Are my fish sick?

[paulahughes2004]

I've just set up a tropical freshwater tank (about a week ago) When we bought the tank we were told to set it up and leave it a few days to mature the filter, We did this and then went to buy the fish we bought quite alot of fish and later were told by a different shop that you should only add a few at a time. Its 126 litre's And we have 10 neon tetras, 10 glow light tetras, 6 penguin tetras, 2 mollies,an albino angel fish, 3 glass catfish, a catfish loach (i think thats what its called) a betta, and a rainbow shark. Their all quite small but they were all added at the same time. We've added nutrafin cycle to mature the aquarium and filter and nutrafin aqua plus to improve the water. We also have tested the water daily to check the level of nitrite, nitrate and ammonia as well as the ph and its all fine. I think some of the fish are ill the problem is that Its hard to see whats normal for fish you've only had a week. Also when we bought the fish we were given two angel fish one had tail rot so we took it back to the shop and we also had 6 serpea tetras which we found out were fin nippers and have since been taken back to the shop. Now most of the fish have tears in there tails and i dont know if this is because of the serpea's or if its fin rot. Also the angel fish sometimes swims on an angle and has a bloated stomach i thought maybe swim bladder he also spends alot of time at the top of the tank but has done since we got him. The loach looks like he has a slight white patch on his back and some of the penguin tetras also have bloated stomachs all the tetras dont seem to be as active as they were when we got them. So i'm not sure if they are ill or not and if they are what do i treat first. Also i dont know if theres enough oxygen in the tank and how can i check this. We do have quite a few plants too. Sorry theres so many questions, If you could help that would be great.

 

[krap101]

few questions.

what kind of filter do you have on there. what is "fine" params to you.

oh and almost nothing works besides biospira for cycling your tank so that was probally a waste of money.

ive heard of serpae's being agressive.

get some melafix. itll help improve your fishes fins.

also if your ammonia is over 0.5 do an immediate water change. 20-50% i usually do around 20-30. keep your ammonia down under 0.5 if possible.

feed the bare minimum.

if its possible return as many fish as possible imo. im guessing 126 liters is like 10-40 gallons. dunno. you still have an angel in there correct?. it might be causing the ripped fins.

if you are able to return all of the fish that'll be great. but it might be 2 late.

others might oppose this but i think its the best option.

#1 return all fish
#2 buy pure ammonia (clear is also a term of it.)
#3 read the article of cycling on this site
#4 buy an ammonia, nitrite, nitrate test kits (liquid preferably)
#5 attempt to cycle the tank. (since theres no fish [hopegfully] if you mess up it wont matter)
#6 rebuy fish and introduce them to tank a few at a time.


if you arent able or dont want to return the fish some/most might die or have mild-serious injury from ammonia poisoning.

do daily water changes if you keep the fish.

sorry i repeated alot of things

oh and also if possible get some filter media, decorations, gravel, etc from an established tank. (if you have any friends or a lfs nearby you can borrow some stuff from the friend or get filter squeezings from the lfs)

im sure it went around in a circle a couple times :'(.

and im also sure some other people can explain these things better.

 

[Overstocker]

Follow Krap101's advice. You could buy some bio-spira and you may be able to quick cycle your tank....

 

[paulahughes2004]

We have a fluval 3 plus filter (it came with the tank) its 27.5 gallons and we have used a test kit daily and the ammonia is under 0.5 the ph is 6.5 nitrite is 0.1 and the nitrate is 5.0 The Nutrafin cycle is the best cycle in the uk (lfs advised) i don't think the bio-spira is available but i'll check. We do still have the angel fish but he doesnt seem to bother the other fish.

 

[TankGirl]

You probably cannot get Bio-Spira there - we can't even get it here currently until they restock in September. All that is to be done is water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite down as low as possible.

The major issue here is that the tank is extremly overstocked, as Krap101 mentioned. It would be a good idea to pick some of the fish that you like the best and take the rest back. In crowded conditions the rainbow shark might cause some trouble, so that might be the culprit, as the angel (assuming it is a very small one) will be very peaceful as a juvenile.

In a perfect world it is best (IMO) to do a fishless cycle, again to repeat Krap101, just because you don't have to worry about the health of the fish while you get the tank ready for them, but you still can get your tank in good shape while you have the fish, if you desire.

Good luck, and I am sure you will be able to get this resolved!

 

[krap101]

it seems like you only have 1-2 weeks left

i think you should take the angel and the shark back. depends on what kind of loach because... yeah. if you want to keep the angel or the shark you might needa take some of the other ones back

 

[kansaschick08]

this is going to make me sound like a bad fish owner , but i never have to let my water cycle, yeah i put declorinator in it...

 

[TankGirl]

Well, kansaschick08, if you are saying you do a cycle with fish, you are one of many, many people who prefer to cycle their tanks this way. I prefer not to, just because it is hard on the fish and I have to constantly fuss over the tank to keep the fish alive during the cycle. Fishless is a "set it and forget it" method, to me. A premeasured amount of ammonia dumped in every day, and wait.

Lots of people on this board cycle with fish, so it is a matter of personal preference.

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

hey every time I needed to cycle a tank overnight, I would do 4 times to dosage of Hagen cycle and it would work all the time. I have a fish maintance business and every set up, I did that and all my clients are happy. People here seem to worship Bio Spira, but fail to realize that other things work, but with more of it. What's also cool, it's that ou can't overdose on Cycle, the only bad affect it has is after doing such a high dose check your Nitrates which are not harmful at all if they dont exceed 60PPM. then do water changes.

 

[cheezysquirrelz]

bloated fish- sounds like they are being overfed- feed less-
it may be overcrowded.........how many gallons is 126 liters?
treat for tail rot-just in case

 

[paulahughes2004]

I've done a 25% water change and treated them for tail rot I put a bubble machine in too I've added Nutrafin cycle and aqua plus (they are the equivelent to the products you told me about in the UK) and now they all seem fine, The angel fish is ok now his stomach has gone down completely so i think i may of over fed them The loach is a catfish loach (i think, But i'm not sure on the name) He's really peaceful and doesn't bother the other fish The rainbow shark and the angel fish seem ok too, They are really small though, so will they become a problem as they get bigger?

 

[paulahughes2004]

126 litres is 27.5 gallons. How many fish are you supposed to have in that size tank?

 

[TankGirl]

In 26gals you could have 2 angels and a school of small tetras, like the neons (some may get eaten by the angels once they are grown) and then maybe the catfish loach, but I am not familiar with that type of loach - some get very large. The rainbow shark is probably better suited for a larger tank.

 

[paulahughes2004]

Sorry i've checked the gallons again and uk and us gallons are different 27.5 uk gallons is just over 33 us gallons does that make a differance to the ammount of fish i can have?

 

[kenor33]

If I counted right, thats 35 fish? 8O ummm thats Alot of fish for a 33 gallon even if it was a established tank. doing like 2 fish a week would be alot easier on your cycling.

 

[paulahughes2004]

We only have one angel, The Betta, the catfish plec, The 3 types of tetra 10 neon, 10 glow light and 6 penguin so its 29 now. We gave the rainbow to a friend of a friend as he was attacking the betta, He got torn up quite bad but is fine now. A few days ago the angel was attacking the mollies and killed them before i had a chance to get rid of either i was a bit shocked but fish will be fish i suppose. I would've kept the mollies rather than the angel as a few people have said when he gets bigger he'll probably nip the other fish, When i heard that i thought it would just be nipping not half eating them. The mollies were dead the next morning after he started chasing them. We've had a sudden jump of nitrate and nitrite today too so we've been told to do a 15% water change every other day as well as adding cycle and declorinater and cuttin feeding down to every 3 days instead of every 2. Thanks for all the info everyone xXx