Painted Glass Fish

[Samantha S]

I am new to the fish world. My Dad has been working with fish for as long as I can remember.
I bought some painted glass fish a few months ago. One of the four I have has always been, in a way, anti-social Today I noticed she had gotten herself stuck in a plant. I freed her and she was incredibly disoriented. She's now laying on the gravel in the back of the tank. I know there isn't much I can do, but does anyone have any ideas what is going on?

Thanks for the help in advanced
-Samantha

 

[Verminator89]

First off how can you willingly, and knowingly buy dyed fish

It be wrong i tell thee!

Enough said personally...

 

[Samantha S]

In my defense I did not know. The guy at the store said it was natural and all that.
After I had bought them I was told otherwise. I refuse to buy anymore unnatural colored fish. I agree 100% that coloring fish is wrong.

Is there anything I can do to give my other fish the best life possible and prevent them from dying like the fish I posted about originally?

 

[Verminator89]

We've all made mistakes and i think every one of us has had a shop tell us one thing and it be total lies. As long as your not in favour of them

Have you got a water test kit, better to get a decent one to a cheap looking one as alot of test kits are useless. If not go get one, you can find them on eBay for about £30, that'll last you about a year. Others can guid eon you on which ones to use personally. Its worth getting pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings from your tank. This'll tell you whats wrong with your water, if anything.

Untill you get a test kit the only thing you can do to save the ill fish potentially, or prevent others from falling ill, is to perform 20-30% water changes weekly, maybe 10-15% twice a week. If you have an airstone use that, as it'll increase the O2 in your water which is better for healing fish.

Post your results from any water tests on here for others to see, and they can better guide you. Also, any reputable LFS will test your water either for free, or for a small fee

Hope this helps, James

 

[Samantha S]

The guy also sold me fish with ich and one with fin rott.
One of the dorsal fins on her went missing. I don't know how or when. But she started swimming like she was having difficulty balancing.
We got rid of the ich and the fish that has fin rot won't eat the medicine.
Although the original fish I posted about did not have fin rott. That I could tell at least.

 

[Verminator89]

An unfortunate but common thing with dyed fish is that they nearly alwways have ich, and/or fin rot. No idea why but its a common link with all dyed fish seemingly. Must be something to do with being stabbed with a hypodermic needle and injected with dye Poor fish. Anywho, get treatments that you just add to the water column, that way the fish won't have to "eat" it per se, they just take it through respiration.

Keep the oxygen count high in your tank as i said, use an air stone Don't over do it because air stones raise the pH, but you need to get extra oxygen into the water to help the fish. Sounds like a really dodgy fish shop you got your fish from. No shop should ever sell fish with ich, you just dont do it. They should be quarentined within the shop if they're ill. In not doing so they themselves are spreading a parasite around peoples tanks - that's appalling.

 

[Curiosity101]

Keep the oxygen count high in your tank as i said, use an air stone Don't over do it because air stones raise the pH, but you need to get extra oxygen into the water to help the fish.

The only reason that it would raise the pH is if it drives CO2 out. Although this is true that it may drive off a little bit of CO2 it's not enough that it's worth mentioning with regards to pH.

However I do agree with the rest. I'd suggest you get some medication to treat bacterial infections and make sure there is plenty of water movement, you could position the filter outlet so it's only just under the surface of the water as this should help create some turbulence.

Also what are your water stats? I would never normally suggest medicating for fin rot as normally clean water should fix it and bad water tends to cause it. But since they were dyed they could easily have caught a bacterial infection so even clean water may not clear it.

Where abouts are you based? UK, US etc?

 

[Samantha S]

I did a 30 % water change and tested the water. Everything was pretty mujch where it should be. The Ph level was a little higher than it should be so we put some Ph down in. The water was hard but it's always like that here. We can't fix it, it's how our town is
I live in Southern California. Near L.A.

The other fish seem to be doing well. None of them seem sick o lethargic

 

[Curiosity101]

I wouldn't bother with pH down. It only gives short term results and is more likely to cause a pH swing that would hurt the fish rather than give them conditions they would prefer.
If you really want to alter the pH then try something a bit more permenant like putting some bogwood into the tank. You still have to bear in mind though that the pH will swing upwards when you do a water change. So you might just want to accept your water is hard and either pick fish that aren't fussy or stick to high pH fish.

Definitely try an anti bacterial med like maracyn and see how they do.