Bala Shark Suddenly Big Change In Behavior/white "film"?

[eaglesaquarium]

Sorry for your loss.


Post a pic of your plec, someone wil be able to ID it.

Son't buy any more fish until this is sorted out. None of your fish are actually suited to a 29 Gallon tank. Your best option would be to return them all and complete a fishless cycle, then go for completely different fish for that tank. Danios need more space for swimming, although they are only small fish. Are you looking for a peaceful community?

Based on your selections earlier, some alternatives would be: red eye tetra (similar color to the bala, but only grows to 3 inches), five banded barbs (not tiger barbs!) have a striped effect like the zebras only vertical and broader, and corydoras (catfish, but much more active and MUCH smaller - biggest ones will only grow to 3 inches, but most will be about 2.)

 

[AestenD]

OH don't worry, wasnt planning on buying any more fish until I knew what was going on, and it'll be at least a month due to holiday trip. Walmart is retarded and has a 72hour return policy Yes we are looking for a peaceful community, but also want something flashy to look at. The fish are technically for our kids, so we'd like something colorful. My wife had a tank in her house when she was growing up that had a betta as the "centerpiece" of the tank. Is there any sort of combination that would work with a betta, even if it means starting with all new fish?

 

[Louiseness]

In a 29 gallon (I presume about 3ft in length?) there are plenty of fish that could work with a betta, but you'll need to be careful that you don't choose nippy fish or fish who need a strong current as the betta needs gentle current and peaceful tankmates.

All bettas are different and there are always stories of people keeping them successfully with incompatible tankmates (myself included!).

But fish that can work with a single male betta (and would be suitable for your tank include):

Small rasboras (harlequin rasbora, lambchop rasbora, celestial pearl danio/galaxy rasbora, chilli rasbora)

Corydoras (most if not all species will fit in your tank but need a sand substrate)

SMALL plecos like bristlenoses.

People have has mixed experiences with tetras but you could try species like glowlight, neon, cardinal, ember, and so on. I'd suggest avoiding nippy tetras like serpaes and silvertips.

Small loaches like yoyos and kuhli loaches could be a possibility?

Guppies are NOT compatible due to flowing, colourful fins but I've had success with Endler's livebearers.

Snails will work, shrimps MIGHT work depending on size of shrimp and aggressiveness of betta.

Gouramis and other bettas (even females) are a no-no, although you could choose to have a sorority of female bettas (without a male) in that size tank.

BUT. All this is a moot point until your tank is cycled. if you;re going to completely change your fish stocking I'd strongly suggest a fishless cycle before you get your new fish.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

+1 all that is above.


Another option would be to go with different centerpiece fish, like dwarf gouramis. With dwarf gouramis, you would have the option to have more than one in the tank. All of the above fish mentioned would also go with gouramis, just as easily as they go with bettas.


Gouramis could go with:

Corydoras, rasboras, some barbs (cherry and five banded, definitely NOT tigers!), some tetras (cardinals/neons, glowlight, ember, emperor, rummynose, bloodfins, but definitely not serpae, silvertips, skirts).


Obviously you will need to stay away from overstocking. In that size tank, you could get a shoal of corys (depending on the size of the cory, how many you would want) for the bottom, a shoal of rasboras, barbs OR tetras (again, depending on size again, how many) and a trio of dwarf gouramis.


I would go with something like this, if I were you since you want a lot of color.

8 panda or habrosus corydoras - very active little critters. More active in larger shoals, by getting smaller species, you can have more individuals.
8 neon tetras - slightly smaller than cardinals. These guys are bright blue and red. Very peaceful, but delicate with immature tanks.
3 dwarf gouramis or honey gouramis.

 

[Louiseness]

I would go with something like this, if I were you since you want a lot of color.

8 panda or habrosus corydoras - very active little critters. More active in larger shoals, by getting smaller species, you can have more individuals.
8 neon tetras - slightly smaller than cardinals. These guys are bright blue and red. Very peaceful, but delicate with immature tanks.
3 dwarf gouramis or honey gouramis.

This sort of stocking plan will work with most of the fish we've both suggested - the aggressive fish/centerpiece + shoalers/peaceful fish + bottom dwellers formula seems to work really well for this size of tank and for providing a lot of activity, colour and different levels of movement.

In my 100L (about 28 gal?) I have 3 dwarf gouramis (1 male, 2 female) + 9 norman's lampeyes + 5 black sail cories (soon to be six hopefully), a female bristlenose and an assassin snail, which works really well for me and has a 'blue' theme In the past, I've had a male betta + 6 mickey mouse platies + tetras + bristlenose and that worked well too.

If you go into any fish shops or look online, the best thing to do is note down the names of fish you like and do a bit of research on them - if you post any ideas for stocking here we all love to have a bit of a criticise of peoples stocking plans

 

[fluttermoth]

if you post any ideas for stocking here we all love to have a bit of a criticise of peoples stocking plans

lol, we do that!

 

[AestenD]

So, bought a test kit. Water temp is about 82 currently, running a bit higher than the 79-80 i've been trying to keep it at.
On to the chemicals...
About 8.1 ph(ugh) approx 1.0ppm ammonia(gasp), no nitrite or nitrate. From what I've been reading, I'm surprised my few remaining fish are alive Would it be worth trying to chemical fix the ph and such? Or is this first tank of mine probably a write off

 

[fluttermoth]

Don't worry about the pH; most fish are fairly tolerant of different pH levels as long as it stays relatively stable.

The ammonia is a definite worry; you need to do an 80 or 90% water change ASAP to bring that down. Your tank is certainly not a write off; you just have to keep testing and water changing until the good bacteria grow enough to keep the ammonia at zero.

Until the bacteria grow, your aim is to do enough water changes to keep the ammonia below 0.25ppm at all times.

 

[AestenD]

With my tank being about 2 weeks old, shouldn't I be seeing at least some nitrite by now? For a large change like that, should I take the fish out? or just turn off the filter and heater and change away?

 

[fluttermoth]

Fish in cycles can be quite unpredictable, so it's hard to say when nitrites might appear.

Leave just enough water for the fish to swim upright; it'll more stressful for them to take them out. Just make sure the new water is warmed and dechlorinated, and add it fairly slowly; don't get too precious about it, just don't be pouring buckets of water on the fishes heads!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

+1

Keep up with the water changes... more is always BETTER. Do as big as you possibly can, as described above. Take your time putting the water back in. Dechlorinated and temp matched water as close as you can. The fish can survive this, you just need to stay after it. It is going to take some time. Ultimately, the bigger the water changes you do, the more time you will have between them. Consider this:


Your ammonia is at 1ppm. Doing a 90+% water change will lower the level to under 0.10ppm (not great, but certainly not bad).


On the other hand, if you only do a 50% water change, the ammonia lowers to 0.50ppm (still lethal). So, you do another one, which lowers it to 0.25ppm (still a problem). So you do another and the ammonia is now 0.125ppm (which is ok, but not as good as it could be).

So, you would have to do nearly 1.5x the amount of water volume change, to get a less desirable effect. It will also take MUCH longer, at least twice as long, if not more to do it. Which means that your fish will spend that much more time in ammonia levels that are far too high.


In other words, always do LARGE water changes while you are in a fish-in cycle. The lower you keep the levels the better for your fish. And the better chance the bacteria can handle the load.