help, my fish doesnt look too well

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lavender_kissx

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Messages
3
Location
Kingston, Ontario

hey, im kinda new here and i have some problems with my fish tank, i have one orange fish, i think its a sword fish...perhaps....im not sure, but a few day ago, it started looked sluggish and his water started smelling funky, and now there appears to be a film on top of his water. Ive changed his water twice and there have been little improvement, im not sure whats wrong with him, but people have been telling me it could be the water, since kingston water is really chlorinated. im not sure what to do.....any suggestions? thanks :)
 
Hi Lavender_kissx and Welcome to AA!

In order to assist you, please answer the following questions:

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
9A~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?

Moved to Unhealthy Fish Forum
 
hi

I have an orange swordtail fish, and he doesnt seem to have anything growing on him, i have noticed that he has changed colour a bit, he used to be a deep orange, now he has lightened abit, he is now a light orange.

Im quite new at having fish, so i dont know how to check the ammonia and nitriates, but his tank is at 23 degrees C.

My tank is 8 inches by 10 inches and i set it up 1.5 weeks ago

I currently have one fish in it, i had two, a male and female, but the female one died a week ago, i dont have a filtration unit, so i change the water every 2-3 days, when i change his water i change half of it and replace it with water that i have collected over night, so it is room temperature water that i am adding in.

i had oliver (my fish) for a few months now, but i recently moved to Kingston and transported him over with me

i added some marbles into the tank, but i have let them soak overnight to make sure they are clean, i dont add anything else to it

i feed him Nutrafin flakes to him, i have always fed him this, so i don't think its the food thats making him sick

i hope this information is enough for you to help me keep him healthy and alive

thanks so much :)
 
Hi,

I made some calculations: you probably have a 4gal (?) tank. If you go to http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1098 you will see that a sworfish (doe he look like this) gets big and that the aquarium might be too small for him. I thought the temperature was a bit cold, but this web site says he is able to live at 23C (73F).

To provide him a good environment, you'll need to install a filter or else change the water very very often. Think of it this way: at the moment your fish is like somebody smoking in a air thight tiny box... bound to suffocate and get poisoned!

If I understand well, you recently put your fish in a new tank with new water and all. I understand that your tank hasn't cycled yet so it might be loaded with bad ammonia which can cause a fish to die (might be what happenned to the female). Refer to the article section ( http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21 and http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21 ) to find out more about cycling. You'll need a test kit to find out how much ammonium, nitrite and nitrate is in your water (the first two can kill your fish, the last one is a sign that your tank has cycled). Get a liquid test, not the strips one as they are not as reliable.

You also mentionned that the Kingston water is very chlorinated. Do you let the water sit overnight before adding it to your tank when you do water changes? You could also get a dechlorinator (I think AquaPlus is one of the good ones). It removes the chlore and chloramines that are bad for the fish.

HTH

Vero
 
It sounds like your water parameters are the cause and your fish is under stress.

The film on the water surface could be from your water conditioner. A lot of conditioners out there have aloe in them that can cause the film.

I would definitley do a partial water change, wait a couple of hours and then test it.
 
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