Overstocked And White Spot - Help!

[LittleMolly]

Hello,

I would really appreciate any advice. I am a newbie to keeping tropical fish and, after being given some very bad advice from a local aquatics shop, I've just found out that my tank is quite overstocked. The fish are chasing each other, the water is cloudy, and to make things worse, I've just noticed that some have white spot!

I have been making sure that levels of ph, nitrates etc are ok, so that's not a problem at the moment. I have a 54 litre tank with the following:

- one blue gourami
- two black Mollies, one small and one large
- A silver Molly
- one spa doctor fish
- 5 Guppies
- A leopard cory
- 3 Glass catfish
- 3 tiger barbs
- one Plecostomus

They're all quite small at the moment but I realise they will get bigger.

I was planning to pop to the shops first thing in the morning to get some white spot treatment, but what do I do about the overcrowding? I can't take any fish to the store for rehoming as they won't want any with white spot... But I'm worried they will all die soon from being so overcrowded.

Any advice appreciated! Thank you.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Is your tank cycled? How long is it established? Have you tested your water with a liquid test kit? What are your stats? I'd say you need to take two courses of action; (i) 50% water changes with temperature matched dechlorinated water every couple of days at least until you know you're keeping ammonia and nitrite close to zero, and nitrate around 20ppm or below. (ii) treat white spot with appropriate medication; someone on here will be able to advise which brand may be better for your selection of fish. Then once white spot is cleared, look at rehoming/giving away your overstocked fish, after deciding what sort of community you intend to keep. Again, others with more experience can advise best stock for a 50 litre tank, but I believe the Plec will be too large, and the single cory would prefer another 4-5 same species tank mates. I don't know much about the others. Alternatively, buy a second, larger tank, swap over some filter media from your existing tank to expedite a fishless cycle, treat the ich in the smaller tank until it's cleared and the new bigger tank filter is cycled to take some of the larger stock from the 50 litre.

 

[LittleMolly]

Fab, thanks for the advice! Yes I've been testing the water every day and it's fine... Hopefully they will be ok!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I am the bearer of bad news (once again), only two of your fish species are suitable for a 54l, namely your Leopard Corydoras (albeit a 75cm long tank would be better) and your Guppies. Everything else deserves at leat a 4-foot and depending upon what your "Plecostomus" actually is, it could be a 45-60cm SL adult that needs a 6-foot tank.

Long term, I would not be happy housing 5 Guppies and 6 Leopard Corydoras in a 60x30x30cm (54l) tank, that sort of stocking (which is the bare minimum for these two social species) would be more appropriate in a 100l tank or more.

If you have no options but to stick with the 54l, you really should rehome all but your Guppies.

In the short term, to try and keep everyone alive during Ich treatment, you could buy a large volume plastic storage box, I used a £13 ~100l one as a quarantine tank in 2011 and then last year as a temporary home for my ~50 young Lionhead Cichlid fry.

Alternatively, scour the local ads here, Aquarist Classified; Gumtree; Ebay etc. to find a bargain second-hand tank. Most of my tanks came via this option, a 620T for £20; 48x12x15 for £25; 48x17x22 for £50; 60x24x24 for £51; 72x18x18 for £62.

While treating the Ich, water quality must come above the medication, to know the water quality you need a liquid test kit and not inaccurate test strips. With your heavily overstocked setup, you should be doing 2 or even 3 50% water changes each week IMO, which in the middle of a Ich treatment like Protozin means you need to conpensate for meds removed during water changes in the middle of the treatment (so if you remove 50% water after two day's doses, you need to add 50% of 2 day's doses back in the fresh water).