking out species of fish, and pick fish that are compatible to your water parameters.

 

[sammel88]

Well I've just tested my water. Ammonia is at 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates between 40-80 (a little high?) ph 7.2. So where do I go from here?

 

[venymae]

Nitrates are high. You'll want to keep them below 20 ideally.