I am new to this hobby and new to this forum. I have been running into many issues with my new setup. Please help me and my fish! I have noticed that the more info/details I provide the better everyone can help me so I apologize in advance for the length of this!
I did a fishless cycle from January to February using Seachem stability. I then added 5 neon tetras and 10 ghost shrimp. Immediately lost 4 neons and I didn’t have a test kit so I waited until the end of March to add more fish making sure that the tank stayed stable. My lonely neon and ghost shrimp were doing well for awhile so The third week of March I added 5 more neon tetras, 3 pristella tetras, and 1 Serpae tetra. The neons and pristella came from the tanks at petco. The Serpae is full grown and was donated to petco the night I picked up the others so the nice lady at the store gave him to me for free. I brought them all home acclimated them and then added them to the tank. I lost two neons quickly. The Serpae refuses to eat. I’m feeding them several different types of food but her will not eat. Shortly after adding I noticed the Serpae was “flashing/flicking” against driftwood and ripped the skin covering his gills off. Then an outbreak of Ich followed. I’ve been treating the tank with Ich-x following instructions exactly since Monday 4/4. I caught it early so I stopped seeing the symptoms and white dots quickly 4/7. Even though the fish are more active I continued dosing to make sure it is gone. I woke up this morning Saturday 4/9 to find my neon tetras in bad shape. 3 hiding at the bottom and one almost at the water surface. Look like nipped tails/fins? And one with an eye injury.. I’m new to this so I’m not sure if these are injuries or rot and Popeye? Using the template below for all the tank specifics
Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 55 gallon
How long has the tank been running? January 2022
Does it have a filter? Auqeon quietflow 30 and 50. Using Amazon filter pads and ammonia remover and phosphate remover pads
Does it have a heater? Marineland precision 200 watt
What is the water temperature? I was keeping it between 76-78 until 4/5/22 when I bumped the temp to 85-86 fighting Ich with Ich-x
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) 7 Anubias plants, 2 floating moss balls, 7 ghost shrimp, 4 neon tetras, 3 pristella tetras, and 1 Serpae tetra. Serpae is the only full grown in tank.
Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Once a week until Ich outbreak. Daily changes since a 4/5
How much of the water do you change? 30-50%
What do you use to treat your water? Seachem stability, flourish for plants and Acurel products for water treatment slime coating etc.
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Vacuum substrate weekly
*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes
What do you use to test the water? API master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20-30 (well water from tap has 20 ppm so I haven’t been able to get it lower than this
pH: 7.8
these parameters have been consistent. Check daily since I’ve added the new fish and they have not changed a bit.
Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Once a day
How much do you feed your fish? Small pinch
What brand of food do you feed your fish? I have been trying several different brands/types ( fluval bug bites, tetramin tropical flakes, and frozen brine shrimp) attempting to get the Serpae to eat but no luck
Do you feed frozen? Yes, thaw it in aquarium water before feeding.
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? Yes
I also tried soaking in garlic… still no luck with the Serpae. He will chase the food, pull it in and spit it out. The pieces are too small to for him to just be “nibbling” little by little.
Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? About 2 -3 weeks
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? Different symptoms throughout entire time owning them
to sum this up… the Ich seems to have cleared up but what is going on with my neon tetras? How do I get my Serpae to eat? Also forgot to mention I have never had this problem before but my water is all of a sudden super cloudy! how do I fix this? and any comments/concerns/suggestions on anything I’m doing or not doing to make this less of a headache and more enjoyable for me? Thank you everyone in advance for your help!
I did a fishless cycle from January to February using Seachem stability. I then added 5 neon tetras and 10 ghost shrimp. Immediately lost 4 neons and I didn’t have a test kit so I waited until the end of March to add more fish making sure that the tank stayed stable. My lonely neon and ghost shrimp were doing well for awhile so The third week of March I added 5 more neon tetras, 3 pristella tetras, and 1 Serpae tetra. The neons and pristella came from the tanks at petco. The Serpae is full grown and was donated to petco the night I picked up the others so the nice lady at the store gave him to me for free. I brought them all home acclimated them and then added them to the tank. I lost two neons quickly. The Serpae refuses to eat. I’m feeding them several different types of food but her will not eat. Shortly after adding I noticed the Serpae was “flashing/flicking” against driftwood and ripped the skin covering his gills off. Then an outbreak of Ich followed. I’ve been treating the tank with Ich-x following instructions exactly since Monday 4/4. I caught it early so I stopped seeing the symptoms and white dots quickly 4/7. Even though the fish are more active I continued dosing to make sure it is gone. I woke up this morning Saturday 4/9 to find my neon tetras in bad shape. 3 hiding at the bottom and one almost at the water surface. Look like nipped tails/fins? And one with an eye injury.. I’m new to this so I’m not sure if these are injuries or rot and Popeye? Using the template below for all the tank specifics
Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 55 gallon
How long has the tank been running? January 2022
Does it have a filter? Auqeon quietflow 30 and 50. Using Amazon filter pads and ammonia remover and phosphate remover pads
Does it have a heater? Marineland precision 200 watt
What is the water temperature? I was keeping it between 76-78 until 4/5/22 when I bumped the temp to 85-86 fighting Ich with Ich-x
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) 7 Anubias plants, 2 floating moss balls, 7 ghost shrimp, 4 neon tetras, 3 pristella tetras, and 1 Serpae tetra. Serpae is the only full grown in tank.
Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Once a week until Ich outbreak. Daily changes since a 4/5
How much of the water do you change? 30-50%
What do you use to treat your water? Seachem stability, flourish for plants and Acurel products for water treatment slime coating etc.
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Vacuum substrate weekly
*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes
What do you use to test the water? API master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20-30 (well water from tap has 20 ppm so I haven’t been able to get it lower than this
pH: 7.8
these parameters have been consistent. Check daily since I’ve added the new fish and they have not changed a bit.
Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Once a day
How much do you feed your fish? Small pinch
What brand of food do you feed your fish? I have been trying several different brands/types ( fluval bug bites, tetramin tropical flakes, and frozen brine shrimp) attempting to get the Serpae to eat but no luck
Do you feed frozen? Yes, thaw it in aquarium water before feeding.
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? Yes
I also tried soaking in garlic… still no luck with the Serpae. He will chase the food, pull it in and spit it out. The pieces are too small to for him to just be “nibbling” little by little.
Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? About 2 -3 weeks
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? Different symptoms throughout entire time owning them
to sum this up… the Ich seems to have cleared up but what is going on with my neon tetras? How do I get my Serpae to eat? Also forgot to mention I have never had this problem before but my water is all of a sudden super cloudy! how do I fix this? and any comments/concerns/suggestions on anything I’m doing or not doing to make this less of a headache and more enjoyable for me? Thank you everyone in advance for your help!
