issues....

[crysredd]

Today as I was doing a partial water change I noticed that 2 zebra danios have bigger bellies than when I noticed this last. Could this be a health issue or simply a female having to lay eggs?

Also is it safe to do more than a 25% water change (i.e. 50%)? I am having issues with cloudiness and excrement. I am vaccuming gravel and stirring up a significant amount of fish poop and would like to rid the tank of as much of that as possible. As for the cloudiness I don't think I feed them too much - twice daily from a measured timed feeder.

I am grateful for any help.

Thank you.



Crystal

 

[sylvia]

Do as many water changes as you feel necessary (only with de-chlorinated water though) - just don't vacuum ALL the gravel and don't change the filter media or rinse it in tap water or you'll kill all the beneficial bacteria. Always leave some water in the tank though The danios should be fine It's either full bellies, eggs, or just the typical deeper-bodied females. If you are having issues you may have a problem How many fish do you have altogether and in what size tank? How much does the feeder feed them - they would be better off eating only once per day and a very small amount... imagine their stomach to be about 2/3 the size of this smiley : and the food should dissapear within a couple of minutes - remove any extra food... Lastly, what are your water parameters like and is this tank cycled?

 

[crysredd]

Sylvia,

Thank you for your fast response. I 've included my parameters in my signature. (10 gallon tank) The tank was cycled initially before we got any fish (for about 10 days).

The feeder is set for every 12 hours so I can't control that right now but I am sure it is a small amount of food.

Thanks again,
Crystal

 

[gale]

I'm no expert, but I think you have waaaaay too many fish in your tank. Also, by water parameters she is talking about ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc levels.

As for cycling, I don't think you can cycle a fishless tank in 10 days unless you add food or ammonia.

twice a day seems like a lot. I feed mine every other day, usually, with an occasional feeding on the off day. I have live plants so they do nibble on those sometimes.

eta: also, you have some pretty aggressive fish in there (tiger barbs, chinese algae eaters) with peaceful fish. That might be an issue.

 

[crysredd]

I figured all of that ...but when the guy at the store tell you its all ok then you (as a newbie) believe him. I think I am going to have to make some changes.

 

[sylvia]

These fish in a 10 gallon deffinately make it over-stocked:
3 tiger barbs
3 zebra danios
5 neon tetras
2 wagtail platys
2 gourami (type?)
2 chinese algae eaters

Firstly, zebra danios need a 20 gallon tank minimum to be happy and should be in a shoal of at least 5.
Tiger barbs are aggressive, they should also be kept in a larger tank and in a shoal of at least 7 to reduce aggression. They will nip your gouramies.
Unless the platies are both male or both female, you will have problems with fry and/or a stressed-out female.
Gouramies can be aggressive towards one another, especialy males and I suppose you have dwarfs. A male and female would be ok but most likely you have 2 males. Could you describe the gouramies?
You deffinately need to get rid of these CHINESE 'algae eaters', besides not being chinese, are also NOT algae eaters for long - they will get very large for your tank, aggressive, territorial and will most likely feed off your other fish

I would suggest taking out all the fish except (possibly) the gouramies (describe them first), the 2 platies and the 5 neon tetras. This would still be *slightly* over-stocked but manageable.

Most likely the cause of your problems is this huge number of incompatible fish. Do you test your water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and pH? This is very important. You could take a water sample to your LFS and ask them to do it for you but you are better off buying your own test kits. If you do go to your LFS, ask for the exact results not just a 'it's fine' or 'perfect'!

I personaly doubt you cycled the tank... what did you do? If you just left it to run for a week like so many LFSs suggest, the tank is NOT cycled and you now probably have huge amounts of lethal ammonia in the tank. If you added pure ammonia or used fish food, you are probably half-way through the cycle and the only way of knowing is to test...

 

[crysredd]

I completely understand and am going to look into this. Perhaps a larger tank and definately getting rid of the chinese algae eaters - BUT what boggles my mind is ...

- how do fish stores have like 20-30 maybe even 40 fish in a relatively small (10-20 gal) tank while keeping it healthy and clear?

 

[gale]

I completely understand and am going to look into this. Perhaps a larger tank and definately getting rid of the chinese algae eaters - BUT what boggles my mind is ...

- how do fish stores have like 20-30 maybe even 40 fish in a relatively small (10-20 gal) tank while keeping it healthy and clear?

I always wonder about that too.

 

[kev_kb]

As the fish will hopefully not be in the LFS long they are put into such small tanks as a temporary solution, just to hold them before you come and buy them. The LFS will have much better filtration on their tanks than you do at home most likely so its not a problem waste wise. Even with a home tank the filter will most likely cope with a lot more fish than the tank should have in it...

 

[jflowers]

Most lfs have a huge filter that deals with all or some tanks in one. One of my local lfs has five big filter systems, one for trop FW, one for African cichlids, one for soft water, one for brackish and the last for marine. Thats how lfs carry so much stock, as well as fish having a high turnover (at mine anyway, went in one day and they had around forty rams in a 20g est. tank, went back a week later and they had two left.

Jon