Nemos In Trouble!

[SamUK]

Hey guys.


erm, i have a platty that isnt lookin to healthy!



at first i thought it was jus a bit stressed because i only have one female platty and that was already paired up with another male so nemo jus got chased when he went near them.

he started hidin himself away but now its about 2-3 weeks later and i think hes gettin worse.


he doesnt hide so much nemore but doesnt really swim much either. jus kinda wiggles on the spot.

i think hes starting to look a bit bloated too!


my main worry is that the disease (if thats what it is) will spread to my other fish but obviously ill do all i can save nemo along the way!


any ideas on whats up with him?

thanx in advance


PS - im assuming hes male because of the way he USED to try get in with the female platty hehe.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If you can give more info your situation that would be very helpful , like;
a. How many gallons is the tank and how long has it been set up for?
b. How many and what types of fish do you have in there and what genders they are (if possible)?
c. How often and how do you go about tank maintanence(like water changes, cleaning substrate and filter etc)?

 

[SamUK]

If you can give more info your situation that would be very helpful , like;
a. How many gallons is the tank and how long has it been set up for?
b. How many and what types of fish do you have in there and what genders they are (if possible)?
c. How often and how do you go about tank maintanence(like water changes, cleaning substrate and filter etc)?

the tanks 75-80 gallons and its been set up and running about 2 weeks.


i used the water from my 2 smaller aquariums to fill it and 90% of the plants are from my old tanks.

also the gravel is from my old tanks.

in there ive got

2 clown loaches
4 angels - all male i THINK.
16 neon tetras
5 black tetra ( i think)
a pair of neon gourammis
a pair of red honey gourammis
2 dwarf (?) rams - both male (they seem to get on ok tho)
sailfin plec
2 corys
2 red tail black sharks
2 guppies - male and female
4 plattys. 1 definate female (i can only tell that cos theres 4 mini hers swimmin around now lol)

oh and 2 aquatic frogs.

ive jus done the first water change and everyone still seems happy (except nemo). i clean the filter using some water i took out the tank and thats it.

think i should get one of those vacs shudnt i?

hope that helps.

thing is, nemo didnt look to happy then either. think the move jus made it worse.

thanx again.

 

[WILDER]

Sounds like the tank is still cycling, what do you feed the fish.

 

[SamUK]

Sounds like the tank is still cycling, what do you feed the fish.

just normal fish flakes. put some cucumber in there for the plec and fed them with some i think it was blood worm.

mainly for the frogs.

bought the other live food that most LFS have too but cnt remeber the name.


how come the tank cycling only affects the one platty tho?

 

[WILDER]

Can you post water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, i would try some shelled peas he might be constipated, they need a better diet than flakes to many dried foods lead to consipation and swim bladder problems, they need a varied diet of bloodworm,brimestrimp, daphnia etc frozen, veg peas,broc,cabbage, sproats,lettuce, algae tablets livebearers love them, and it fetches there colours out.

 

[SamUK]

ive been taking water to the LFS when i go and they check it. )


ive had a constipated platty before when i fed bloodworm and one of them scoffed loads of it lol.


nemos been like this for a while.

he does move around, hes always in a different place.

jus doesnt look happy at all.

EDIT - could he of been bitten or hurt to cause this?

he did get chased alot before he started hidin cos i only had one female and there was another male with her.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Is the fish's scales sticking out at all?
You should definatly test the water yourself, many lfs's(local fish store's) will tell yo u water quality is "fine" when its actually pretty bad, the most important stats you need to test your water quality for right now are ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes- your tank is cycling, which means the bacteria that lives in your filter which breaks down toxins in the tank, is only just beginning to establish itself in the new filter, and water quality is very unstable- you need to test your water quality at least twice a week during this stage .
Ammonia and nitrites should always be 0 with no exceptions, but in a new/cycling tank they can rise alot, nitrates should be kept under 40 preferably. If ammonia or nitrites rise above 0, nitrates above 40 for that matter, do a 20-30% water change with dechlorinator depending on how bad it is.
If you have some mature/stable tanks, taking a mature filter and running it alongside your new one in your new tank for a week or 2 will help out the cycle alot(of course don't leave the tank you take it from unfiltered with fish in it, you may want to move the stocking as well depending on what you have) .

You should definatly rehome one of the RTBS(red tailed black shark) as they will definatly kill each other, they can be terotorial enough on their own as they mature, and with another rtbs in the tank they will kill each other.
I would not buy anymore fish until you have tested your water quality for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates yourself as you could cause a lethal ammonia/nitrite spike if you add anymore and kill off all your fish.
I would also avoid feeding the platy dried fish foods or high protein ones like bloodworms as well for the mean time, isolate him in a breeding trap(basically a type of large square net you can get and suspend in your tank from your lfs) for a few days to give him a chance to eat and rest and try to feeding him some small quantitys of mushy peas or blanched cucumber.

 

[SamUK]

Is the fish's scales sticking out at all?
You should definatly test the water yourself, many lfs's(local fish store's) will tell yo u water quality is "fine" when its actually pretty bad, the most important stats you need to test your water quality for right now are ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes- your tank is cycling, which means the bacteria that lives in your filter which breaks down toxins in the tank, is only just beginning to establish itself in the new filter, and water quality is very unstable- you need to test your water quality at least twice a week during this stage .
Ammonia and nitrites should always be 0 with no exceptions, but in a new/cycling tank they can rise alot, nitrates should be kept under 40 preferably. If ammonia or nitrites rise above 0, nitrates above 40 for that matter, do a 20-30% water change with dechlorinator depending on how bad it is.
If you have some mature/stable tanks, taking a mature filter and running it alongside your new one in your new tank for a week or 2 will help out the cycle alot(of course don't leave the tank you take it from unfiltered with fish in it, you may want to move the stocking as well depending on what you have) .

You should definatly rehome one of the RTBS(red tailed black shark) as they will definatly kill each other, they can be terotorial enough on their own as they mature, and with another rtbs in the tank they will kill each other.
I would not buy anymore fish until you have tested your water quality for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates yourself as you could cause a lethal ammonia/nitrite spike if you add anymore and kill off all your fish.
I would also avoid feeding the platy dried fish foods or high protein ones like bloodworms as well for the mean time, isolate him in a breeding trap(basically a type of large square net you can get and suspend in your tank from your lfs) for a few days to give him a chance to eat and rest and try to feeding him some small quantitys of mushy peas or blanched cucumber.

cnt find him now to double check (tank has alot of hiding places) but i think there was a couple of fins on his belly that were spiked up, but only a couple.

ill have to get a water testing kit in sometime soon then. try get one before xmas.

i left the... is it called media? filter and lil bag of carbon from my other 2 pumps in the tank and ive only jus taken them out so hopefully that helped.

im settin up another tank at xmas, ill put one of the rtbs in that tank.

wont be buying anymore fish.

if the platty does have a disease or sumfin. is it one that could spread easily?


thanx for the advice!!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Does the platys scales look like this(sticking out on end);

http/www.fishpalace.org/dropsy_qianhu.jpg

? If so your fish has dropsy, this can be brought on by a number of things- water quality issues, constipation, bacterial infections etc...
Feed the platy some vegetable based foods and keep up with the water changes, use an anti bacterial med like Primafix or Melafix and treat the tank with a 70% dose of either...Dropsy is difficult to treat and meds can be stressful, the least thing you want to do is put the fish under anymore stress so make sure water quality is keep as clean as posible and don't chuck in a full dose of meds to start with, the dropsy may take up to a fortnight to recover(if it survives that long).
The benefical bacteria that lives in your filter which breaks down toxins needs 2 main things to survive and grow;
a. A constant source of ammonia(i.e fish poop) to eat and break down,
b. A constant source of water flowing over it to give it oxygen to survive and to help bring in ammonia as well.
Im not quite sure what you mean when you said you took the filter media out and put it in your cycling tank- wether you mean you took the whole mature filter out and started to run it alongside your new one, or put the mature media in the new filter, or simply plonked the media in the tank by itself?
If you are going to use anti bacterial meds(which i advise you do) i suggest you remove the carbon from filter in the tank as the carbon is there to remove meds in the tank and if you keep it in the tank the meds won't be able to work .