odobenus
Aquarium Advice Activist
THE TANK:
I have three buenos aires tetras and one red-tailed black shark in a 10 gal. tank. Yesterday the parameters were 7.6 pH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate, and after testing I did a 20% pwc. It's a fairly new tank, but it finished cycling over a month ago.
THE PROBLEM:
This morning I noticed one of the tetras had something white hanging off, and it's still there this evening. It doesn't look to me like "stringy poo". It looks more like two pieces of white skin flapping around. Could this be some kind of parasite? I know my nitrates are a little high. Could that be a problem? The fish is showing no other symptems. She's very active, and eats like a little piggy, especially the shrimp pellets. (They get flakes in the morning and pellets in the evening.)
One other thought: the java fern were put in the tank about two weeks ago. The next day we noticed a small creature, which we first thought was a shrimp, lurking around the bottom. After closer scrutiny we decided the creature was not, in fact, a shrip, but some kind of bug or nymph. The next day it was gone. Could the plants or the bug have brought some parasites along?
I'm attaching two pictures of the poor fishy.
(p.s. I know (now) that the red-tailed black shark will outgrow our 10 gal, and I'm prepared to move him when he gets bigger.)
I have three buenos aires tetras and one red-tailed black shark in a 10 gal. tank. Yesterday the parameters were 7.6 pH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate, and after testing I did a 20% pwc. It's a fairly new tank, but it finished cycling over a month ago.
THE PROBLEM:
This morning I noticed one of the tetras had something white hanging off, and it's still there this evening. It doesn't look to me like "stringy poo". It looks more like two pieces of white skin flapping around. Could this be some kind of parasite? I know my nitrates are a little high. Could that be a problem? The fish is showing no other symptems. She's very active, and eats like a little piggy, especially the shrimp pellets. (They get flakes in the morning and pellets in the evening.)
One other thought: the java fern were put in the tank about two weeks ago. The next day we noticed a small creature, which we first thought was a shrimp, lurking around the bottom. After closer scrutiny we decided the creature was not, in fact, a shrip, but some kind of bug or nymph. The next day it was gone. Could the plants or the bug have brought some parasites along?
I'm attaching two pictures of the poor fishy.
(p.s. I know (now) that the red-tailed black shark will outgrow our 10 gal, and I'm prepared to move him when he gets bigger.)