Black Tetra

[Emily]

Hi

Can I just ask ? is there a reason my 2 tetra hang around my filter/air stone all the time?..

 

[ALW]

Hi

Can I just ask ? is there a reason my 2 tetra hang around my filter/air stone all the time?..

How many Black Tetras do you have in your tank

 

[Emily]

Hi

Can I just ask ? is there a reason my 2 tetra hang around my filter/air stone all the time?..

How many Black Tetras do you have in your tank

Hi

I have 2 at the mo ..

 

[waterdrop]

Andy might be getting ready to say they are a schooling fish and are feeling a bit lost without larger numbers...

Your question also makes one think of a couple of other possibilities:

1) If all your water stats are fine but your tank is fairly bare, it could be they just find the filter and airstone hardware interesting...

2) Perhaps your water stats are not fine and they are suffering in some way.

Do you have numbers for your ammonia and nitrite measurements in recent days?

 

[ALW]

You need to get some more Black Tetras, IMO get another 3 at least (i would get another 8 so that you had 10 in the tank)

 

[Emily]

Andy might be getting ready to say they are a schooling fish and are feeling a bit lost without larger numbers...

Your question also makes one think of a couple of other possibilities:

1) If all your water stats are fine but your tank is fairly bare, it could be they just find the filter and airstone hardware interesting...

2) Perhaps your water stats are not fine and they are suffering in some way.

Do you have numbers for your ammonia and nitrite measurements in recent days?

Thanks for your help ,iv also noticed that 1 of them has gone Transparent ???.
I no this cant be good

 

[waterdrop]

Andy might be getting ready to say they are a schooling fish and are feeling a bit lost without larger numbers...

Your question also makes one think of a couple of other possibilities:

1) If all your water stats are fine but your tank is fairly bare, it could be they just find the filter and airstone hardware interesting...

2) Perhaps your water stats are not fine and they are suffering in some way.

Do you have numbers for your ammonia and nitrite measurements in recent days?

Thanks for your help ,iv also noticed that 1 of them has gone Transparent ???.
I no this cant be good

Hi there Emily,

I've just had a look at your other thread, your first one on the forum, and I think we've gotten off on the wrong track perhaps. We've all focused on the schooling numbers that black tetras like and how many would work out in your 5 gallon, but looking back carefully, I think the issue of water chemistry has been sidestepped perhaps.

When newcomers stumble across this forum and their fish are showing symptoms of distress, as yours are, it is often the case that the LFS has steered them in the wrong direction about "cycling." Unfortunately there are simply very few ways to get around the business of learning how to test your own water and understanding it in this hobby when your are new to it. The smaller the tank, the more difficult it can be to get it stablized and keep it that way.

I suspect the members here are going to need to help you with water changes. It sounds like you could use a 50% one as soon as you are able. You'll want to be sure to use a conditioner like Prime or Stress Coat or some other dechlorination/dechloramination - only type product for the replacement water and you'll want to use your hand to termperature-match (roughly) the replacement water. I would keep doing these daily until the fish appear happier. I mention this first because it is a more urgent thing to do before going out to find a test kit.

If you have a test kit and know all this the apologies! If you don't have a test kit then you need to find one. You will use it to test the levels of two toxins, ammonia and nitrite, that may be in your water. Many of us use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit - its very good and complete. In any case it needs to be a liquid-reagent based kit. The test strips are not worth the paper they are printed on. Once you get your kit and read the instructions, you should test your tap water a couple times to practice the process and then record your tap water stats in your aquarium log book and here on this thread in TFF. Then test your tank water. See if any ammonia or nitrite(NO2) shows up in the tests. You'll also want to record the pH and Nitrates, just out of interest.

The problem with ammonia is that it burns fish gills and often damages the fish for life if it doesn't kill them. Nitrite(NO2) on the other hand, is involved in a process that blocks oxygen from being carried by the fishes blood and therefor causes suffocation. Symptoms fish have for these problems include lack of normal movement and tank exploration, closed fins, unusual movements from a still position, loss of color, hanging at the surface or at airstones or pump intakes/outputs.

Ammonia is created by fish respiration, fish waste, excess food and plant debris. When you buy a new aquarium filter you are getting the hardware and media only. The bio-filtration process that you need the filter to do for you can't work until the filter has had weeks to build up two large populations of bacteria. The first population converts ammonia into nitrite, the second population converts nitrite into nitrate. Nitrates are removed via weekly water changes after a normally funtioning filter is established. The bacteria can be established either via a "fishless cycle" (which is preferred) or by performing water changes for about 4 weeks while testing to see if the filter has cycled.

Hopefully I'm wrong about you needing all this! But thought I'd get you started otherwise... and many of us usa folks will be offline over the holiday..
~~waterdrop~~