Glo Fish Advice

[Amabsg0929]

Hello,

I have a 29 gal aquarium that had 5 round glofish, two danios and 2 mollies. I added some guppies and the glofish, particularly one round glofish and the two danios started bitting the guppy's fin. I was adding Seachem Stability and Stressguard but two of the guppies started to lose their tails. I removed the 5 glofish and placed them into a 10 gal hospital aquarium. That happened around a week ago, I have been putting the Stressgaurd and stability in the tank. Guppies seem to be bit better but the tail is still missing its piece. How do I know if they will survive the tail not being "complete"? Also, when is a good time, if any, to reintroduce the glofish? I noticed two of my glofish are sad/stressed. One is in a hiding place which is not like them, the other one is in a corner by the filter, which is also not like them. I added the stressguard earlier today but still there.

I am just afraid they will 'bully' the guppies again, cause now that I think about it wasn't the first time this has happened I just did not realize what happened before and the other guppies ended up passing away.

Any advise would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Quite a lot going on in the post.

First up are you able to give any more details on the tank? How long has it been up and running? Do you know your water parameters? pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Are you cycled?

Danios are social fish. They should be kept in groups and 6 is often cited as the "magic number" of fish that social fish should be kept together. If social fish are kept in too small a number they get stressed and this stress can manifest in a number of ways. Aggression towards other fish in the tank is one of the ways it could manifest. Getting some more danios may calm down the 2 you have or keep any aggression within their own species, but spread it amongst the school so it isnt targeted at a single fish. Saying all that some fish are just jerks and there may be nothing you can do to change its temperament. This is just something you will have to try different things and monitor to see how things go. Permanently separate/ rehome fish if thats what needs to be done.

Im not really sure what benefits the Stability and Stressguard are giving you.

Stability is a beneficial bacteria additive that helps cycle your tank. If you are cycled it wont be doing anything of benefit. Im assuming the hospital tank isnt cycled, but you should be doing very frequent water changes in there to keep water pristine and give your fish the best chance of recovery. The goal isnt really to cycle a hospital tank as its just a temporary home.

Stressguard is a slimecoat additive. This is just a personal opinion, but slimecoat additives promote slimecoat by irritating the fishes skin. Im not really convinced of the benefits of this.

Neither of these products is a treatment for fin damage. Clean water and a stress free environment for a few weeks will give them the best chance of recovery. Something like melafix which will help prevent infection setting in might be a good idea.

Personally i would give the fish in the hospital tank 2 or 3 weeks in there to give the fins chance to heal and regrow before trying to return them to your main display tank. Either rehome the aggressive danios or try adding a few more danios and monitor things carefully. Doing nothing to change the dynamics between the different species of fish will likely return you back to where you are now.

 

[Amabsg0929]

Thank you so much for that information.

Both my tanks stay around these parameters:

Nitrates: 0-5ppm
Nitrites:0ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm
PH: 7.4ppm

My tanks are cycled they have like 3months running, but somehow my Nitrate was way too high 20 in my hospital tank. I do weekly water changes as well as weekly water tests. I use the API master kit to test water. I am still noticing high nitrates 10ppm in my hospital tank, but I am keeping up by doing frequent water changes.


My display tank water wise has been good, I ended up buying the Microbe Lift Artemiss, this is the second day of treatment. Did notice my ammonia went up to .50-1ppm, so I did the water change and will continue to monitor.


My glofish are still sad, one is in the corner and one is inside the little hut. Even after the water changes. I am unsure if they just aren't happy cause they do not have a lot of room to swim or cause they water still isn't 'perfect'. maybe a combination of both. I wanted to try to move some of my glofish/danio to my display tank but still unsure if that it is a good idea or how many to move. I have 2 big Tetra, 1 big long fin tetra, 2 still small tetra, and 2 Danios. I am open to buying more Danios but also do not want to overcrowd them. About how many fish can I keep in a 29gal tank?

Thanks again.

 

[Aiken Drum]

A rule of thumb is 1" of fish per 1 gallon of water. While this is a flawed rule it works with small fish to ensure you arent overstocked.

All of those fish you mention are social fish and would be happier in groups of their own species.

You havent mentioned specifically what species of tetras or danios you have, but rather than having 1 or 2 each of numerous species your fish would be happier if you had 2 or 3 different species in schools of 6 to 8 fish each.

Your nitrate isnt high at all. Typically nitrate up to 40ppm is considered a good upper limit. In a hospital tank, keeping it as low as you can is a good idea to aid with recovery. If you have real plants the plants need nitrogen for nutrients, and this normally comes from nitrate in aquariums. So if you have real plants you want your nitrate 20ppm +.

 

[Amabsg0929]

Thank you.

I just know them as long and short fin tetras. They are the round ones, then to be the largest ones of the Glofish. Fully grown, they remind me of the old 50 cent coins. Not sure if that helps, lol. I only have two types, danios and the round tetras. Some of the round tetras are younger and some of older so there are different sizes but overall I have 5 round tetras and 2 danios.


So I am thinking I will move the 5 round tetras since two of them aren't happy in the 10gal hospital tank. If the tetras are happy in the display tank, then I'll leave the Danios in the hospital tank and I will eventually just get another hospital tank, lol.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I think the long finned glofish tetras are long finned variety of GM black skirt tetras.

The glofish danios are GM zebra danios.

As Glofish are illegal here in the UK ive never seen them for real. Just going off what ive read.

 

[Amabsg0929]

Oh okay,


Yea I have one like the second pic and the last danio. I did not know they were illegal in the UK.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Genetically modified fish are illegal in a lot of places due to the risk of them getting released into the local environment where they could have a detrimental effect on native fish species. Illegal throughout Europe, Australia and i think Canada. Until recently they were illegal in California.

Upto £3000 fine if you are caught in possession and jail time if you breed/ import/ sell them.

 

[Amabsg0929]

Need help again

So I had the question above and I bought a treatment called the Microbe Lift Artemiss. It seem to be working but now I noticed that the Ammonia has been high, 1ppm, mine is usually 0. I stopped the treatment yesterday and changed the water last night. I have a 29gal tank and I changed about 9 gal. I check this afternoon and it was high about 1ppm again, so I changed about 50 percent so 12/13 gal. I just check right now and it is at 1ppm. Some of the other fish are now losing the tail I guess cause they are stressed. I am unsure of what to do. Any advice. I have guppies, platties, and mollies. Thanks.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Anything that has anti-biotic properties can kill of the beneficial bacteria responsible for your cycle as easily as it will kill off bacteria that is causing ill health in your fish. It cant distinguish between bacteria you want to keep and bacteria you want to kill off. It just kills bacteria.

This is why you should medicate in a hospital tank when possible. So you dont cause a loss of cycle in your main display tank. I thought you had your sick fish in a hospital tank? Why did you medicate your main tank?

You will need to re-cycle your tank.

 

[Amabsg0929]

That's what I thought but was not sure. I ended up leaving the glo fish and the danios in my hospital tank because they were less of them and they did not get along with the guppies nor platties. So when I medicated I had to medicate the big tank since that is where I keep the guppies. Would any ammonia thing help or like Stability from Seachem?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Prime will detoxify some ammonia for a day or 2 if you use that as your water conditioner when you do your water changes. Stability is a bottled bacteria product and "might" help cycle your tank quicker. But it will still take several weeks to re-cycle your tank.