Fin Nipping

[iihay]

Hi,

Firstly hello as I'm new here. I have a question but having been browsing for some time I should firstly say I haven't done a fishless cycle I have a 49l tank which has been set up for a week with 3 plants and following interpets filterstart regime (which appears like it might have been a worthless exercise).

Yesterday I put 4 platys in there, all seem to be doing well except for one fish which has had it's tail fin nipped by the looks of it. One was hassling it yesterday. So what should I do about it. Do I need to add anything to prevention infection? it's a very small piece which appears to have gone. I know ammonium can do this but at present levels are 0.1ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrate and 0ppm nitrite, pH 6.9. Tank temp 27deg C.

All the fish looked very healthy when I got them and they came from a fairly reputable supplier with a lot of fish all of whom looked extremely healthy. And with the exception of not mentioning a fishless cycle most of their advice appeared to match what I have seen on here

Another noob question, how often should I change water during this fish in cycle, I have read a lot of advice but are the fish happy if I just do this twice daily (20% or so) as a routine to keep the levels nice and low.

Good to be here

Thanks

Iain

 

[GRJ]

Hi, i think you could afford to knock your temperature down to 25 degrees as i have platys and i think 25 is their optimum temp. Also, on the fin nip, i have had a fin nipped platy and he is fine. You should maybe just keep a close eye on it to see if it gets any worse. Platys are peacefull fish, but occasionally they chase each other. Do you know if they are male or female? A general rule of thumb is to keep 2 females to every male as the males can hound a single female. They are quite easy to sex, the males anal fin is like a spike where the females is normal. As for water changes, well you have fish in the tank while cycling so you need to do a water change whenever the ammonia or nitrite get above 0.25. You need to keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25, this may invlove doing multiple water changes daily. I was doing four 50% water changes a day at one point. Say your ammoina was 1.0, you would need to do a 75-80% water change to get it below 0.25. If ammonia was 0.5, you would need to do a 50-55% water change. My advice would be to test your water before and after every change. You will be testing a lot so stock up. Eventually, you will see a rise in nitrate and your ammonia and nitrite will drop to zero and 'hey presto!', you are cycled. HTH.GRJ

 

[iihay]

Hi, i think you could afford to knock your temperature down to 25 degrees as i have platys and i think 25 is their optimum temp. Also, on the fin nip, i have had a fin nipped platy and he is fine. You should maybe just keep a close eye on it to see if it gets any worse. Platys are peacefull fish, but occasionally they chase each other. Do you know if they are male or female? A general rule of thumb is to keep 2 females to every male as the males can hound a single female. They are quite easy to sex, the males anal fin is like a spike where the females is normal. As for water changes, well you have fish in the tank while cycling so you need to do a water change whenever the ammonia or nitrite get above 0.25. You need to keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25, this may invlove doing multiple water changes daily. I was doing four 50% water changes a day at one point. Say your ammoina was 1.0, you would need to do a 75-80% water change to get it below 0.25. If ammonia was 0.5, you would need to do a 50-55% water change. My advice would be to test your water before and after every change. You will be testing a lot so stock up. Eventually, you will see a rise in nitrate and your ammonia and nitrite will drop to zero and 'hey presto!', you are cycled. HTH.GRJ

I'm an analytical chemist so the testing won't be a problem Look's like I'm in for a few water changes though. I'll knock the temp down and go and sex them.

Thanks

Iain

 

[GRJ]

Hi, i think you could afford to knock your temperature down to 25 degrees as i have platys and i think 25 is their optimum temp. Also, on the fin nip, i have had a fin nipped platy and he is fine. You should maybe just keep a close eye on it to see if it gets any worse. Platys are peacefull fish, but occasionally they chase each other. Do you know if they are male or female? A general rule of thumb is to keep 2 females to every male as the males can hound a single female. They are quite easy to sex, the males anal fin is like a spike where the females is normal. As for water changes, well you have fish in the tank while cycling so you need to do a water change whenever the ammonia or nitrite get above 0.25. You need to keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25, this may invlove doing multiple water changes daily. I was doing four 50% water changes a day at one point. Say your ammoina was 1.0, you would need to do a 75-80% water change to get it below 0.25. If ammonia was 0.5, you would need to do a 50-55% water change. My advice would be to test your water before and after every change. You will be testing a lot so stock up. Eventually, you will see a rise in nitrate and your ammonia and nitrite will drop to zero and 'hey presto!', you are cycled. HTH.GRJ

I'm an analytical chemist so the testing won't be a problem Look's like I'm in for a few water changes though. I'll knock the temp down and go and sex them.

Thanks

Iain

You will be sick of the sight of buckets mate, i tell you! But, it will be worth it in the end believe me! Platys are lovely fish too, really playfull. Good luck with everything! GRJ.