kelaray Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 hope someone can help me please.. i have a 70litre tank, fairly new only about 4 months old. did the cycling etc before putting in fish.. have only had advise from pet shop. Originally had 10 tetras, 2 x silver dollar (not sure of real name sorry) 2 x cat fish 1 x cat fish that is like a brown stripey fella - and is growing fast. think its a pleco? 1 x agressive fish ( longish silvery body with tinges of yellow and yellowish fins with black edges) it had a mate which it constantly chased and ended up dead. Have since lost 8 tetras as well, i think to this fellow. since purchased some other fish similar to tetras(8) - but silver with black stripes and slightly bigger... only lost one so far.. phew... did a water change and bit of a clean last week, all went ok. But today all fish are gasping at the surface... including my last 2 tetras, and there are these little snails on sides etc.. Found one bigish snail.. about the size of my index nail... removed that one. i have done a water change and put conditioner in... but fish still not happy. Tank is set at 26 deg. water seems clear. we are on bore water. not town water. Any help would be appreciated and also any idea on what this aggressive fella is... he even is staunch to his own reflection.. go figure! :roll: i am new to this.. so would like to get some more fish.. but worried about current situation and angry fish... thanks in advance.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 hi kelaray welcome to the forum did a water change and bit of a clean last week, all went ok. how well did you clean the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelaray Posted April 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 hiya... thanks for the welcome! Well i thought i did a good job... I cleaned the sides with the magnet thing..(sorry not sure of technical term). even though it actually seemed clean anyway. And changed the filter wool in the filter and cleaned out the plant debris in the filter as well. as the silver dollars had munched the plants, but left lots floating around. also the bio balls etc, i rinsed in the water i had taken from the tank. i used the hand pump thing to siphon out the water and stirred up the gravel etc to remove the debris.. and there was lots that came out.. seemed really clean when i finished.. and has been fine for the last week? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 seemsyou did the cleaning right but cleaning seems to be the last thing you did before your problem so your tank may have gone through a mini cycle again after the cleaning and maybe the subsequent ammonia spike has caused your problem the plants being chewed and bits dying won't have helped as well you could probably do a few 20% water changes to help out as to the agressive fish thingy a picture thingy might help ID it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 seemsyou did the cleaning right but cleaning seems to be the last thing you did before your problem so your tank may have gone through a mini cycle again after the cleaning and maybe the subsequent ammonia spike has caused your problem the plants being chewed and bits dying won't have helped as well you could probably do a few 20% water changes to help out as to the agressive fish thingy a picture thingy might help ID it I agree as to a mini ammonia spike. Do a water change if you haven't already and if you can add an airline to pump oxygen into the water. The ammonia will make the fish come up gasping for air. Also check your tank temp in case its the heater although I would say ammonia. When you do a tank clean you need to stagger what you do i.e. big water change and rinse out the filter in tank water or water change and gravel vacuum. The filter wool holds a large amount of bacteria. If you clean everything totally you will kill off the bacteria which cycling your tank has established. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelaray Posted April 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 Thank heaps.. Yes i guess i thought i would do it all at once, and maybe got a bit carried away. We did do a small water change, but that hasnt helped as yet, but will do another tomorrow.. Have also noticed the Silver dollars have a red tinge to there bottom fins? Is this bad? i hope they arent bleeding or something What about these snails? I never introduced snails to my tank? so not sure where they came from? thanks again!! its great to have such great help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelaray Posted April 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 well hopefully this works and someone can identify this fish... hope i read the instructions right... Would appreciate it if someone could let me know what sort of fish i can get to co- occupy the tank with this one. i think he has killed off a few tetras, and his mate i brought him with.. doesnt seem to worry the catfish or silver dollars, but chases the small ones quite a bit. including his own reflection. http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt23 ... y/fish.jpg thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 its a rainbow fish. madagascar rainbow fish possibly. im not very into rainbows. ask supasi on here. he should know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochelleMay Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 Do you have a air stone in your tank? To help circulate and oxygenate the water. When I had an ammonia spike I was told to do daily water changes to keep it down until it had passed then go back to doing my regular water changes every 3-4 days and also temporarily use ammo lock as it will make the ammonia less toxic to the fish. From what I understand the ammonia is still present (thats where water changes come in) but it just causes less harm. Correct me if im wrong - what LFS recommended. Best ofluck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 1 x cat fish that is like a brown stripey fella Could this be a rapheal cat fish? I agree with all above. Anytime fish are gasping at the surface, an indication of low oxygen levels so an added airstone will help. The actual bubbles don't give off more oxygen it's the breaking of the bubbles at the surface causing more water agitation that creates more oxygen. Snails can be carried in on plants. I don't know of other ways they are introducted to a tank someone with more experience can answer that one! When one of my goldfish had red streaks, I just increased the water changes. The redness went. Now just because it worked in this case doesn't mean it will work in all instances of course :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsarmina Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 if your tank did indeed have an ammonia spike, the redness could be ammonia burns. do you have a test kit to test your water? if not, i'd recommend taking a sample to your LFS and getting them to test the parameters for you. this will help answer a couple of questions. does the "brown stripey fella" look like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 whoops :oops: double post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 I'm not into rainbows but I would say its some sort of rainbow fish. From what I've read tetras and smaller fish are considered 'snacks'. Snails will have come in with plants or water from other tanks etc. For them to be at the top of the tank the water must be very low in oxygen. I would keep changing the water - up to 50% may help. Just make sure its about the same temperature and add water conditioner or what ever you normally add to try and not add any more stress to the fish. You will most likely lose some (fish) over the next few days whatever you do from ammonia burns if it is this. Where do you live? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 its a rainbow fish. madagascar rainbow fish possibly. im not very into rainbows. ask supasi on here. he should know. Madagascar Rainbowfish - Bedotia geayi All rainbows are schooling fish and prefer to have at least 4-5 together to be happy. Yes rainbows do tear around the tank like crazy fish but if kept in numbers they are more placid. In regards to stocking, my opinion is the tank is quite heavily stocked. And your plant have little if any chance of survival with silver dollars in there. They love their salad meals I agree with LivingArt as to the cause of the deaths, A mini tank cycle, caused by the cleaning. To explain what has happened... When you have cleaned the tank and filter, you have likley killed off alot of the beneficial bacteria that are required for the Nitrogen Cycle. As the bioload of the tank has remained the same the filter has not been able to process the amonia waste created by the fish as effectivly, therefore poisoning the fish. Best of luck, I hope all the remaining fish are all ok Oh, and welcome to one of the forums Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelaray Posted April 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 Thanks everyone for your comments and help...and welcome!! Unfortunately where i got the tank from they just want to keep selling me fish and not worry about the rest , it would seem. I did use the last of my Ammo lock yesterday, and have done a couple of water changes, will do another tomorrow. But have added conditioner. no dont have an oxygen stone, but will get one we have a blue planet serene life lagoon tank - 70 litre.. i will go to the shop monday and see if i can get an extra air hose or something for it... maybe this will help? lost a tetra today.. now only have 1 x tetra 7 x zebra tetra( i think this is what they are) 2 x silver dollar 1 x pleco 2 x cat fish... 1 x madagascar rainbow....( what do i do with her??) Thanks supasi!! on this one.... But what do i do?? she is not happy, but she killed her mate?? do i try and get her another friend or two to calm her down? i dont want to over stock the tank though :oops: so snails came in from the plants for the shop.. great... am back to feeding lettuce to silver dollars.. they seem happy enough.. but still gasping. we are in the far north ( kaitaia)... too far away to get help... :bounce: i will keep trying and see how we get on.. thanks for the advice.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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