ChemEngineer
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2011
- Messages
- 8
As the title mentioned, my danios are having some issues. I recently got back from a trip of 4 days during which I used a 10 day feeder. Upon my arrival back home, I noticed the danios were acting kind of sluggish, but I went to bed thinking that they were perhaps just hungry. The next morning I woke up to find one of my glofish dead (one that replaced a glofish I bought from the local fish store that had died within a day, a.k.a two dead fish in a week), and the remaining 10 danios all at the surface, but not moving too much. Some of them are at an odd angle of 45 degrees to the surface of the water. I tried feeding them, but they just watched the food go by them instead of their normal feeding frenzy they go through. I want to also point out that none of them are gasping at the surface.
I immediately tested my water and found the following… (I used the API Freshwater Master Kit)
Ammonia – 0-0.25 ppm
Nitrite – 0 ppm
Nitrate – 20-40 ppm (High but not obscenely high)
pH – 7.8
I then did 30% water change (I normally do a 20% water change once a week), and added 2 doses worth of Seachem’s Prime. The nitrates dropped somewhat, but still not below 20 ppm. The danios then started to move around a bit more and seemed to swim more normally.
Move forward one day!
I woke up this morning and the danios were once again at the surface refusing to eat. They still are not gasping for air. Any ideas of what is wrong with them? I was thinking perhaps the nitrates were still high so I did another 30% water change.
This is what is strange though…
My tank is a 29 gallon oceanic biocube with the standard lights and pump (243 gph). The tank is housed with the following: 11 (now 10) danios, 1 dwarf gourami, 2 peppered cory catfish, 2 oto cats, 3 amano shrimp, and 2 german blue rams. I realize this is overstocked, but the fish are not harassing each other at all, and I have not had any problems until recently. The tank has been set up since March of 2011, and fish were added only in groups of 2 or 3 at a time. Also, the tank has driftwood and live plants in it. The live plants seem to be thriving despite having no CO2 injection, and just a weekly fertilizer dose.
The strange thing? If the problem were nitrates, why are my ‘hardy’ danios being afflicted, but my ‘fragile’ oto cats and german blue rams still eating normally and showing no unusual signs/symptoms?
Thanks for any help you guys can give; and my fish thank you even more!
I immediately tested my water and found the following… (I used the API Freshwater Master Kit)
Ammonia – 0-0.25 ppm
Nitrite – 0 ppm
Nitrate – 20-40 ppm (High but not obscenely high)
pH – 7.8
I then did 30% water change (I normally do a 20% water change once a week), and added 2 doses worth of Seachem’s Prime. The nitrates dropped somewhat, but still not below 20 ppm. The danios then started to move around a bit more and seemed to swim more normally.
Move forward one day!
I woke up this morning and the danios were once again at the surface refusing to eat. They still are not gasping for air. Any ideas of what is wrong with them? I was thinking perhaps the nitrates were still high so I did another 30% water change.
This is what is strange though…
My tank is a 29 gallon oceanic biocube with the standard lights and pump (243 gph). The tank is housed with the following: 11 (now 10) danios, 1 dwarf gourami, 2 peppered cory catfish, 2 oto cats, 3 amano shrimp, and 2 german blue rams. I realize this is overstocked, but the fish are not harassing each other at all, and I have not had any problems until recently. The tank has been set up since March of 2011, and fish were added only in groups of 2 or 3 at a time. Also, the tank has driftwood and live plants in it. The live plants seem to be thriving despite having no CO2 injection, and just a weekly fertilizer dose.
The strange thing? If the problem were nitrates, why are my ‘hardy’ danios being afflicted, but my ‘fragile’ oto cats and german blue rams still eating normally and showing no unusual signs/symptoms?
Thanks for any help you guys can give; and my fish thank you even more!