Harlequin Rasbora issues please help

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daquestion4u

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I have a 20 gallon tank that i food cycled for about 6 weeks before adding anything. I have added 1st 8 shrimp, the next weekend i added 7 albino corys, then a week and half later after added 6 harlequin rasboras. That was about a week and a half ago and everyone was great until yesterday i noticed a white spot on one of my Raboras lips just like a little white dot i dont think its ick as its not a bunch of little white dots. Then today i noticed one of his side fins iseems hard and white and he is not eating or schooling just sitting in the corner. After my research that was pretty damn hard i determined it likely fungul so i went and got some API Pimafix and put the recommended dose in. The other Rasboras are still schooling and eating but i noticed a little redness near their gills now not sure if that was from the Pimaflex or if it is related to the clearly sick Rasbors. The Shrimp and Corys all seem fine also have a few snails running around.. Currently water parameters when tested with API test kit show no ammonia, nitrates or nitrites. PH was good. I did a 25% water change about 4 days ago. I tried to get pics of the redness in gills but these guys are tough to get one of I did my best but it is not a good pick There are live and articial plants in the tank if that means anything. I also ordered some Maracyn also that will be here ina few days just in case. Any idea on what this could be or what my next steps should be.
 

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It is not a good idea to add "medicines" which likely won't help, but will without question cause issues for the other fish. Wait for someone like @Colin_T to suggest treatments.
 
Agreed with @Byron - resist the urge to throw in medicines - especially medicines like those that are ineffective and more likely to cause problems than help. You don't even know what you're attempting to treat, if anything, so stop buying meds in the hope of a quick cure. It's an understandable mistake a lot of beginners make, so not trying to criticise you! Just trying to warn youu before the tank gets turned into a chemical/aloe vera soup, and things get worse rather than better.

With fish, clean fresh water is always the best medicine. It boosts their immune systems and helps them fight off any illnesses, so even if a batch of fish bought in a disease of some kind, then doing large daily water changes can only help, and certainly won't hurt. Do an emergency 75% water change, making sure to use a water conditioner and to temp match the new water to the tank temp before adding to the tank.

Your set up is still very new, and you've added a lot of fish relatively quickly, so it's very likely that there are fluctuating levels of ammonia and nitrite that are stressing the fish and could cause the gill redness, but then the levels have been processed by the time you test. Testing a few times at different times of day might show this, but any time you're in doubt, and if a fish looks stressed or dies, do a large water change first, take a sample and test the water you removed afterwards.

Keep trying to get clear photos of the fish, all of them, but especially the ones you're concerned about. Can't see anything useful in that pic I'm afraid.
Also can you let me know whether you have live plants, and how you clean your filter?
 
Agreed with @Byron - resist the urge to throw in medicines - especially medicines like those that are ineffective and more likely to cause problems than help. You don't even know what you're attempting to treat, if anything, so stop buying meds in the hope of a quick cure. It's an understandable mistake a lot of beginners make, so not trying to criticise you! Just trying to warn youu before the tank gets turned into a chemical/aloe vera soup, and things get worse rather than better.

With fish, clean fresh water is always the best medicine. It boosts their immune systems and helps them fight off any illnesses, so even if a batch of fish bought in a disease of some kind, then doing large daily water changes can only help, and certainly won't hurt. Do an emergency 75% water change, making sure to use a water conditioner and to temp match the new water to the tank temp before adding to the tank.

Your set up is still very new, and you've added a lot of fish relatively quickly, so it's very likely that there are fluctuating levels of ammonia and nitrite that are stressing the fish and could cause the gill redness, but then the levels have been processed by the time you test. Testing a few times at different times of day might show this, but any time you're in doubt, and if a fish looks stressed or dies, do a large water change first, take a sample and test the water you removed afterwards.

Keep trying to get clear photos of the fish, all of them, but especially the ones you're concerned about. Can't see anything useful in that pic I'm afraid.
Also can you let me know whether you have live plants, and how you clean your filter?
I do have live plants and some fake one. I have a hang on the back filter with a sponge cover so no one gets sucked in it is hard to clean i typically have to remove the entire thing to do so and when i do all the items stuck to the sponge comes off its rough any suggestions there would be great. I added some Biomax Filter media in the filter also. i also recently cleaned the filter when i did the water change ill try for more photos
 
I do have live plants and some fake one. I have a hang on the back filter with a sponge cover so no one gets sucked in it is hard to clean i typically have to remove the entire thing to do so and when i do all the items stuck to the sponge comes off its rough any suggestions there would be great. I added some Biomax Filter media in the filter also. i also recently cleaned the filter when i did the water change ill try for more photos
When you cleaned the filter, did you run the sponges etc under the tap?
 
I did I also used some API Stress Coat when I did since i ran it under tap.
Ah. That's a part of the problem I'm afraid! Happens a lot to beginners. Never rinse any filter media under the tap. For the nitrogen cycle we're trying to culture in our tanks, we're trying to grow beneficial bacteria (BB) that process ammonia and nitrites, right? And the filter is the main place we're trying to grow them. So rinsing under the tap, because of the chlorine, kills off a good chunk of the BB you've worked so hard to grow!

Don't clean the filter for the next 5-6 weeks unless it gets clogged and the flow slows down a lot. Since the tank is new and the cycle is fluctuating, give it some time for those BB colonies to grow large enough to handle the tanks bioload (the amount of waste generated by the fish). When it does come time to clean it, do it during a water change, and rinse all the filter media (sponges, floss, ceramics) out in a bucket of old tank water that you've just removed. That's all they need, just squeeze the sponges out in that. Don't worry about a bit of gunk - they're meant to be gunky and feel a bit slimy! The filter itself, meaning the housing and any tubes etc can be rinsed under the tap, but never the media!
 
I do have live plants and some fake one. I have a hang on the back filter with a sponge cover so no one gets sucked in it is hard to clean i typically have to remove the entire thing to do so and when i do all the items stuck to the sponge comes off its rough any suggestions there would be great. I added some Biomax Filter media in the filter also. i also recently cleaned the filter when i did the water change ill try for more photos

Fo the sponge bit - when you need to remove it, get an unused plastic bag, like a sandwich bag, and place it over the sponge, containing it, before you turn off the filter. Lift filter and bagged sponge out and into a bucket half filled with old tank water you removed during the water change, rinse it out in there. :) Check carefully for any shrimp or shrimplets that might have travelled with the sponge into the bucket, rescue any that have, then rinse out that intake sponge and filter media in that bucket of old tank water.

You said you've been watching youtube aquarium stuff, can I ask which channels you like? I watch a lot of fishtubers too, so thinking of some useful videos I've seen that helped me when I was brand new to the hobby, but don't want to spam you with "homework"! :lol:
 
Cancel the Maracyn order. It's an antibiotic and I doubt the fish has a bacterial infection.

Antibiotics should only be used on known bacterial infections that haven't responded to normal treatments. Improper use and mis-use of antibiotics has lead to drug resistant bacteria that kill people, birds, animals, reptiles and fish.

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I need clear pictures of all the fish, especially the sick one. Check pictures on the computer and make sure they clearly show the issue and are in focus.

What are the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH readings (in numbers)?

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Red gills are usually caused by poor water quality or chemicals in the water. A big (75%) water change will usually help by diluting any bad water and also disease organisms from the aquarium.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

The white dot on the mouth can be a bruise or the start of Columnaris. If you had the fish for over a week and they were fine, then it's most likely a bruise (fat lip) from swimming into something. Monitor the white spot and if it spread over the mouth and face in a 24-48 hour period, that is Columnaris. If the white dot doesn't change during that time, it's a fat lip.
 
Get that regular water change routine in place after you follow Colin T's instructions. 25-30% weekly, religiously, especially for the first few months.

You may be okay, but the goal is to stay okay. Harlequins here often developed small cysts that never did anything, much more than any other fish I've ever kept. But the tank was added to quickly and the fish are still in the quarantine timeline where store brought diseases can develop.
 
Unfortunately the sick guy passed last night I did the 75% water change. . The remaining fish seem active and are eating and look better today. I used Petsmarts preconditioned Aquarium water for the water change let me know if that is okay. Also In hindsite is it possible the fish was bullied i would notice when i would feed the rasboras would nip at one another maybe they were just all after him it was hard to tell? Also when they were not eating every so often one fish would be away from the group or sometime he would be in the group or mayvbe he was sick from the time i got him but he ate and was active for a good while.
 
Cancel the Maracyn order. It's an antibiotic and I doubt the fish has a bacterial infection.

Antibiotics should only be used on known bacterial infections that haven't responded to normal treatments. Improper use and mis-use of antibiotics has lead to drug resistant bacteria that kill people, birds, animals, reptiles and fish.

---------------------
I need clear pictures of all the fish, especially the sick one. Check pictures on the computer and make sure they clearly show the issue and are in focus.

What are the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH readings (in numbers)?

---------------------
Red gills are usually caused by poor water quality or chemicals in the water. A big (75%) water change will usually help by diluting any bad water and also disease organisms from the aquarium.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

The white dot on the mouth can be a bruise or the start of Columnaris. If you had the fish for over a week and they were fine, then it's most likely a bruise (fat lip) from swimming into something. Monitor the white spot and if it spread over the mouth and face in a 24-48 hour period, that is Columnaris. If the white dot doesn't change during that time, it's a fat lip.
Unfortunately the sick guy passed last night I did the 75% water change. . The remaining fish seem active and are eating and look better today. I used Petsmarts preconditioned Aquarium water for the water change let me know if that is okay. Also In hindsite is it possible the fish was bullied i would notice when i would feed the rasboras would nip at one another maybe they were just all after him it was hard to tell? Also when they were not eating every so often one fish would be away from the group or sometime he would be in the group or mayvbe he was sick from the time i got him but he ate and was active for a good while.
 
Fo the sponge bit - when you need to remove it, get an unused plastic bag, like a sandwich bag, and place it over the sponge, containing it, before you turn off the filter. Lift filter and bagged sponge out and into a bucket half filled with old tank water you removed during the water change, rinse it out in there. :) Check carefully for any shrimp or shrimplets that might have travelled with the sponge into the bucket, rescue any that have, then rinse out that intake sponge and filter media in that bucket of old tank water.

You said you've been watching youtube aquarium stuff, can I ask which channels you like? I watch a lot of fishtubers too, so thinking of some useful videos I've seen that helped me when I was brand new to the hobby, but don't want to spam you with "homework"! :lol:
I mainly watch MD Fish Tanks any recommendations?
 
I mainly watch MD Fish Tanks
He's really great for scaping tanks, and a fun channel to watch, but he admits himself that he's really quite new to the hobby in many ways, so for fishkeeping, it's worth branching out for learning more about the fish themselves. Aquarium co op gives a lot of good advice, and his streams are easy to put on the background and listen to while doing tank maintenance. He's not perfect by any means, but he knows a good deal. Searching that channel for any typical aquarium advice usualy turns up good videos too, like how to maximise your filter, how to gravel vac and clean your tank properly, things like that. The Secret Life of Your Aquarium is very knowledgeable, as is Rachel O'Leary, some others I can't think of right now, but could find for you later if you're interested.

Have to sift through them, since anyone can make a fishtuber channel, and not all are good. But worth branching out and checking out some that are more geared to learning about fish species and the hobby as a whole, and not just creating aquariums as visually stunning as MD Fishtanks ones admittedly are!
 

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