Snow White Ancistrus Problems . Relatively Urgent .

Hello,
Hope every one is having a good day

Just got my fish 2 days ago . They are amazing by far the best hobby I have taken up.
Problem:
So I got myself a Snow White Ancistrus and i love It . The first day he was having a whale of a time eating bio film and digging underneath my rocks making Caves . But Yesterday he wasn't eating any food or actually doesn't even approach it . It Spends most of its time sitting in one place not moving . I fed him when I turned the lights of last night didn't even approach the cucumber which it loves according to the Store .
So im a bit stumped on if he is ill or well I don't really no . The only thing I can think of is I added some plant fertiliser but this didn't seem to bother any of the fish who are happier than usual .

Hope someone knows what's wrong or maybe it is just normal .


Thanks in advance

Did you test your water? You might be having an ammonia spike because you added new fish.

FishFinatic77 said:

Did you test your water? You might be having an ammonia spike because you added new fish.

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Seems possible but wouldn't this affect my other fish . I will do a water change today then I did one yesterday as well for reference . He has moved a little bit but quite frantically almost scared .

Well, I will be Colin for today.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for 1-2 weeks.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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Add some salt.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt
level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

Thanks fo the reply .

I will follow the instructions carefully . I have all soft water fish so 2 weeks or 1 and a half for the salt treatment that ok?

also what is the reason behind it?

Thank you very much for the detailed reply .

TomRadford12354 said:

Thanks fo the reply .

I will follow the instructions carefully . I have all soft water fish so 2 weeks or 1 and a half for the salt treatment that ok?

also what is the reason behind it?

Thank you very much for the detailed reply .

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@Barry Tetra was just quoting @Colin_T.

Even I do not know the reason.... however, you do need to follow his instructions, as he is an expert.

Hope your fish gets much better - update this thread if you have any questions or concerns. Good luck!

PheonixKingZ said:

@Barry Tetra was just quoting @Colin_T.

Even I do not know the reason.... however, you do need to follow his instructions, as he is an expert.

Hope your fish gets much better - update this thread if you have any questions or concerns. Good luck!

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Thank you . Yes I will let you guys no on his well being

TomRadford12354 said:

Seems possible but wouldn't this affect my other fish . I will do a water change today then I did one yesterday as well for reference . He has moved a little bit but quite frantically almost scared .

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Do you have a water testing kit? The first thing to do before adding salt and all that is to test the water.

The reason behind salt water treatment is because salt is relatively safe for most fish, and it has excellent anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic qualities. So it's a useful treatment when something is wrong, but it's as yet unknown what the cause is, or if the fish is battling an external parasite like ich. Ich parasites cannot tolerate salt, and upping the temperature speeds up the lifecycle of ich, allowing you to kill both the adults and any ich that hatches from eggs in the substrate during those two weeks. It can also inhibit the growth of fungus and bacteria, so if a fish is injured, the salt helps reduce fungus and bacteria in the water and on the fish, while the fishes immune system battles the infection.

But your fish are in a brand new tank, which usually means they're still settling and may have nothing wrong with them,and treating them with salt would only increase their stress at this time. You also don't have water test results yet, and if those are off, fixing those will fix the problem.

Salt is usually well tolerated, but it's also not a stress free procedure either. Don't use it until you have reason to.

Just noticed it has a red bodyl moving up from the back of the tail. Is there a website I can look up disease and things like that .

Tom

TomRadford12354 said:

Just noticed it has a red bodyl moving up from the back of the tail. Is there a website I can look up disease and things like that .

Tom

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You can post a picture on here, and we may be able to ID the disease for you

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

The reason behind salt water treatment is because salt is relatively safe for most fish, and it has excellent anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic qualities. So it's a useful treatment when something is wrong, but it's as yet unknown what the cause is, or if the fish is battling an external parasite like ich. Ich parasites cannot tolerate salt, and upping the temperature speeds up the lifecycle of ich, allowing you to kill both the adults and any ich that hatches from eggs in the substrate during those two weeks. It can also inhibit the growth of fungus and bacteria, so if a fish is injured, the salt helps reduce fungus and bacteria in the water and on the fish, while the fishes immune system battles the infection.

But your fish are in a brand new tank, which usually means they're still settling and may have nothing wrong with them,and treating them with salt would only increase their stress at this time. You also don't have water test results yet, and if those are off, fixing those will fix the problem.

Salt is usually well tolerated, but it's also not a stress free procedure either. Don't use it until you have reason to.

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Ok thanks for all the information it will come in handy in the future I hold off on the salt and wait for me to get the results .

PheonixKingZ said:

You can post a picture on here, and we may be able to ID the disease for you

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Sure I'll add a before and after pic .
1 pic are of it new and healthy 2nd and 3rd are of today . look hard at the 3rd fish struggle to get a pic. He acts almost dizzy and can't swim properly .

Possible Ammonia Poisoning ?

TomRadford12354 said:

Ok thanks for all the information it will come in handy in the future I hold off on the salt and wait for me to get the results .



Sure I'll add a before and after pic .
1 pic are of it new and healthy 2nd and 3rd are of today . look hard at the 3rd fish struggle to get a pic. He acts almost dizzy and can't swim properly .

Possible Ammonia Poisoning ?

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Do you not have a water test kit?

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Do you not have a water test kit?

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Yes I got .6 before the water change .

TomRadford12354 said:

Yes I got .6 before the water change .

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.6 for what?