My Yellow Lab

[kirkii121]

I bought 2 yellow labs from my local pet store on sunday and one of them from monday morning has been laying on the bottom of the tank on its side motionless it has had the occasional swim, but today all it has done is lay there behind rocks and not moved! The other fish is fine but this one seems to be not well in some way. Please can somone tell me what is wrong with the fish and is it goin to die if they can?? Could it be just from the move?? I have a pic to show you what the fish lays like. Sorry bout the bad quality

 

[Miss Wiggle]

uh oh, i'm sorry but he sounds like he's well past the point of recovery

can you please give us the following info

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

 

[kirkii121]

uh oh, i'm sorry but he sounds like he's well past the point of recovery

can you please give us the following info

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

My tank sie is 36x18x18

The tank temp is 79f

We do a 50% water change every week

I am not sure on the
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:

As we have not tested it yet

The fish has just been laying on its side not moving it has found a hiding place behind a rock where the other fish cant really get to it. Its still its bright colour yellow which it has since we bought it.

I have in my tank
1 jack dempsey
2 Convicts one male one female
2 red zebra's
2 powder blue
2 yellow labs
1 pleck
1 oscar

The only thing we have added to the tank is a spoonfull of bicarbonate soda mixed with half a pint of warm water as thats what we got told to do as the fish started banging themselves off things (this was before we bought the labs)


I hope this helps a bit more!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

how long have you had the tank? what did you do before adding fish, did you cycle the tank?

when you say the fish were banging off things, was this like flicking and rubbing against ornaments, did they also get white spots on their body, looks like grains of sand?

i suspect the tank was not cycled before getting fish. read the link in my sig what's cycling which should explain more.

you need to get test results particularly for ammonia and nitrite, i suspect the levels are way over what they should be and this is causing your fish to get ill and die.

you will need to re-home some of the fish,

the oscar gets too big for your tank

the plec may well do

you've got a mixture of african and south american cichlids which is bad as they have different water requirements and can't live together

i'd recommend you take all the fish back to the shop, read up on fishless cycling and fish comaptibility and start over again and do it properly.

 

[kirkii121]

how long have you had the tank? what did you do before adding fish, did you cycle the tank?

when you say the fish were banging off things, was this like flicking and rubbing against ornaments, did they also get white spots on their body, looks like grains of sand?

i suspect the tank was not cycled before getting fish. read the link in my sig what's cycling which should explain more.

you need to get test results particularly for ammonia and nitrite, i suspect the levels are way over what they should be and this is causing your fish to get ill and die.

you will need to re-home some of the fish,

the oscar gets too big for your tank

the plec may well do

you've got a mixture of african and south american cichlids which is bad as they have different water requirements and can't live together

i'd recommend you take all the fish back to the shop, read up on fishless cycling and fish comaptibility and start over again and do it properly.

When we got the tank about 2 month ago we set it all up and put the filter, heater and all the ornaments and rocks in and left it for about 2 weeks and then tested the water the water was all fine so we bought the pair of convicts, 2 powder blue, 2 red zebra's we have had the pleck oscar and jack dempset for about 2 weeks and they all seem to be gettin on fine Until about a week ago they were flicking them selfs off the ornaments and thats when we got told off a fish expert at the shop to put a spoonfull of bicarbonate of soda mixed with warm water they havent got any white spots on them that look like grains of sand but since puttin that soda in they havent been doin it as much now. Iam actually gettin rid of the oscar but the plec is only a little one for now but as soon as it grows more bigger i shall find another home for it. And we are also puttin the 2 convicts into another tank of there own ithin the next few weeks. I shall look at ur link for the cycling now Thanks

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah tank definatley wasn't cycled before adding fish then

after 2 months it's debatable weather it is still cycling or not.

you need to get a test kit or take some tank water to the lfs and get readings for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as a minimum

bicarb of soda will only buffer up your water and make it harder, won't get rid of disease, i suspect you've been told to do that as the african cichlids prefer it, however the other cichlids don't so it's not a wise move. not a wise move to keep them together at all tbh.

 

[kirkii121]

yeah tank definatley wasn't cycled before adding fish then

after 2 months it's debatable weather it is still cycling or not.

you need to get a test kit or take some tank water to the lfs and get readings for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as a minimum

bicarb of soda will only buffer up your water and make it harder, won't get rid of disease, i suspect you've been told to do that as the african cichlids prefer it, however the other cichlids don't so it's not a wise move. not a wise move to keep them together at all tbh.

I shall be gettin a testing kit today but the person that works in the store said that all these fish would go together And with the tank at the start with settin it all up and letting the filter and heater run for a few weeks and the putting the fish in after the few weeks this was all told by the man that works in the fish store I shall post my water reading later on today when i get a kit Thank you for your help miss wiggle!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no problem

the link in my sig 'how to work out stocking lists' will explain how to work out for yourself what fish go together

 

[tled6448]

Does your fish look like he is hurt? The other fish may have attacked him. Did you move around the decorations before adding the new fish to your tank? If you didn't that might be why.
The grainy sand on their scales is velvet. The yellow labs may have gotten the velvet from the other fish.

 

[kirkii121]

Does your fish look like he is hurt? The other fish may have attacked him. Did you move around the decorations before adding the new fish to your tank? If you didn't that might be why.
The grainy sand on their scales is velvet. The yellow labs may have gotten the velvet from the other fish.

The fish doesnt look hurt although a few have had a nibble since it has been laid on the side i think they thought it may have been food. Everytime i have got new fish i always move the ornaments round so the other fish are not to bothered about the new fish they just try and find there new hiding place! I have told the pet shop today what is wrong with the fish and they said its the nitrate and have given me some solution to go into the tank so hopefully the fish may not sie or it will stop the other fish from becoming like this!! Thanks for all your help!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

how do they know it's nitrate? did they test your water? it's highly unlikely to be nitrate, nitrate levels of up to 100ppm have been proved to be safe for most aquarium fishes, however levels of even 0.001ppm of ammonia can carry a significant threat.

what have the fish shop sold you? adding chemicals to diulte these levels is a bad idea. it gives a false reading and you then can't work out what the problem is.