Are My Fish Okay?

[Phenz]

a few days ago i re aquascaped, did a large water change and introduced 3 panda corys to my 20gallon, tall, planted tank. There are 7 neons and 2 blue rams in there.

ever since, there has been a dramatic change in the fish's behaviour.

The tetras swam in 3s and 4s around all the plants and decor, which cover the bottom half of the tall tank. They now stay in the top third of the tank right at the front, i haven't seen any of them surface breathing.

the rams chased eachother around a lot and usually stayed between dense decor, usually around the bottom to mid level. But they now stay up at the top opening and closing their mouths a lot, they take a gulp from the surface maybe once every 15 minutes, but often swim up to within a centimeter of the surface which i've never seen them do before.

the corys are the most worrying of all, when i introduced them, they were swimming all around the bottom of the tank, darting up the sides, swimming around the bog wood, playing with the sand, schooling, looking for eachother. Now they bearly even move. Its quite worrying because i often think that one might be dead, i can only view the front of my tank so they can be quite hard to spot. I tap on the glass and they don't flinch, i go in to scoop them out with a net, nudge them, then the slowly swim to a new hiding place.

my fish look very lethargic - are they okay?

 

[Underwurlde]

Wi3rd

Your 20G is well under stocked (good)....

You did switch on / check your filter pump & heater after your rescaping???

Obvious I know, but then again.............

BTW What are your stats???

Andy

 

[WILDER]

Whats your stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.

 

[Phenz]

okay, just tested:

pH - 7
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5ppm
kH - 2degrees
gH - 1degree
temp - 80F
CO2 - 6ppm

filter is fine and so is the heater.

I bought the tank about a month ago and have had fish in it for the past 3 weeks
week 1 - cycled
week 2 - 8 tetras, one of which doed 6 hours after introduction (looked unhealthy in the bag)
week 3 - 2 blue rams (juvinile)
week 4 - 3 panda corys

I thought this was normal, but there has always been millions of white flecs floating up - i think they're bubbles from the way they stay on the surface making a tiny layer. Could this be a problem? it is fairly heavily planted, with two pices of bog wood and two stones.

 

[Underwurlde]

Low Co2 for a planted tank. I take it that you have a low tech set up (No CO2 injection)?

But regardless, it's not going to be that.

Sorry, white flakes - 'always' as in before the re-scaping or only occured after?

(I'm thinking it maybe something to do with disturbing of your substrate during the rescaping?)

1 week to cycle is quick! How did you do that exactly?

Andy

 

[Phenz]

its just a yeast/sugar reaction bottle.

'always' as in before the rescaping, i'll try and get a pic off my camera phone as my other ones with a friend.

I got some gravel from a LFS and dumped in a bunch of frozen prawns.

the ammonia shot through the roof, then the nitrite, then the nitrate.

did a 90% water change and removed prawns which brought the levels down to a scale - still a bit high though.

tested the day after, trace everything except for nitrate which had gone up.

50% water change - then added tetras.

 

[blackbat]

haahaa bet the frozen prawn looked great in the tank

 

[Phenz]

there were about a dozen of them shelled and sitting in a net at the top of the tank. had them sitting under the trickle filter and as they became mushy they made a bit of a mess of the tank. just have sweep the net around the tank vigourously to stir up the water and catch all the bits.

 

[Underwurlde]

I got some gravel from a LFS and dumped in a bunch of frozen prawns.

the ammonia shot through the roof, then the nitrite, then the nitrate.

did a 90% water change and removed prawns which brought the levels down to a scale - still a bit high though.

tested the day after, trace everything except for nitrate which had gone up.

This is the cycling process you referred to that took just 1 week???

If you did not 'seed' your filters first & unless you've discovered some amazingly fast way of cycling a tank, then I'd say your tank is not yet cycled.

Having said that, you stats appear OK! This is befuddling me.....

Andy

 

[Phenz]

i was quite impressed as well, i've only seen one source that said that adding too much ammonia inhibits the production of bacteria, but i had underestimated how much ammoia prawns would produce - i was worried it would take forever to break down the ammount of ammonia i had added. i decided that once all my levels were off the chart that i'd do a near complete water change to remove the bulk of ammonia from the water and bring it to a normal level.

so i left my tank to break down the remaining ammonia and then my levels suggested my tank was cycled. i added some neons as a tester and watched my levels from then on. everything seems to be good.

 

[Phenz]

these are the bubbles i was talking about.

i've checked some older photos and it seems the white flecs came when i added plants.

 

[Phenz]

woke up this morning to find 2 panda corys dead and the third very lifeless, he can still swim but i have to prod him a few times with the net to get him to move and even then its just an inch or two that he swims. and if i come back an hour later he hasn't moved an inch.

the guy in the lfs said that corys need lots of food and maybe thats what was wrong. i've got lots of alge in my tank and i think i'm over feeding as it is. i sank some blood worms to the bottom of the tank hoping to tempt him. but still won't move.

the other fish are swimming all around the tank. one of my rams has completely coloured up, its pretty striking. not acting as what i would say was normal.

 

[Underwurlde]

Bummer.

I would do a massive water change (50% min).

Your stats indicate everything is fine as far as those chemicals are concerned.

The idea of having had rotting prawns in that water hugely concerns me and to this end I guess there is something nasty (as a result of said prawns) in there that would not be indicated by testing for those standard chemicals.

Does that make sense to everyone???

Andy

 

[Phenz]

i think my rams might have white spot. i can't get a pic cause i don't have my camera at the moment.

none of the tetras show to have any blemishes, its just the two rams that have one or two miniscule white flecks on their head and fin. i'm really unsure if its just their colouring or white spot. i hear its quite common in new aquariua. would getting some medicine asap be advisable?

they don't show any signs of rubbing agaisn't things and are swimming fine.

 

[Breeze7050]

panda cories are a bit weaker than the larger species of cories and tend to need a fully mature tank to thrive in. i would assume yours wasn't quite ready to support the pandas just yet. maybe wait a few months and try again with them.