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Jessie J.
Fish Crazy
What are your parameters? A picture would help.
Hi and welcome to the forum 
How long has the tank been set up for?
How much water do you change when you do a water change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
What sort of filter is on the tank and how often do you clean it?
How do you clean the filter?
Have you checked the water for ammonia, nitrite and pH?
If yes, what are the results in numbers?
How long have you had the fish for?
What else is in the tank?
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Try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
How long has the tank been set up for?
How much water do you change when you do a water change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
What sort of filter is on the tank and how often do you clean it?
How do you clean the filter?
Have you checked the water for ammonia, nitrite and pH?
If yes, what are the results in numbers?
How long have you had the fish for?
What else is in the tank?
-----------------------
Try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Two questions, please.
Has the tank been Cycled?
If so, how?
To properly cycle a tank requires an ammonia source, without food, any good bacteria will at best sit dormant without multiplying, and at worst starve to death.
Bacteria in a bottle cycling products have wildly varying success rates depending on species of bacteria used, and the majority of companies selling these products are far too generous with the expiration date, in my humble opinion.
Incidentally The recent trend of less knowledgeable fish shop owners suggesting running a completely empty tank to cycle is a complete waste of time.
For more on the Nitrogen cycle in general, please read:
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/
Please note two things:
#1:
The directions for fishless cycling should only be done in an empty tank, any livestock in the tank will be in extreme pain and most likely die during the process.
#2: only use pure ammonia with a known concentration for fishless cycling, any used should Ideally only contain ammonia and water.
Chelating agents are acceptable, but especially reject any detergents, surfacents, enzymes, soap or other chemicals.
This link has Information about how to cycle a tank with fish in it.
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il.433778/
Has the tank been Cycled?
If so, how?
To properly cycle a tank requires an ammonia source, without food, any good bacteria will at best sit dormant without multiplying, and at worst starve to death.
Bacteria in a bottle cycling products have wildly varying success rates depending on species of bacteria used, and the majority of companies selling these products are far too generous with the expiration date, in my humble opinion.
Incidentally The recent trend of less knowledgeable fish shop owners suggesting running a completely empty tank to cycle is a complete waste of time.
For more on the Nitrogen cycle in general, please read:
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/
Please note two things:
#1:
The directions for fishless cycling should only be done in an empty tank, any livestock in the tank will be in extreme pain and most likely die during the process.
#2: only use pure ammonia with a known concentration for fishless cycling, any used should Ideally only contain ammonia and water.
Chelating agents are acceptable, but especially reject any detergents, surfacents, enzymes, soap or other chemicals.
This link has Information about how to cycle a tank with fish in it.
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il.433778/
Last edited:
My tank has sat in this spot for years, its about 5 yearssih. When I clean it (every 1-2 weeks) i do a 50% water change. I built my filter from scratch, so I cant pin point whats in in it. I dont know too much about fish, so I dont know too much, sorry for that. For better info, I have 2 skirt tetras in my tank, and 2 fish I sadly dont remember what they are called, but I know they eat only algae. Jermey, I dont understand too much of what you are saying, can you please explain in a simpler form, again, my apologizes, i dont know too much.
Sorry, about that, I sometimes get too technical.
If the tank has been running with fish in it for more than a couple of months, normally it would be fully Cycled, and you can disregard my previous post.
An exception would be if you cleaned your filter with tap water, or recently replaced all the filter media at once, this can kill the good bacteria and restart the cycle, causing new tank syndrome, even if it has been running for years.
On the other hand, if your hospital tank has been without fish until you added the sick ones I would keep a closer eye on the ammonia than usual.
If you don't have a test kit, and you just started up the hospital tank from storage or standby, I would change about 50% of water in the Hospital tank twice a week to avoid "new tank syndrome" adding to the current troubles of your sick fish.
Since you recently had a fish die, this could have caused an ammonia spike.
I would advise saving some water for testing, then doing as big a water change as possible without the fish seeming stressed, while vacuuming the gravel as thoroughly as possible. (You want to go for around an 80% to 90% water change)
Don't forget to unplug your heater and filter if they will be out of water.
This will serve to dilute any ammonia, Phosphates, Sulfur, nitrite, or nitrate (these are pollution from dead fish, uneaten food, fish manure, etc, the most dangerous being ammonia and nitrite), as well as reducing the number of disease organisms in the tank.
If you don't own a test kit for ammonia, nitrite nitrate, and ph, see if you can get your water tested at your fish store, many will test water for free.
You want the results in numbers, if they can't be that specific, they are not using a very good test.
I may be misunderstanding, but if your QT tank was empty of fish and you weren’t feeding the beneficial bacteria, it probably died off.
Well, its still alive. It seems to still swim with others but just has trouble swimming, it got worse, but then stopped getting worse. He still eats, and seems happy. And the most rescent fish that had died was about a year ago so...
idk, I did done research and what keeps popping up is bladder disease? But after watching videos on it, dosnt look like it. I still dont know what to do about him, Im not trying anything till I figure out exactly what it is. And I wouldnt panic so much I had more tetrsa from the smae time I got them, but this one is one of the two left, and from what I was told, If I got the same breed of fish form the same time and same place, the know each other better, so If i lose this one, The other one would be idk, deppresed? Right now, im currantly focused on figuring out what kind of sickness he has, so I can get a medication. Thank you to however is helping me!
-Dan
idk, I did done research and what keeps popping up is bladder disease? But after watching videos on it, dosnt look like it. I still dont know what to do about him, Im not trying anything till I figure out exactly what it is. And I wouldnt panic so much I had more tetrsa from the smae time I got them, but this one is one of the two left, and from what I was told, If I got the same breed of fish form the same time and same place, the know each other better, so If i lose this one, The other one would be idk, deppresed? Right now, im currantly focused on figuring out what kind of sickness he has, so I can get a medication. Thank you to however is helping me!
-Dan
It could have a swim bladder problem, that would explain why it sinks when it stops swimming. There is nothing you can do for swim bladder problems and affected fish usually get eaten in the wild.
In captivity the fish will constantly be struggling to swim upwards and will use more energy than other fish in the tank. You should either increase feeding a bit to give it more energy reserves or euthanize it.
In captivity the fish will constantly be struggling to swim upwards and will use more energy than other fish in the tank. You should either increase feeding a bit to give it more energy reserves or euthanize it.
Colin, the thing is that my fish only eat whens its late at night or dark in the tank (weird, i know). An my tank is tall, but they love the low ground of it. and I feed only a little because one, its only two fish that while eat it, two, because they only eat when its dark, three, because uneaten fish food while ruin the tank.
-Dan
-Dan
Have you got any floating plants in the tank?
If not, perhaps add some.
Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is a great floating plant that can also be grown in the gravel.
Floating plants provide shade and the fish feel less stressed because birds and other predators can't see them as easily. And I know birds aren't hanging out above your aquarium but the fish don't. As far as the fish are concerned there are always predators waiting to eat them and it is safer to hide during the day. Floating plants give them a sense of security and they might be more willing to eat during the day.
You should also increase the number of fish in the tank. Tetras naturally occur in groups of hundreds to thousands and they feel braver when kept in larger numbers. The minimum size group for an aquarium is 10, but more is better.
Having more fish won't fix the current fish's health issue, but it should make it feel safer (safety in numbers) and they should be more willing to eat when the lights are on.
At the shop we fed all the fish (including tetras) during the day and they all ate without any problems. With tetras and other small fishes, we crumbled up the flake food so it was smaller and easier for them to eat it. We fed them several times a day and they never left any food behind.
------------------------
You can also try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week. That can help with some issues. Just make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
If not, perhaps add some.
Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is a great floating plant that can also be grown in the gravel.
Floating plants provide shade and the fish feel less stressed because birds and other predators can't see them as easily. And I know birds aren't hanging out above your aquarium but the fish don't. As far as the fish are concerned there are always predators waiting to eat them and it is safer to hide during the day. Floating plants give them a sense of security and they might be more willing to eat during the day.
You should also increase the number of fish in the tank. Tetras naturally occur in groups of hundreds to thousands and they feel braver when kept in larger numbers. The minimum size group for an aquarium is 10, but more is better.
Having more fish won't fix the current fish's health issue, but it should make it feel safer (safety in numbers) and they should be more willing to eat when the lights are on.
At the shop we fed all the fish (including tetras) during the day and they all ate without any problems. With tetras and other small fishes, we crumbled up the flake food so it was smaller and easier for them to eat it. We fed them several times a day and they never left any food behind.
------------------------
You can also try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week. That can help with some issues. Just make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
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