Old Stress Coat/fin Damage

[Marley]

Hello~I was wondering if it would be okay to use 1 year old stress coat that has been exposed to heat (garage). I have a 30 gallon tank that is a fresh setup. The fish are good start up fish and I was told very resilient. I ran the tank for 4 days before adding fish. I added aquasafe at start up. They are very active and eating well. They have been in about a week and I am noticing some fin damage. I am running an eheim canister filter, water temp is 80ish I am not sure of ph. I have a #1-#2 hagen test kit, I don't know if it's nitrite or nitrate but when I conducted the test the water turned lavender (light)

Thanks~Marley

 

[glolite]

Hi Marley
I'm not sure about the stresscoat you'd probably be best to get fresh. If your nitrite test water has turned lavender then you need to do a water change and check for ammonia too. Lavender indicates nitrite in the water which will poison your fish, I would do a 25% water change and test again. Sounds like your new tank is still in the process of cycling so you need to test daily for ammonia and nitrites and if present keep doing water changes. The fin damage could be due to fish stress due to the water conditions, you may find you lose a few fish at worst.

 

[Marley]

Thanks~I will be getting new test kits today and starting water changes. Do you think I should use stress coat or anything else for the fin damage?

 

[rabbut]

Is there any white fluff over the affected area? If so, you have fin rot. Mild cases will heal with regular waterchanges Torn fins without the fluff could be down to bullying, so can you please tell us what fish and how many you have in the tank?

As Glolite says, you tank won't be cycled, and potentially your fish could be being poisoned at this point in time, as the filter isn't mature yet This is typical of LFS advise, and it realy is a shame that so many fish die each year due to the effects of an imature tank...

To learn how to do a fish-in cycle, read this link; http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/22...ish-in-Cycling/ and then this one; http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...eady-have-fish/

Both those links cover the same stuff, but different way of putting things are clearer for some than others. REading both will hopefully give you the best possible knowlage to attempth a fish-in cycle of your tank

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Marley]

Thanks for your help~no white stuff, I have 1 small blood parrot and two each of the following: silver dollar, rosy tail barb, small cichlids, and two I don't know what they are diamond shaped body gold and orange with vertical black stripes. I did a 25% water change today and one of the unkonwn fish I just described is acting weird. He is swimming around pretty quickly nose down. Also I have my filter outlet let line suspended above the water so it sends an 8" row of bubbles to the bottom of the tank. Is this enough air for them or should I add an air stone? If so, are multiple stones better than one long one?

Thanks~Marley

 

[rabbut]

The most important thing is that there is plenty of surface agetation Believe it or not, air bubles don't add much oxygen; they aren't in contact with the water long enough Watch the food next time you feed, you want to see it going in circles down to the bottom, back to the top and round the edges of the tank. You may need to put the pinch of food below the surface to get it to do that before the fish eat it. Under normal circumstances you'd want all the food to be eaten before hitting the bottom The top to bottom orbiting is most important, as it moves oxygen loaded water down to the fish, and oxygen depleated water to the surface for re-loading

Can you post pic's of the currently un-identified fish please? (small cichlids and the gold and yellow diamond shaped fish) I have an idea as to what each is, but want to be shure before I comment on either

Any chance you have water stats for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH yet? If not, I'd stop feeding completely and do daily 20-50% waterchanges untill you can get a test kit The larger the waterchanges you can do the better at this point realy

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Marley]

Hello~I got the test kit. My ammonia was 0, my Nitrite was off the chart, my nitrate was about 60-80. I have done two 25-30% water changes. Nitrite is still purple but my nitrate has fallen to about 10 and Ammonia has risen too. The fish were doing fine before the water changes, after changes they act a little goofy. Since I had such high Nitrate levels should I have just left it alone to work itself out?

Thanks in advance!
Marley

 

[Marley]

Hello~I got the test kit. My ammonia was 0, my Nitrite was off the chart, my nitrate was about 60-80. I have done two 25-30% water changes. Nitrite is still purple but my nitrate has fallen to about 10 and Ammonia has risen too. The fish were doing fine before the water changes, after changes they act a little goofy. Since I had such high Nitrate levels should I have just left it alone to work itself out?

Thanks in advance!
Marley

 

[backtotropical]

Hi,

No don't leave it alone to sort itself out or your fish will die.

You can effectively forget about nitrate for now. Ammonia and nitrite are the important considerations as both of these can easily kill your fish.

You need to do as many water changes as it takes to get both ammonia and nitrite below 0.25 and keep them there. Also increase the volume of your water changes to around 50%. Don't be scared to do large or frequent water changes as they will only help, especially in the presence of high amounts of nitrite.

Cheers

BTT

 

[rabbut]

Nitrite is dangerous, it lowers the capasity of the fishes blood to carry oxygen. If it were off the chart high, I persnally would have drained the tank down to a point where the fish just had enough water to cover them (arround to 90-95% mark) and then taken things from there. Nitrite is a killer and can kill fast.

At this point you are fish-in cycling. Have a read of the following three links to formiliarise yourself with the process and get an understanding of how to go from here

http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...-tank-syndrome/

http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/22...ish-in-Cycling/

http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...eady-have-fish/

Any questions (as I'm shure there will) after reading that lot, just shoot The main thing is that ammonia and nitrite are kept as low as possible. Is there any ammonia or nitrite in your tap water? You need to be aware of it if so, so you can plan waterchanges arround it

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Marley]

Hello~
Still doing daily 50-75% or more water changes. My tap water may have the tiniest amount of ammonia and no nitrite. Nitrite levels are still very high(purple) but the fish are doing fine. I am feeding only a small amount once a day, poor guys every time I come near the tank they freak out....so hungry. I will just continue doing the changes until nitrite levels come down. Rabbut, Glolite, Backtotropical thank you for your help!

Blessings to all
Marley