Please Help. (New Tank)

by **yasherkoach** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:55 am

I agree with tekneb, do not add any other chemicals other than dechlorinator during a water change (Prime is your best bet, I highly recommend this...though I never use any chemicals even during a water change, until your tank is established, takes about a good 2 years, you will need to use dechlorinator during a water change...Prime is your best bet)

by **Alasse** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:30 am

If you can buy some Wisteria and float in the tank this will help ease the way for your fish. Wisteria is a nutrient hog and will help keep ammonia and nitrate in the safer levels for you fish

by **goldenrod** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:47 pm

All of the fish are still healthy as far as I can tell. The water is looking a little better. Picked up a piece of driftwood yesterday, it's soaking now. I also got some algae wafers to put in the tank for the pleco. Not sure what kind of pleco he is spotted, thats about the only feature I can pick out. Bought him at a local pet store.

by **yasherkoach** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:59 pm

here's a link for several different types of plecos with colorful pictures and details:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aqua ... ?c=830+837

hope it helps

by **goldenrod** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:40 am

Alright I've been doing research to try and figure out the type of pleco, no luck yet. He's doing good though seems to have gotten a little bigger and becomes very active when the lights are off at night. Tetras are doing good and staying together. Tank is starting to look a little clearer with the water changes. After a round of tests (with my new liquid test kit :D) >

pH is 7.4
Ammonia is between 1 and 2 ppm
Nitrite is at 0 ppm (When will this start going up?)
Gonna assume that the Nitrate will also be 0.

The fish are all doing well so I'm hoping they'll make it through the cycle. Thanks again for all the help everyone.

by **tekneb** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:52 pm

Most tetra's and I think all pleco's are pretty hardy fish, so they will probably pull through.

Does your pleco look like this? http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/img/Hy ... omus_2.jpg Thats a common pleco, the one most often found in pet stores.

by **goldenrod** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:45 pm

Alright so a new problem has risen. One of my tetras is acting weird kinda just floating around and barely moving and he has very small white spots on his fins. I think that this is the beginning stages of ich. Is this curable and what do I need to do? The water is looking very clear by the way and I will be doing another round of water tests soon. Thanks a lot everyone.

by **tekneb** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 11:00 pm

That particular tetra sound to far gone to be saved sadly ( :( ) but yes that sounds like ich. If one fish has it you will have to treat the entire tank, because it spreads pretty rapidly. There are two main ways to treat ich. There are differing opinions, both among the members of this site and across the internets, as to which method is more effective, but both of them work just fine.

Option 1: Go to your lfs and buy ich treatment. Not a medication that is a "cure-all" or anything like that; one that is specifically for ich (or ich and velvet). After that you just follow the dosing directions on the bottle and you should be golden. However, the downside is these meds have adverse effects on scaleless fish, so you will need to find a new place to house your pleco during treatment.

Option 2: First, slowly raise the temperature in your tank (as high as you feel comfortable going). Ich develops in three stages, is only kill-able in one of those stages, and grows through its life cycle (and therefore gets to that stage) faster when the temperature is raised. Next, buy some AQUARIUM salt (NOT MARINE SALT! sorry for the caps but its important :P) and dose as directed. If it doesn't seem to be working at that dose, add more. Again you will probably have to find a new home for your pleco during this time, since they are scaleless fish and therefore very sensitive to additives.

I think that pretty much covers everything, and if it doesn't I'm sure a chorus of additional information will follow my post. Hope it all goes well :)

by **yasherkoach** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:12 am

Neon Tetra Disease
Symptoms: Whitened areas deep into the fishes' flesh. Muscle degeneration leading to abnormal swimming movements.
So named for the fish it was first recognized on, the Neon Tetra. It is caused by the sporozoa Plistophora hyphessobryconis. Even though it is named after Neon Tetras, it can appear on other fish. Whitish patches appear as if just below the skin. In Neon Tetras it destroys the bright blue-green neon stripe. The organisms form cysts which burst and release spores. The spores penetrate further and form more cysts. Eventually, the spores migrate to the water and are eaten by other fish in the food. These spores migrate into the digestive tract, then the muscles, and a new infection starts.
There is no known cure. It is best to destroy the infected fish and clean the aquarium ~~animal-world.com

tetras have a weakness...it appears like ich but with a tetra it is even worse for there is no known cure. You must take out each individual fish that has the disease in order to save the other fish then you must thoroughly clean the tank (75% water changes and vacuum gravel at least 2-3 times a week)

by **yasherkoach** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:15 am

as for the cycling: 1 to 2 ppm ammonia shows the cycling is in the beginning stage, give it another 2 weeks or so and the nitrite will rise, as the nitrite rises the ammonia will begin to go down; and then overnight, both the ammonia and nitrite will drop to 0 and the nitrate should stay around 10-40 ppm thereon - then you have a cycled tank

main thing to do is, do not overfeed, water change according to the water tests and you should be fine

let us know how it goes

Please Help. (New Tank)

24 posts • Page 2 of 3

Please Help. (New Tank)

24 posts • Page 2 of 3