confusion
Fishaholic
I have 3 pineapple swordtails (1 male, 2 females) that I bought 3 days ago. They are in my 10G quarentine tank, along with a male and female black swordtail, a dwarf gourami and 2 otos. I acclimated them for over an hour when I brought them home before releasing them. None of the pinapples have eaten anything or even shown the slightest interest in eating.
The 2 black swordtails are eating well and getting along fine, as is the gourami and the otos. One of the pineapples has the vertical fin on her back clamped down. The few times she has unclamped it, I noticed a small cotton like patch on the fin. I believe that is columnaris, correct?
All of the pineapples seem pretty lethargic, though they seem to become more active after I turn the lights off, still not eating as far as I can tell, though. The male is pretty much just minding his own business, whereas he would normally be bugging the snot out of the females. The one with the fuzz is mostly hanging out at the top of the water, primarily behind the water return from the filter.
Anyhow, the other 2 swordtails have no visible ailments. I'm concerned because I've had swordtails in the past and they've all died within a few days of bringing them home - and not eating was my first indication something was wrong with them before. I went to a different LFS to get these ones (after waiting a few months), hoping that I would have better luck.
My water parameters are nominal - 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, <10 nitrates. I've been doing 20% to 50% water changes per day. The tank is moderately planted with a few places to hide.
My questions are these:
Should I pull out the swordtail with the fuzz and treat it with some maracyn?
Is there a common problem with new fish that will prevent them from eating? (keeping in mind that these fish went through the very same acclimation process as the black swordtails, the otos and the gourami, who are all doing well)
Other suggestions?
My intention is to move them into my 55G tank, but I don't want to do that until I reasonably sure they're not sick. At the same time, I feel like part of their problem may be that they feel cramped in the 10G....
The 2 black swordtails are eating well and getting along fine, as is the gourami and the otos. One of the pineapples has the vertical fin on her back clamped down. The few times she has unclamped it, I noticed a small cotton like patch on the fin. I believe that is columnaris, correct?
All of the pineapples seem pretty lethargic, though they seem to become more active after I turn the lights off, still not eating as far as I can tell, though. The male is pretty much just minding his own business, whereas he would normally be bugging the snot out of the females. The one with the fuzz is mostly hanging out at the top of the water, primarily behind the water return from the filter.
Anyhow, the other 2 swordtails have no visible ailments. I'm concerned because I've had swordtails in the past and they've all died within a few days of bringing them home - and not eating was my first indication something was wrong with them before. I went to a different LFS to get these ones (after waiting a few months), hoping that I would have better luck.
My water parameters are nominal - 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, <10 nitrates. I've been doing 20% to 50% water changes per day. The tank is moderately planted with a few places to hide.
My questions are these:
Should I pull out the swordtail with the fuzz and treat it with some maracyn?
Is there a common problem with new fish that will prevent them from eating? (keeping in mind that these fish went through the very same acclimation process as the black swordtails, the otos and the gourami, who are all doing well)
Other suggestions?
My intention is to move them into my 55G tank, but I don't want to do that until I reasonably sure they're not sick. At the same time, I feel like part of their problem may be that they feel cramped in the 10G....
/article.discusnews.com/cat-02/columnaries.shtml
we have 3 pineapple swordtails and after a suggestion by wilder (thanks ) we give them peas every couple of days , they may eat that , or try some brine shrimp as its one of their favourite snacks 
