Fin Rot Or Bullying?

[anotherfishcallednemo]

Hi

Im new to fish keeping and trying my best to get everything right but seem to have a problem.
I have a small tank, 60 litre. I bought it as a kit. The elite 60 with stingray filter etc included. I se the tank up and left it for about 10 days before adding fish.
I checked the water with a test kit prior to adding fish and levels seemed okay (although PH is quite high, i was told t the shop that as the fish are bought locally this isnt a problem as they are used to this, is this true?). And added fish. The first batch were 5 neon tetras that i monitored for a week and they seemed to be fine. I checked the water regularly, fed sparingly as recomended by the shop (one flake a day) and everything seemed okay.

This week i added some more fish (about 7days after the first batch) and a plant on a log, I think this is where i may have gone wrong.
I added 5 glowlights and 3 harlequins. Was this too many? I did ask in the shop if it was excessive and i was told as they are small it was fine.

Levels of ammonia do keep creeping up slightly as does nitrate. But nitrite seems okay.
To combat this I purchased a vac and have been doing regular water changes, treating the tap water with tap water conditioner and cycle.
Do i need to take more care over the quantities of these chemicals i am adding? I am adding just under a cap to my water as directed on the packet.

Yesterday i noted that one of the neons has lost a little part of his tail fin. At first i thought it was one of the harlequins that had nibbled it as he seems to patrol the centre of the tank rather aggresively, but since ive noted that one of the glowlights also has a small white patch on his fin. Are these signs of finrot in both fish? Or could it be bullying from the harlequin? As i said above im monitoring the water as carefully as i can and doing almost daily water changes but dont know what to do next to ensure that none of the other fish are effected?

Do i need to watch the aggresive harlequin more closely? Do water changes stress the fish? Is the fish rot likely to have come in with the fish or could it be caused by something else that i am doing by mistake? Is this all resultant of over stocking before the filter was ready to deal with the levels of ammonia? I really appreciate any advice any one can give me. Thanks in advance.

 

[arobinson1984]

Hi

You are now in what is called a 'fish-in cycling' situation.

You seem to have a good general grasp of what is required. Neons weren't a good choice really for the first fish (not that you were to know) as they are sensitive to fluctuating water conditions and should only be added to tanks over 6 months old. Either scenario is possible, either the neon is being attacked or it could be finrot.

Can you get a picture of the affected fish?

The tank is probably very close to the stocking limit so I certainly wouldnt add anymore fish for the foreseeable future. As the fish are small waste producers you should be able to perform a fishin cycle with the fish you have in but you will need to keep up with the water changes.

What test kit is it that you are using?

Keep doing what you are doing, large water changes whenever you see levels of ammonia rise above 0.25ppm, nitrite normally takes 2-3 weeks to show up. Add water conditioner to the new water as you have been doing, in new tanks it is recommended to use 1.5x the amount it tells you to but dont exceed 2x

Water changes do stress the fish slightly but the effect is no where near as bad as having ammonia present. Over time your fish will get used to the water changes as part of a routine so the stress will be minimal.

Have a read of these 3 threads which will help you through the cycle

What's Cycling?
The Nitrogen Cycle
Fish-In Cycling

If you know anybody that has a mature tank, you can use some of their filter media to speed up the cycling process, otherwise have a look in the media donation section to see if there is anybody close by to where you live.

Andy

 

[anotherfishcallednemo]

Hi Andy. Thanks very much for your advice and help on this. I'll see if i can get a picture of the effected fish. Ill also do another water test shortly to see if the levels have increased significantly since yesterday and do another water change. If it is the harlequin that is bullying the other fish what can i do (if anything) to stop this? I'll take a look at those threads you recomend. I wish now in retrospect I had read around fishless cycling more. Thanks again, Howard

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Nemo.
It is not very likely that the problem in the tank is the harlies. I have kept them with some rather vulnerable fish like my betta and not had any nipping problems at all. On the other hand, water quality issues can devastate your fish so read the threads that Andy suggested and get ready for some large and frequent water changes. You have your tank stocked as heavily as I would do with a mature tank so the tank cycle is likely to become quite a bit of work for you. I had a recent issue with water quality on one of my tanks, the borrowed filter was not mature enough, and I did between 80% and 90% water changes daily for a few days until the filter got caught up. The fish always looked better and were more active after those huge water changes than before. Then stress of a water change is nothing compared to the stress of living in poisons. Running up a flight of stairs will cause you a bit of stress but if you need to do it to get out of a poisonous atmosphere, my guess is that you would do it. Its the same thing with fish and water changes.

 

[anotherfishcallednemo]

Thanks for the advice. I know what you mean. It must be very stressful for them if the water quality is bad. Ive done another set of tests this morning, from the charts i would say that the ammonia levels between .25 and .50 this morning. Nitrate was between the first and second points on the card (5.0?). I also did another water change and thats put the ammonia down to just under .25. Thanks for the advice ont he water changes, I hadnt realised i could change so much of the water, up to now ive been limiting the changes to about 25%. Would you recomend i do anohter today? or do a major change tommorow? The Harlie i mentioned in my first post is still patrolling the center of the tank quite aggressively would this be due to stress levels as a result of the water quality do you think? Or just territorial? Thanks again for all help. Best Howard

 

[glolite]

Hi Howard

I got your email regarding media and yes I should be able to pass over some to you. I presume you can't pm yet but if you just reply here it's easier than emails which I can't reply to as it comes through fishforums not your own email address.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[OldMan47]

You need to test your water to judge the size and frequency of water changes Howard. You are uncycled and seeing a reading of 0.25 ppm so you should probably do a water change so that levels don't go any higher.