fishygurl
Aquarium Advice Freak
I swear i have the worst luck in the world with fish....Not to sound sulky or anything, but my tank is almost a year old and is still nowhere near stablized. ALthough i havent had any deaths in...mabye close to a month (its a record for me) my fish dont look so good. All my fish hang out in the back ALWAYS. Except for the danios and the cories. The ram actually sits on the bottom. Now, hes not my main problem, because he could well be nearing the end of his lifetime naturally, because i got him from a friend and she had had him for almost 2 years, so...hes acutally pretty old for a ram. Hes shows some of the signs of old age, like loss of colour. But i dont know about the sitting on the bottom thing. My serpae tetra has some sort of permanet fin rot... When i got him (from the same friend) he was already missing half his tail ( i figured bad cycle??) But now it seems to be getting worse, way worse. None of the other fish seem to have this problem, just him. And its only his tail, not his other fins. My peppered cory likes to hide in between the heater and the tank wall. Everytime i see him there i think hes dead. He doesnt move or anything. Then, when i go to scoop him out with the net, he moves, and acts complety normally, picking food out of the gravel and all that corie stuff. I figured it wouldnt be ammonia cuz that causes gulping, correct?The ammonia and nitrite are 0. The nitrate was embarrasingly high, like 60, but its been a busy summmer, and ive hardly been home. Mabye that was it, but i have no clue. I know, i should have done more water changes. I havent done one in three weeks, but tons of people who know nothing about fish do a water change about every 3 months and there fish are fine... This brings me back to the bad luck thing... So, i just did a 80 % water change, so that should fix that. But then, i looked at the tank, and the fish are GULPING! Which makes absoulutely no sense. A water change should have fixed anything that could have caused gulping. They werent gulping before the water change, why now?
Oh, and i forgot to say, the ram, and one of the tetras, are not eating, and havent been for a while. My LFS is having trouble getting anti parisite medications across the border, so i dont really know what to do about it.....Except garlic soaks.....but my dad refuses to let me buy a 30$ jug of the stuff (the smallest size they have) for two 3$ fish..... FIgures.....
Tank stats
24 gallons
Fairly low bioload, due to deaths and me not wanting to subject any more fishies to my bad fishkeeping skills till the tank stabilized:
3 tetras
2 danios
3 cories
1 bolivian ram
Ammonia, 0
Nitrite, 0
Nitrate: no idea, but just did a 80% water change
Filter, aqua clear (i forget the number, buts its rated for a 30 gallon)
subtrate, gravel
Plants; fake
heater: working just fine
temp:79
What should i do about all this.....Everyone seems to be telling me that the tank will stabilize soon. Thats what theyve been saying for 6 months....I have no clue what to do....
Help!
Fishygurl
Oh, and i forgot to say, the ram, and one of the tetras, are not eating, and havent been for a while. My LFS is having trouble getting anti parisite medications across the border, so i dont really know what to do about it.....Except garlic soaks.....but my dad refuses to let me buy a 30$ jug of the stuff (the smallest size they have) for two 3$ fish..... FIgures.....
Tank stats
24 gallons
Fairly low bioload, due to deaths and me not wanting to subject any more fishies to my bad fishkeeping skills till the tank stabilized:
3 tetras
2 danios
3 cories
1 bolivian ram
Ammonia, 0
Nitrite, 0
Nitrate: no idea, but just did a 80% water change
Filter, aqua clear (i forget the number, buts its rated for a 30 gallon)
subtrate, gravel
Plants; fake
heater: working just fine
temp:79
What should i do about all this.....Everyone seems to be telling me that the tank will stabilize soon. Thats what theyve been saying for 6 months....I have no clue what to do....
Help!
Fishygurl