Help Is Something Wrong With My Pim Catfish

[sez2212]

Hello. I am new to fish keeping and I am worried about my Pim catfish. I have had them for two weeks and they were initially really active zooming around the tank but for the past couple of days they have been hiding at the back of the tank and been really lethargic. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong with them?

Also I have today discovered that my clown loach has white spot and I was going to go the route of increasing the temperature gradually to get rid of it, will this be ok for the other fish. I have:

1 silver shark
1 gibbicep
1 bristlenose plec
2 pim cat fish
1 clown loach

it is a 240 litre tank which has been up and running for aprox 3 weeks.

I did a partial water change nearly a week ago as instructed by my LFS and I have added plenty of bacteria to get the tank going. I have now added some treatment to reduce amonia etc in case it is something in the water but it is to soon to know if that has worked.

I'm starting to think LFS is not the best place for advice on what fish to start with.

Also my Plec seems to have changed colour he's gone from a light olive colour to a really dark green, is that normal, whereas my gibbicep has gone pale.

Please can anyone help. Am I killing my fish??

Thanks Sarah.

 

[drobbyb]

Sarah, when was the tank first set up. See, bacteria have to develop in the filtration seytem so that the ammonia (fish waste) will be broken down properly. If you set the tank up and added fish right away, you may be in what is called a fish-in cycle.

Basicailly, bacteria need to develop (usually 4 to 6 weeks after setup) so that the ammonia, which is toxic to fish, can get broken down before it has done any harm.

More information can be found here.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Sez.
As DrobbyB said, you will likely be in a fish in cycle situation. It is fairly common because folks naturally trust the local fish shop, LFS, to give them good advice. Here is the problem. A fish produces ammonia in two ways at all times. Their respiration, using their gills, releases ammonia into the water directly. The waste material from their digestive process also decomposes to produce some more ammonia. Unfortunately, ammonia is toxic to fish at very low levels. In order to control ammonia long term, a bacterial colony becomes established in your filter that can convert ammonia to nitrites and leave you with no measurable ammonia. Now the bad news. Nitrites are just as bad for the fish as ammonia so we also need to remove them. The way we like to remove nitrites is again to take advantage of a bacterial colony that will convert nitrites to nitrates. Now the good news, fish can tolerate fairly high levels of nitrates. We do weekly water changes to remove nitrates and keep levels at no more than about 20 ppm above the tap water values.
Now to your situation. You do not have established colonies of ammonia oxidizing bacteria, AOB, or nitrite oxidizing bacteria, NOB. So what can you do to keep your fish safe? You do large, at least 30% water changes to bring the chemicals under control. Using a liquid type test kit, like the API master freshwater test kit, you measure ammonia and nitrites and you do water changes so that both poisons are kept below 0.25 ppm, sometimes listed as 0.25 mg/l depending on the kit. By doing daily testing and large water changes, you prevent a build of poisons that results in fish acting lethargic at first and dying outright if not corrected.
Unless you have the needed test kit, I would do an emergency 50% water change using a proper dechlorinator for the new water. Once you get the kit you can judge how much water to change but, until then, do a daily precautionary 50% daily water change.

P.S. There is a link to the fish-in cycle in my signature area. The issue is common enough for me to drag that link around with me.

 

[sez2212]

Thanks very much for you help. I will get some more bacteria at the weekend and do another 30% water change. It's going to take some getting used to. I think I will stick to looking up stuff on here if I need help rather than asking at the lfs.

 

[Marve99]

Hi Sarah

Most people tend not to rate the bacteria in a bottle -some have had sucess but they seem few and far between. Check out the list of people willing to donate filter media as this will give you a far better chance of cycling quicker.

I have recently completed a fish in cycle, and was changing water daily (sometimes twice a day) to keep ammonia levels down. Addding chemicals to get rid of ammonia can be counter productive as the bacteria will need some ammonia to eat,

no ammonia=no bacteria= no cycling of filter

Test your water twice a day
Change your water as oldman said keeping ammonia and nitrites below 0.25 PPM

Good luck

 

[Forestpisces]

I'd re-home your gibby plec, they grow to be huge and i don't think your tank could handle one, their waste levels are also huge which is not good for a fish in cycle.