Silver dollar not eating please help :-)

[bashfoto]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new here plus new to the aquarium scene. i have been reading loads trying to catch up.

i have set-up the following:

Tank: 15Gallon (71L)
Filter:Wet/Dry i believe(recycles water above the tank while passing through a filter)
Tank run time: 14 days
Fish in tank: 2 small Silver Dollar
Water Change 2 days ago 40% i have been doing 30 - 50 % water changes every 4 days or so.
decor: 2 plastic plants and one real wood to hide around. medium size graval.
Type of food: Basic Flakes

The Silver Dollar were only put in about a week ago however one of the silver dollar is not eating and keeps hiding, over the week it has shrinked in size.
at the time being a newbie i was not aware of the cycle which i have read now, unfortuantly i can not get hold of any water testing kit where i am located no local fish store stocks them!! they dont even stock medicine i have tried 2 fish stores we have.

i apologise in advance if i have missed something, i have attached some pictures that may help. 2 of the unhealthy fish and one healthy.

Thank you,
Marten

 

[Delapool]

Hi there, welcome!

I'm unfortunately not seeing the pictures?

Do the fish perk up after a water change? Also what sort of water conditioner are you using to treat the tap water before adding to the tank?

It would be worth checking online for something like the API freshwater master test kit. I think eBay has them cheap and it covers ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate water tests. It's a liquid based test which is more reliable than cardboard strips.

At the moment I suspect the water conditions are stressing the fish plus they are trying to adjust to new tank generally. Treating with meds could kill off some of your good bacteria so I would tend to keep up the water changes only. If water changes are making a difference I'd go to daily.

If there are visible infection signs on the fish we will have to rethink.

Can you add more details on your filter and the media in it? Is it running a bio-wheel?

 

[bashfoto]

Thank you DelaPool for your response.

the picture embed is working for me anyway here are the links:
Unhealthy
Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life
Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

Healthy
Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

i am using two water conditioner i could find.
1-Nutrafin Aqua Plus (US)
2-Anti-Chlorine by Dr Medi (Chinese)

No the fish generally stay low they dont even come up for food when i put it in the tank only the healthy one so far goes for the food once its half way down the tank.

Filter -> no i have no media in the filter, its a very basic wet/dry filter on the top of the tank, a filter pulls the water up goes through a basic empty filter (I do not see any bio its pretty much transparent) the water flows back down on the other side of the tank.

i was able to find activated carbon in the store and nothing else. i will be travelling soon so hopfully i can get something. or i can always order from ebay which will take a while to get to me .

Thanks

 

[Delapool]

Thank you DelaPool for your response.

the picture embed is working for me anyway here are the links:
Unhealthy
Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life
Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

Healthy
Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

i am using two water conditioner i could find.
1-Nutrafin Aqua Plus (US)
2-Anti-Chlorine by Dr Medi (Chinese)

No the fish generally stay low they dont even come up for food when i put it in the tank only the healthy one so far goes for the food once its half way down the tank.

Filter -> no i have no media in the filter, its a very basic wet/dry filter on the top of the tank, a filter pulls the water up goes through a basic empty filter (I do not see any bio its pretty much transparent) the water flows back down on the other side of the tank.

i was able to find activated carbon in the store and nothing else. i will be travelling soon so hopfully i can get something. or i can always order from ebay which will take a while to get to me .

Thanks

I managed to load the two unhealthy fish photos. Will check on the desktop in a bit. He looked like there was a bit of fin damage, either fin rot, fighting or transport damage. Normally for all those I'd suggest lots of clean water changes which you are already doing.

I haven't used the wet/dry filters. I understand the aeration is great for the bacteria but there is usually a plastic wheel or plastic balls for the bacteria to grow on.

I like the ceramic bio-media with filter sponge but the bacteria will grow on any surface.

http://www.aquaticlifeaquariums.com.au/contents/en-uk/d80.html

Most of the bacteria tends to be in the filter area where they don't get disturbed (versus gravel) and get a nice water flow. With no media in the filter this is limiting bacteria growth so I think your filter is most important at the moment.

This will depend on when you can get stuff in. I'd suggest a water test kit as top of the list. Also some filter media to go in there as well. A filter should have mechanical eg filter wool or sponge and biological eg plastic or ceramic biomedia.

If you have cleaning sponges with no chemicals on them, these can be used as well in mean time. The bacteria grow on any surface which is chemical free it is just the ceramic bio-media has more surface area.

 

[Delapool]

Ok, on desktop and can load up photo's. Apart from the fins I can't see any white spot (ich) or fungal/bacterial infections so hopefully he is just stressed.

Carbon can also be used in filters still although it is starting to be replaced with seachem purigen. Carbon will filter out organics and chemicals quite nicely. It lasts for about 4 weeks before needing replacement. The trouble is it starts to grow good bacteria after one or two weeks so replacing it can throw out a lot of good bacteria. So if it is used (I still do off and on) either run it in a seperate second filter so it is not replacing biomedia or largely leave it in there and use it as bio-media (when it gets gunked up you would only replace say a third). So another quick fix option on getting some filter media going. It all depends on funds and timing. If the post takes two weeks I'd go for some carbon and/or clean house sponge to get some media going and just gradually swap it out as post packages arrive.

 

[bashfoto]

Great Delapool thanks for the advise, I will keep doing the water changes and see how it goes. here some photos of the filter in fact there is a sponge with no media.

I will do my best to get water test kit and media in the next coming weeks.

hopfully these pictures help with what kind of filter I have. the activated carbon can slide below or above the existing sponge so hopfully wont cause an issue when removed from the filter.

last night the sick fish actually had some flakes



Sent from my GT-I9505 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Delapool]

That sounds great with the improvement. It looked like the filter was the length of the tank? Looked a good size. And just double-checking but has the filter sponge and carbon?

 

[bashfoto]

Yeah the filters about the size of the tank a gap of an inch on the buttom and maybe 2 inch on top. the carbon has a sponge around it l attached photo.

I just changed 30 percent of water and put the carbon in as I saw the water was yellowish, totally forgot to give the carbon a rinse and **** the tank is now cloudy as hell.

heres the cloudy tank now:

hopfully it'll clear out.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Delapool]

Hope it is clearing up The other tank shots looked nice.

That sounds like one of the filters I have where the carbon is inside filter wool as a filter cartridge. I'm still using it but have jammed in extra media and sponge. Normally I end up buying everything separate so I can do what I want.

Just another thought but I've copied in some info on diet. Could be worth looking into feeding food as well if you think worthwhile. I've posted a link just as example. I've looked at silver dollars but never kept them as the lfs has warnings on eating plants and I have enough trouble normally with growing plants. Great looking fish though.


http://superpetz.com.au/fish/fish-foods/aqua-one-spirulina-flakes.html

'Silver dollars natively live in a tropical climate in the sides of weedy rivers. They prefer water with a pH of 5–7, a water hardness of up to 15 dGH, and an ideal temperature range of 24–28 °C (75–82 °F). Their diet is almost exclusively vegetarian and in captivity they will often eat all the plants in a tank. They will also eat worms and small insects.'

 

[carriepatterson]

Hello!

I agree with the above poster that it is probably a water quality issue. I would get a test kit, ASAP. IMHO it is one of the most important tools of the trade.

I see that you're feeding them regular flakes. My Silver Dollars are finicky eaters too. Silver Dollars are herbivores so they love love love blanched veggies. I use an airline tube holder and jam a piece of cucumber or zucchini in it and they love it. I also found that my SDs LOVE algae tablets. Its fun to watch them carry them around in their mouth! You might have to break them up since yours are babies. I've also fed them frozen blood worms and they gobble them up. Try varying their diet and testing the water.

I hope your fish starts eating soon! Good luck!

 

[bashfoto]

Hello Delapool / Carriep,
thank you both so much for your fantastic advise.

I went out the country and got myself an API test kit with bio balls and other media.

all the fish are alive so thats awesome .

this is now my water conditions tested:

PH 7.6
AMMONIA 0 ppm
NITRITE 0 ppm
NITRATE 10 ppm

many thanks.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Delapool]

Hi, that's great news to hear. Water looks really good. Thanks for the post back on how they are all going