PDA

View Full Version : New fish in tank, one not too happy :( any advice?



Professor_J
Sun Aug 12, 2007, 05:06 AM
Hi all,

Finally have fish in my tank after watching it cycle. One is questionable... will know more when I check them out tomorrow.

Water:

pH 7.4, GH 125ppm, KH 40ppm, Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, Nitrate 10ish ppm. Temp 29C.

The tank is a 90 gallon, with some big rocks, a token amount of gravel which gets vacuumed at every water change, a few live epiphitic plants (java fern and a couple other types) and a large piece of driftwood in it. There is a bubbler, but it only comes on at night.

I change 30% of the water every 2-3 days (preheated before adding).

The fish that I have in it are all new
15 rummy nose
15 cardinals
6 ottos
6 sterbai cories
6 snakeskin variants and two red discus (they came home with the cories as I couldn't resist them) :) These are all pretty small. about 2.5cm top to bottom not counting fins.

Everyone is eating really well and totally at home in the tank. They've been there for two days now and already associate me with food, come and say hello and that. They're eating very well (blood worms, brine shrimp, NLS pellets, and go insane for seaweed - damn these fish eat! I've never seen fish who are so hungry!). They're all swimming about sorting out who is boss and sticking their fins out a bunch. The colours in all but one of them were infinitely better than in the fish store within a day so I guess they like their new home. :)

The trouble is with one of the snakeskin ones. It's a bit dark, and doesn't show off its fins that much. It's also a bit skinny. Some of its fins are missing bits - don't know if this was from being picked on a bit, fin rot, or something else.

Was wondering what to do about this one (and everyone else - figure they're all in there together, might as well treat the lot of them). I figure that I'll probably dose the tank with salt tomorrow just to help them along in case any free-swimming stuff came along with them from the shops and keep the salt levels up during the water changes for the next couple of weeks before slowly getting rid of it through the water changes. What else should I do?

I do have metro and can start them on a course of that in their food if need be and I also have prazi for flukes if that is the case. I also have some pH down that I could try to use to lower the pH if needed, but I'd rather leave that alone if I could.

What should I watch for over the next couple of days to decide if they need meds or not and which ones? If I put metro in their food and they eat it that way, will it also help with external problems like fin rot, or do they need a bath in it for that.

There is also the dodgy solution (the fishie is still under warranty for another couple of days...) uhh... yeah... this one cacked it... can I have a new one (from a different tank) please? :) But I'd rather make the fish healthy and keep it.

Any help is appreciated.

Merrilyn
Tue Aug 14, 2007, 06:24 AM
How is that little guy looking today - any improvement?

Is he eating, and are the droppings a normal brown colour, or are they white?

Professor_J
Tue Aug 14, 2007, 02:56 PM
Hi Merrilyn,

He's still swimming... the salt has perked him up a bit but he doesn't seem too keen on eating. Honestly I think that it is a worm thing with him (and a couple others as they have white stringy poo), but that's currently my low(er) priority.

Yesterday while watching them also noticed a couple little white flecks on the fins of a couple of the fish, so right now I'm dealing with the ich - haven't had that in a tank for almost 20 years.

So they're now cooking at 89F with a ton of salt in the tank (roughly 1 tablespoon/5gal is what I was recommended as a low dose by a few discus keepers around here) and when I get back from my meeting I'll be changing some water and giving them ich meds.

They're also on metro-filled food - I started just after I posted my last post. Once I'm done with the ich I'll give them a day or so off and then start them on worm treatments.

Joys of stocking a tank with 50 fish from 3 shops and 7 or 8 tanks... They're all healthy there but the stress of the move was a bit much for some of them I guess.

Thanks for asking.

Professor_J
Tue Aug 14, 2007, 11:37 PM
Right...

So the good news is that the original sick fish has his fins growing back... he's still skinny as and I'm pretty sure there are some worms in the tank (am semi-prepared for this - have prazi and I am trying to see if a fish-friendly vet can a) get levamisole and b) will prescribe it to my tank). I have a few days before I need to worry about this though - need to deal with the ich first.

I've got the fish swimming in 88-89F water with loads of salt (1Tbsp/5gal) and this morning added ich meds after their water change. The stuff that I could get from the place open late last night was the Ich Guard 2 from Jungle. The shop recommended it over some of the other things as they've wiped out tanks of discus with stronger copper meds before which was my other choice. Anyone know if it works well? Like I said, ich is strange to me... first time in 20 years.

Some of the other fish (tetras and a couple of the discus) who don't have any white spots on them yet have been occasionally scratching themselves a bit on rocks/plants/wood. This is normal if they're dealing with ich floating around that hasn't quite died yet, right?

About how long does the ich life cycle last at 88-89F?

About how long until I see the little white spots that are already attached disappear and/or fall off?

Then how long for the cysts to all pop and the swimming critters to die?


Thanks :)

fishgeek
Wed Aug 15, 2007, 06:07 AM
total life cycle above 25 delsius is about 5 days and no faster at higher temps
so less than 5 days is answer to all 3 questions

i think the free swimming stages have difficutly at higher temps and that is why heat alone has some effect

andrew

Professor_J
Wed Aug 15, 2007, 06:13 AM
Thanks fishgeek

So I should keep them on this until my saturday (started on my tuesday) then give them a couple days off and worry about the worms, hoping that mr skinny fish makes it that long I guess

Professor_J
Tue Aug 21, 2007, 05:36 AM
For those curious... I had to keep treating for the ich for a few extra days as the white spots hadn't quite disappeared - there were still a few on Saturday - none on Sunday. Will keep dealing with that another day to make sure it is gone.

The little guy who came home and developed the worm and fin troubles didn't make it though. He was floating today when I came in to work :cry: I guess he just couldn't wait for me to be done dealing with the ich. Everyone else seems healthy and happy and getting along well. VERY hungry teenagers in fish years I think. Plus now I have room for one more next time I see one I can't resist

fishgeek
Tue Aug 21, 2007, 07:25 AM
sorry i dont think i was clear the treatments are aimed at off fish life stages
and most often the temperature determines the interval though generally 3 treatments are employed in total

encysted lifestages divide and become free swimming, when free swimming they have only 48hrs to find a host or they will die

andrew

Professor_J
Wed Aug 22, 2007, 01:09 AM
thanks fishgeek. I had that bit figured I think... Sunday morning I no longer saw any white spots on the fish - hence all the cysts had fallen off and were laying about waiting to become free swimming bugs.

So starting Sunday I just had to worry about them becoming free-swimming. I've continued treatment to today (My Tuesday). I was planning on stopping today and just letting everyone get off the meds, and then Friday or so (assuming it doesn't come back) letting the fish slowly return to "normal" water conditions over the next week or so.

That makes sense, right?