help with diagnosis....

[wright4lfe]

allright, after viewing the stickys, here is my situation:

i just bought a juvenile jurupari and green terror. both fish looked great at the lfs, but after a few days began rubbing themselves against the plants/gravel in the tank. i know this is unhealthy behavior, but i can't put my finger on what exactly it may be.


1~What type of fish is afflicted? green terror/jurupari. both approx 1.5 inch in a 20gl growout tank.

2~What are your tank parameters: ammonia 0ppm, nitrites 5ppm, nitrates 0ppm, temp 79 degrees, pH 6.9

3~ How large is the tank? 20gl. How long has the tank been set up? 9 months
4~What type of filtration are you using? marineland 330.

5~How many fish are in the tank? the permanent residents are 8 colombian tetras, 1 oto.

6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? saturday march 20th. How often do you do this? every other week. How much water do you remove at a time? 50%

7~How long have you had the fish? new fish=1 week, other fish 8 months

8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? no

9A~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? flake/bloodworms

 

[Guest]

If your nitrItes are 5 and nitrAtes are 0, then you have a problem. Are you sure you aren't getting the 2 mixed up?
-Stewie

 

[Devilishturtles]

A nitrite reading of 5 ppm is your problem, IMO, if you didn't mix the two up.

Otherwise, flashing and rubbing on things like that is usually a sign of a parasite, or something in the water that is affecting/bugging the fish. This could be early signs of ich.

I would slowly start cranking your temperature up about a degree every hour or two until you are at about 86 degrees. You may also want to dose with aquarium salt per the package instructions. If it is ich, lets kill it before it has a chance to show up.

Read up on the FW ich article for more precise information. Also, keep an eye our for any sort of parasite in your water, or more importantly, attached to your fish.

HTH. Good luck.

 

[wright4lfe]

"Are you sure you aren't getting the 2 mixed up? "

i was getting them mixed up. i posted that from work and occiasionally get the two mixed up.

i will start on the temp/salt thing this evening.

on a side note, there no signs of ich in the tank the fish were bought from or any of the ajoining tanks.

 

[Devilishturtles]

on a side note, there no signs of ich in the tank the fish were bought from or any of the ajoining tanks.

If they are rubbing and flashing like that, it's a sign of something. With the fish being in the tank just a week, it's a good possibility it's ich. Better safe then sorry, IMO.

Good luck.