Fish not liking food?

Richie Lucas · Apr 4, 2005

Hi guys,

I finally got my tank going, set it all up, ran it for 14 days, had water tested for Nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonia, all read 0.

So me being me decided to go to the fish store and buy some.....fish.

I asked for 6 neon tetras and got 7, and 3 mollies.

Ive only had them for 7 days, and 2 tetra's mysteriously died. The first few days all the fish were feeding fine, but now every time i feed them, they are just spitting the food straight back out

I had another water test done yesterday and i now have a slight rise in ammonia

So not only are my fish not eating, they are swimming in the presence of oh so dangerous ammonia.

Any advice is appreciated!

keane · Apr 4, 2005

Richie Lucas said:
Hi guys,

I finally got my tank going, set it all up, ran it for 14 days, had water tested for Nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonia, all read 0.

So me being me decided to go to the fish store and buy some.....fish.

I asked for 6 neon tetras and got 7, and 3 mollies.

Ive only had them for 7 days, and 2 tetra's mysteriously died. The first few days all the fish were feeding fine, but now every time i feed them, they are just spitting the food straight back out

I had another water test done yesterday and i now have a slight rise in ammonia

So not only are my fish not eating, they are swimming in the presence of oh so dangerous ammonia.

Any advice is appreciated!

Hi,

Your tank sounds like it has never been cycled

. (You should almost always have some form of nitrate reading)

Your loss of fish supports this theory too.

Rather than me go through the whole cycling process, take a look at the pinned topics in the beginners section, especially those related to cycling.

You may have some more casualties on the way unfortunately, until your tank has fully cycled.

steve

Dubby · Apr 4, 2005

And keep those water changes going to help the fishies.

Richie Lucas · Apr 4, 2005

great

now ive also just discovered all my fish have white spot

do i just go out and buy some anti white spot and put it in the tank? Or isnt it as simple as that

GSD · Apr 4, 2005

the white sopt is proberbly caused by the bad water.Do a large water change and turn the temp up to 80-82 degress.as the tank isnt cycled you need todo water changes but im not sure what to do if the water has meds in ?

Richie Lucas · Apr 4, 2005

well the temperature is already at 27 degrees, is that ok?

I thought any type of medication messed up the tank

steelhealr · Apr 4, 2005

HI Richie. Your tank was not cycled and the fish are now under stress. The ammonia spike shows that you do not have the bacteria necessary to break down the ammonia. When fish are stressed, their immunity goes down and they become susceptible to ich. If you want to save your fish, do a search here for ich...it's been posted so many times here. Wardleys Ich Away worked great for me (malechite green). Start testing your water daily until it is cycled, ie, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a rise in nitrates. Although your tank is not cycled, your fish are ill. Consider doing daily or every other day 10% water changes. This may slow the cycle down but may help your fish. Consider adding aquarium salt. When you start treatment for ich, remember to remove the carbon from your filter and raise tank temp SLOWLY to 82-85 degrees. Good luck. SH

Blue Lobster · Apr 4, 2005

You could try some Melafix to get rid of ich, it also helps fish who are wounded by disease. If you are going to try to cure ich with temperature alone use 86 F/30 C as a minimum temperature, any less just speeds up the ich lifecycle.

Richie Lucas · Apr 4, 2005

Well this is very strange. I had my water tested again today via Maidenhead aquatics, and there is no ammonia, and the nitrate and nitrite is fine.

But obviously my fish still have white spot. So today i did a 30% water change, turned up the temperature a bit and added Interpet Anti White Spot plus. It turned the water blue for a while, but already my fish seem much much more active.

Im still having trouble with my Fluval 204 canister filter tho! Every time i use the aqua stop and go and clean out the filter, when i reconnect it and open up the aqua stop to fill the canister with water, the grille shoots off the intake pipe and so much air starts bubbling into the tank, then i cant get the filter to kick in for ages

any ideas?

Allix · Apr 4, 2005

Richie Lucas said:
Well this is very strange. I had my water tested again today via Maidenhead aquatics, and there is no ammonia, and the nitrate and nitrite is fine.

But obviously my fish still have white spot. So today i did a 30% water change, turned up the temperature a bit and added Interpet Anti White Spot plus. It turned the water blue for a while, but already my fish seem much much more active.

Im still having trouble with my Fluval 204 canister filter tho! Every time i use the aqua stop and go and clean out the filter, when i reconnect it and open up the aqua stop to fill the canister with water, the grille shoots off the intake pipe and so much air starts bubbling into the tank, then i cant get the filter to kick in for ages any ideas?

and one of the mollies is pregnant ... when will it enddddd

guppy_man · Apr 4, 2005

hi richie i heard off allix you are from cwmbran.

i bought anti white spot from petsathome earlier and i had to take all my ornaments and rocks out so the treatment wouldnt stain them.

where in cwmbran are you from

Allix · Apr 4, 2005

guppy_man said:
hi richie i heard off allix you are from cwmbran.

i bought anti white spot from petsathome earlier and i had to take all my ornaments and rocks out so the treatment wouldnt stain them.

where in cwmbran are you from

We bought some anti white spot from maiden head aquatics earlier which should hopefully work

Dorkhedeos · Apr 4, 2005

odd, i never cycled my tank and my 3 cories still made it -_-

probably explains why my 5 neons and 5 guppies died though :sad:

you can try new foods if they still arent eating after this

Richie Lucas · Apr 5, 2005

hey guppy i wouldnt bother getting anything from pets at home in cwmbran with regards fish ect.

I use Maidenhead aquatics in Croesyceiliog at the Sunnyvale garden centre opposite the crematorium.

I put some interpet anti white spot in yesterday, sent my water blue for a short while, but didnt stain any of my rocks or ornaments!

Richie Lucas · Apr 5, 2005

im also now getting unusual behavior, when the lights are on all the fish just keep swimming up and down in the corners of the tank, and some times dart about