Colourd Fading To White... Redness Around Gills

[matchstickgeezer]

Hi I am encountering a problem with my new tank setup that I have never had before.

This morning my plec died having faded from spotty colour almost to white along his spine.

Now my blue platy is almost a light grey in colour in the tank... a TOTALLy different colour than beofre.

Also, the 2 danios and the platy have very pink front gills as does my female guppy.

Can anyone help, and if so what medication do i need (im in the UK).

Please help!!!!

Richard

 

[WILDER]

Stats would be good in ammonia, nitrite,nitrate,and ph.
How long has the tank been set up and are using fish to cycle the tank.
A grey colour and inflamed gills can be due to poor water quality.

 

[matchstickgeezer]

Hi there

Sorry I am unsure about the water quality... the large garden centre fish store told me that it was fine but I have since heard very bad things about it, so I had it tested at another local LFS and they have told me to starve the fish for a week as Nitrites are very high in the tank.

Thankfully this morning all of the fish seem to have regained some colour, and the red gills have gone down on almost all of the fish.

I have had the tank for 5 weeks now, had water tested and was told it was fine for fish and had been left standing long enough (4 weeks).

I hope my fish are alright.

Richrd

Stats would be good in ammonia, nitrite,nitrate,and ph.
How long has the tank been set up and are using fish to cycle the tank.
A grey colour and inflamed gills can be due to poor water quality.

 

[catxx]

do a water change, 50%
inflamed gills is a sign of ammonia i think
and go invest in some test kits! the liquid ones are best as opposed to test strips.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I may have this wrong but this is what it sounds like you've done

got a tank, filled it with water, decor etc and left it for 4 weeks
had the water tested at an un-reliable garden centre lfs
fully stocked your tank
then within a week everyone's ill and dying off.

Hate to say it but I'm not in the least bit surprised. Just leaving your tank for 4 weeks will do diddly squat to get the beneficial bacteia that the filter needs built up. Yes the stats probably were fine when the garden centre tested the water, there won't have been any amonia or nitrite as there's nothing producing waste so no amonia, and no bacteria colony dealing with it so nothing to convert it into nitrite or nitrate.

Your tank is now cycling, which is a very stressful process to put your fish through. If your going to cycle with fish you need to do it with just a few very hardy ones, not fully stock it, it's no surprise your filter can't cope.

All the fish will have been producing waste and therefore amonia, you've probably had the initial part of cycling which is the ammonia spike, this will have weakened your fish, then comes the nitrite spike, this is extremley toxic and is probably what has killed your fish and made the rest of them ill. You may still loose more fish.

If you can take any fish that are still well out of the tank and re-home them asap, any fish that are poorly I'm sure you won't be able to re-home, you may well loose these as well.

If you know anyone with a mature fish tank then get some filter media from one of they're tanks and put it in you filter, this should hopefully speed up the cycling and maturation process. At the top of the beginers section there's a post of TFF members willing to donate media, have a look if anyone is near you. Also I'd advise you read the thread about fishless cycling for future reference.

Invest in a good quality test kit. I'd recommend the API kit personally, test your water daily and do daily 20% water changes until your stats are

amonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - less than 40

good luck

 

[matchstickgeezer]

Thanks

I was told that I could stock my tank after just 3 DAYS which I know was a load of rubbish.

I waited 4 weeks as I thought this would give the water time to cycle but having read the info on this site I now know this to be wrong.

I didnt fully stock the tank, and I chose what I thought were hardy fish... I only had 7 to start with but a week later I was stuick with another 4, 2 of which have died.

So fair since I put the fish in, their have been 3 casualties.

Having dreaded the worse this morning, it seems that the tank is getting better as the gills have gone back to a normal colour, and the fish have most of their colour back.

I will keep on top of it for another few weeks before contemplating adding extra to my tank.

Thanks, I will also be getting a water testing kit!

I never had these problems with my old aquariums!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

well maybe not fully stocked, it's still a fairly high bio-load on a new tank.

glad they're looking better

just keep on top of things by investing in a test kit and doign daily water changes until the stats are all OK again.