Is Something Wrong?

[alex_6169]

I bought my first tank (70L) about 3 days ago. I have 6 platys in there (2F, 4M - looking at getting more F soon) and obviously the tank isnt cycled yet.

Fish have all been fine until this morning I couldnt find one of the males. After a bit of hunting I found him hiding in an ornament and all mornign he has kept going back into ornaments to hide. When I encourage him to venture out (by finding his hiding spot) it doesnt appear like he is harassed by any of the other fish. He just looks lethargic and un-sociable.

What should I look for? Could it be disease or water quality etc?

Thanks

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Alex.
It is most likely to be water quality. After 3 days in a new tank, the ammonia levels in your tank will have started to build up. By now you should be doing daily water changes to try to keep the ammonia levels in your tank at less than 0.25 ppm maximum. If you don't already have a liquid test kit, start with 30% daily water changes until you can get one to start the testing and adjust the amount of water change. The water change needs to be with dechlorinated water only and that water should be at about the same temperature as the water in your tank. For more details on doing a fish-in cycle, see the link in my signature.

 

[Amunet]

Since it's only been 3 days, I would take the fish back and do a fishless cycle. There is a sticky thread here that explains everything you'll need and how to do it.
I know it's so tempting to get fish right away (most of us have done it), but the best thing you could do, would be to take those fish back to the store, and fishless cycle your tank.

 

[alex_6169]

Can I add all the dechlorinator in the first bucket then put straight tap water in with the next couple of buckets into the tank?

 

[Spishkey]

i change the water the add the required amount of dechlorinator into the tank. other people i know add it into each bucketful. i just find it easier my way as i dint have to keep measuring out bits for each bucket full. i pour it in my the filter outlet pipe so it gets mixed in well.

 

[Amunet]

I put a dose in to each bucket. I don't bother measuring. Just put in a capful, add water to bucket, pour bucket in to tank. I'd probably save alot more dechlorinator if I did measure it out properly though, but I'm impatient heh

 

[Jazzzz]

you have two many males you should keep between 2-3 females per male or the males will fight causing them to become stressed and hide. ALso your tank is not ready for fish at 3 days old. take the poor fish back and do a fishless cycle or water change every day. Also add a small cave the frightend fish can use it as refuge works for me here. good luck

 

[alex_6169]

I have some ornaments in there with good hiding spots. I am adding a thing to speed up the cycling process (Stress Zyme). I know there is debate about whether these actually work or not, but lets not get into that again. I have done a couple of water changes and the fish seems fine now (well it did before I did the change actually, but still fine now). There doesnt appear to be any fighting or bullying either, and the male which was chasing one female seems to have stopped... Well they have when I look at them anyway

 

[waterdrop]

You can do a water change (say 50%) as soon as an hour after the previous water change in either of your levels looking like it might go above 0.25ppm. Two of the common liquid-reagent based test kits used a lot here on TFF are the Nutrafin Mini-Master (the one they sell in Europe that has the nitrate test included) and the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Either of these should give you the accuracy you'll need for your AM and PM tests. Test strips are not worth the paper they are printed on and may be misleading.

When or where you add the dechlor should not matter much in the least, but I would recommend you do in fact measure fairly carefully and use the correct amount or a small amount more. In a mature setup like Amunet has, the extra dechlor won't matter at all, but when a tank is cycling and you are trying to grow the right two species of bacteria, you won't want excess dechlor as there are indications in inhibits their growth.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[alex_6169]

Thanks for that. The dechlor says 5ml to remove chlorine or 10ml to coat fish and proteect them or something like that, so I figured I couldnt really "overdose" without being careless, but it makes sense that it might inhibit bacteria growth...

 

[LauraFrog]

A lot of the dechlorinator products have lots of other flash stuff in them as well. They are great to use in certain circumstances but when you are cycling a tank, the last thing you want to do is stuff around with the water chemistry. I'd add the minimum amount.

If you are adding a bacteria product, the best ones to look for are Bactinettes (UK) Biospira (USA) and Aquarium Science Ecostart (Australia). These are reported to work a lot of the time. Bactinettes and Biospira are refrigerated, Ecostart is freeze dried. They all have a relatively short shelf life, if they were made more than six months ago they are likely to be useless. This goes for the other products as well, even the most beneficial available are not any good if they have been sitting on a shelf for two years. There is nothing alive in them.

If you want to keep your fish the best thing you could do would be to get as much filter media from a mature tank as possible and whack it in your tank. Six platies in a 70L tank should be fine as long as you don't get any more fish until it is well and truly cycled. Do lots of water changes. It would be better to return the fish, but if a fishless cycle is impossible (ie you can't get ammonia) then you might as well keep them. Adding bacteria supplements to a tank without an ammonia source present (fish or a human tipping in ammonia from a bottle) is doing nothing except wasting bacteria supplements.

Platies don't fight. They are some of the most peaceful fish known to the hobby. I'm hooked on them, they are really lovely fish. I have never, ever seen them fighting except when kept in really tiny tanks without any personal space. You were probably watching the mating dance.