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Zebra Danio Sick ,newer Tank

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Nikki65

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Hi I have a 36 gal bow front kit that I started in September 2011

It has gravel ,plastic plants ,a piece of wood purchases from aquarium store,three statues (\aquarium store)
and one live plant (java fern purchased 2 weeks ago.)

Fish : 4 platies ,5 zebra danios ,5 julii cories, (3 platie fry in bredding tank)

water changes weekly about 34-40 litres.

Water temperature is about 25-26 Celsius.


There is a little bit of brown algae in the tank (cleaned the sides with sponge scrubber)

I just changed water yesterday (34l)



Water was today .

Ammonio, Nitrites and Nitrates: 0
pH: 7.6


I have the filter that came with the kit,but no Air pump,which I am planning on buying this weekend.


I am feeding Aqueon tropical Flakes and also bought a topfin small freeze dried medley two weeks ago (contains mysis shrimp,daphnia,bloodworm),
which I feed maybe 2x a week.
plus a bottom pellet for the cories.


All fish have been doing well until just now.

Yesterday I noticed one Danio constantly swimming into the current of the filter .(like he was enjoying the water current?)


Since last afternoon one of the danios (I don't know if it is the same one) has been hangin around on the bottom ,along statues or plants.

He doesn't eat and had problems staying upright ,sometimes swimming sideways ,or 90 degrees sideways
when swimming.

Unfortunately I do not have a hospital tank yet, I am thinking of going out and buying one today, but I am also worried it might shocked him .

From what I can see from "the distance" he appears normal,not bloated ,maybe a bit thin ? Not sure.


I am not sure what to do with him,but I am afraid he might die or maybe others will fall ill.

Please help !
 
Hi..and welcome to the forum... :good:

a few things strike me.

you said you started the tank in September.. How did you cycle your Tank?

You said you cleaned the Algae off with a sponge scrubber?? Can you give details of this..as some sponges contain chemicals dangerous to fish.

ammonia : 0.5 (0.0-0.25 mg/l)

Which is the right result? Anything over 0 is toxic to fish, how often are you testing?

think a bigger W/C is in order.


If your danio was "normal" looking to begin with..then he is probably poorly. I would strongly suggest getting a hospital tank. As it will stop any of the others getting sick too (IF it is Contagious)

I'm not really experienced enough yet to give a diagnosis..but i'm sure someone will be along soon with advise.
have you googled?

Hope you get some answers soon.
 
Hi and Thanks :)

I cycled the tank by starting with the 5 Danios,as they told me in the pet store .

I also used the Nutrafin Cycle supplement

(I add a little after water changes as well )



For the sponge. I bought this in the aquarium supplies and had it for some time now (about 1 month after buying the kit)


Is there a link for starting a hospital tank ?

Hope I can save my Danio ?!

Thanks
 
Nikki65 said:
Hi and Thanks :)

I cycled the tank by starting with the 5 Danios,as they told me in the pet store .

I also used the Nutrafin Cycle supplement

(I add a little after water changes as well )



For the sponge. I bought this in the aquarium supplies and had it for some time now (about 1 month after buying the kit)


Is there a link for starting a hospital tank ?

Hope I can save my Danio ?!

Thanks
Click to expand...
how long ago did you start with the danios?

Cycles in a bottle are useless im afraid...you are now in a Fish In cycle..have a look in the beginners section, where you will find lots of valuable information.

A hospital tank is basically an extra tank which you keep for situations like these. If you have a fully cycled filter then you can steal a bit of media to substain life in the hospital tank.
I personally have been cycling my hossie tank for 60 odd days now with adding ammonia each night (fishless cycle) i decided to separate my Betta as he looked unwell, so he is now in the 60L tank all by himself...BUT at least when i have a fish emergency..i can move him out and the filter will still be cycled for the poorly fish.
 
HayzH said:
Nikki65 said:
Hi and Thanks :)

I cycled the tank by starting with the 5 Danios,as they told me in the pet store .

I also used the Nutrafin Cycle supplement

(I add a little after water changes as well )



For the sponge. I bought this in the aquarium supplies and had it for some time now (about 1 month after buying the kit)


Is there a link for starting a hospital tank ?

Hope I can save my Danio ?!

Thanks
Click to expand...
how long ago did you start with the danios?

Cycles in a bottle are useless im afraid...you are now in a Fish In cycle..have a look in the beginners section, where you will find lots of valuable information.

A hospital tank is basically an extra tank which you keep for situations like these. If you have a fully cycled filter then you can steal a bit of media to substain life in the hospital tank.
I personally have been cycling my hossie tank for 60 odd days now with adding ammonia each night (fishless cycle) i decided to separate my Betta as he looked unwell, so he is now in the 60L tank all by himself...BUT at least when i have a fish emergency..i can move him out and the filter will still be cycled for the poorly fish.
Click to expand...
 
Nikki65 said:
Ammonio, Nitrites and Nitrates: 0
pH: 7.6
Click to expand...

If everything is zero then I am afraid your testing kit is either wrong, or you are not cycled.

Nitrates will almost never be zero, unless you have a heavily planted aquarium, or you are testing straight tap water.
What kind of test kit are you using? Is your tank planted with live plants? How long did your tank cycle with the danios? And did you do water changes everyday during your fish-in cycle?

It could be that the affects of ammonia exposure during cycling caught up to the danio. I did a fish-in cycle with swordtails and platys and they died long before their age cap.
 
Dieses Madchen said:
Nikki65 said:
Ammonio, Nitrites and Nitrates: 0
pH: 7.6
Click to expand...

If everything is zero then I am afraid your testing kit is either wrong, or you are not cycled.

Nitrates will almost never be zero, unless you have a heavily planted aquarium, or you are testing straight tap water.
What kind of test kit are you using? Is your tank planted with live plants? How long did your tank cycle with the danios? And did you do water changes everyday during your fish-in cycle?

It could be that the affects of ammonia exposure during cycling caught up to the danio. I did a fish-in cycle with swordtails and platys and they died long before their age cap.
Click to expand...




I brought the water yesterday to my Pet store.They test it with the Tetra (I believe ) multiple in one test strips and wrote the result down for me.

I started the tank the first week of September 2011 with the 5 Zebra Danios .

I changed the water about 2 weekly in the first month and once weekly by middle of October-November (about 23 -30% each time)

There was one time a problem that I think Ammonia did get into the tank.At that time Ammonia was at 3 for 1-2 days.

That was back on October 1st though and I immediately changed 75% of the water and then again water the next day.

the Danios and Platies were fine and did not seem stressed.


There is only one live plant in the tank(Java fern which I bought two weeks ago)


At the petstore yesterday they recommended aquarium salt ,so he is in a separate 5 gal tank with heater/filter and 1 tbspoon of salt.


He is still just sitting on the bottom of the tank ,not moving much at all and I have not tried to feed him. :sick:
 
Invest in a liquid test kit. The strips are notoriously innacurate, even though the LFS is using them. During a fish-in cycle, you want to be doing water changes every day. The situation you are having with your danio sound like the aftermath of ammonia exposure to me. I am only saying that because it happened to mine.
 
Dieses Madchen said:
Invest in a liquid test kit. The strips are notoriously innacurate, even though the LFS is using them. During a fish-in cycle, you want to be doing water changes every day. The situation you are having with your danio sound like the aftermath of ammonia exposure to me. I am only saying that because it happened to mine.
Click to expand...


Water changes every day ? How much ?


The set up was 2.5 month ago.

So what should I be doing now.
Like I said I change 1x a week , and the water appears fine now ?

I vaccum every week as well,will that remove all the good bacteria ?

I do wonder about the filter,but it came with the kit if I put a new cartridge in every month(which I did) it will loose
all the good bacteria ,right ?

image attached.
 

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Yeah if you replaced the filter cartridge once a month, you have been causing mini cycles, and if the tank was in cycle anyway, your tank may have never actually cycled. Invest in a liquid test kit of your own. I would bet money that the LFS strips are giving you wrong results.
 
Dieses Madchen said:
Yeah if you replaced the filter cartridge once a month, you have been causing mini cycles, and if the tank was in cycle anyway, your tank may have never actually cycled. Invest in a liquid test kit of your own. I would bet money that the LFS strips are giving you wrong results.
Click to expand...



sigh,

I appreciate your comments .

I am just really confused, what do I do about the filter,I mean the tank came as a complete set up and was not cheap !

How do I solve this mini cycle problem ? if if in fact,that's what it is /
Does anyone have an idea ?
 
Do not replace your filter cartridges. They tell you to so you will buy more filter cartridges. Rinse them out in a bowl of tank water once a month to remove large debree and put it back in your filter. This will ensure that you still have good bacteria colonies to get rid of your ammonia and nitrites. Go to the beginners resource center and read up on fish-in cycles. It is an excellent read and will help you get your tank in order. And ask questions. Many people on this forum are very willing to help a newbie as we all care about fish. Heck the members of this forum saved mine and helped me set up 3 more large tanks :) The key item you need right now is a liquid test kit. I cannot stress this enough. Until you can get one, do daily water changes (about 50%) to ensure your tank water stays clean (make sure you dechlorinate your water)
 
basically the bacteria live on the sponges...NOT in the water...so if you have been changing the sponges once a month...you will be starting with no bacteria again...

MOST of the "LFS" will tell you your water is fine...unless they are using liquid kits they are guessing...strips are useless as the chemicals/colours run into each other making the results completely wrong.
MOST of the "LFS" will tell you to cycle your filter you need to add this "filter start" stuff...Magic bacteria in a bottle that suddenly comes to life once you add it to water....hmmmm when its been sat on a shop shelf for 6 months??
MOST of the "LFS" will sell you fish that are unsuitable for your tank/tankmates as they don't bother asking what size your tank is etc.
MOST of the "LFS" will sell you fish to "START" your cycle as they know they will die and you will go back for more!
MOST of the "LFS" won't have EVER heard of a FishLESS cycle.

my most recent purchases (Corydoras) even came with 0.50 Nitrites in the water in the bag!! Work that out!
They were probably relieved to get some fresh water!!
Lots of waterchanges and testing for you hun xxx
 
Thanks very much everyone.

I thought I was prepared, since I read a couple of Aquarium books before buying my tank.
They both (books) recommended monthly filter changes by the way and said you can start the cycle with a few ""hardy" fish and maybe add this bio-starter.

Of course, they did mention the best way would be a little "borrowed filter material from an existing tank.
But of course most new aquarium hobbyist have no access to this at all!

So unfortunately, the book advice matched up pretty well with the info got from the pet store.

Boy, I wish I had found this forum sooner. !!!

O.k. so more water tests and changes for me .I get it !
Unfortunately, I have no experience with Chemistry and reading these things (tests) seems daunting.
(Nothing ever comes with good instructions anymore!)



By the way, I also read discussions that many people had problems with Danios dying or being sick right after a water change and maybe that is what happened to mine as well.



I am refilling the tank with a hose, any idea on how to measure/take the temperature and get it to match the tank’s temp?
It might have been too warm (above 30 celsius)

Thank again and I have started to read the Beginners section as well.

This really is a great forum with lots of support.
 
I try to use lukewarm tapwater (dosing the tank with dechlorinator before) to refill. On my tanks in the basement, I am running a hot water hose and a coldwater hose at the same time.It is really hard to 100% match the temp, but i try to stay at least + or - 2 degrees. Doing the way i do it on my 55g and 75g is a two person job, so my husband is usually suffering as I am. As far as the liquid test kits, follow the directions to codnuct the test, and you always want your ammonia and nitrites to be below the .25 color (as close to zero as possible. Seachem Prime is by far the best conditioner for a fish in cycle as it has properties to convert ammonia and nitrites to less harmful chemicals to protect your fish while you do water changes. You are about to be a very busy person in your free time. But just so you know, i am right there with you. I am experiencing nitrite spike from the addition of new fish. Take comfort in knowing that all of us have been there, or currently working just as hard as yourself :) Any qustions, just ask. We will help your through and hoepfully keep your fish healthy
 
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