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Well... seems I was wrong about him just being old... since he seems to be recovering, though very slowly.  He can swim a little better now, though only in circles, since he still doesn't seem to be able to move his tail properly.  I still haven't seen him eat anything... so I'm kind of amazed...

Thanks Deano,  I had done a water change the day before this happened... and I did a 50% change yesterday, just to make sure it wasn't a water quality issue that I wasn't seeing.  Ammonia is still zero, NO2 and NO3 are both now nearly undetectable.  The other two fish still seem totally fine. ...

Well... it looks like he's probably a gonner now.  He's ended up in a spot next to the filter and he isn't doing anything but breathing and looking around :(   I hesitate to euthanize, since I can't figure out the cause, and the other fish are fine.  I don't see how it could be body flukes...

Update: the red spot on his belly seems to have gone away... not sure if that's a good thing or not.  No change in behavior. 

Hello All,   I've got a sick zebrafish.  He's suddenly having trouble swimming (he twitches when he swims) is listless, and has pink around his gills, a red spot on his underside, and a white spot near his right front fin.  It's possible those were there before and I didn't notice, and they're...

Thanks Ltygress!  I may check them out, as I definitely want more plants, and petco and petsmart are my only options without driving about an hour away.  I'm prepared for the duckweed, as I'm famailir with it in our pond.  It's amazing how fast it can reproduce and grow, though so far it's...

Here's that pic...  Things sre still going well in there!  I'm not sure what that long floating plant on the left is... anacharis? bit I like it!  I still need something to replace the big plastic plant on the right-side.      

Want to thank everyone again.  The driftwood made an almost immediate difference in the tank -- the shark LOVES it, and only occasionally pesters the smaller fish now -- it came with snail eggs on it (it was in a tank at the store) so now there are snails!  All the fish now get their fair share...

Thanks Byron, that's very helpful.  I love the idea of natural wood.  I'm not really happy with plastic plants, though I just now added a large plastic plant to give some nice hiding spots, high up in the tank, and it looks OK, but now I'll look for a large peice of Malasyan driftwood.

Yep, real plants are on the horizon.  In the meantime I do want some taller fake plants or driftwood in the meantime...  I'm assiming that by "driftwood" you mean something plastic, or can real driftwood from a beach be used safely?  I'll actually be on the beach next week for a couple days

Thanks for the additional info Ch4rlie and Byron.  I may forget about the auto feeder then, and just make sure they've all got full bellies before I go   I'm going to wait until I'm sure my tank is really cycling before adding any more fish... but I think I do like the idea of a school of...

A journal (or at least a photojournal) is a really good idea... I've currently got some plastic plants, and some shells (though none that the fish can go inside!  I learned my lesson...) and rocks, but I'd eventually like plants.  I don't have anthing tall in there though now, so the top 2/3 of...

Thanks wet and opie!  The shark and the zebra are definitely very well fed, and my water quality is excellent (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and still reading just a trace of nitrate) though I still haven't seen the S. Tetra eat a whole lot, but he must at least be grazing the bottom at night, because...

Hi Everyone!   Many thanks to fluttermoth, Akasha72 and TallTree01 with the help with my fish rescue attempt.   The three survivors continue to do better and better.  The Red-Tailed Black Shark ended up losing the eye that went cloudy.  At first I thought it was going to get better, but one day...

My ammonia and nitrite levels are at zero now, and nitrates are at a smidge above zero, so it looks like the tank is actually cycling.  Yay!  I ended up breaking the shark out of his shell.  He looks a little worse-for wear I don't know exactly what happened in there but he doesn't seem as...

All three fish are doing great, but a strange thing just happened -- I looked in to sonly se two fish.  The shark went inside a conch (?) shell and has been in there for about an hour.  At first I could see his tail, but now he's totally gone inside.  Will he be able to come back out?

I just did a liquid ammonia test, and I see what you folks mean about the strips not being very accurate.  The strip is still saying around .5 but the liquid test is telling me the total NH3/NH4 levels are around .1 ppm and further explains about the percentage of actually toxic ammonia being...

Thanks TallTree for the clarification -- I think I got the intent of the original poster though, in that .5 is too much NH3 and to reduce it by half (to .25) is healthier for the fish.   Yeah, I guess I'll have to think about the rainwater and maybe collect some in a clean barrel.  Hopefully the...

Hi again,   I just had an idea (it might be terrible, I'm not sure): I collect rainwater for my garden, would it be OK to add some (or a lot) to the tank?  Would that help at all?  My tapwater is from a well (so zero chlorine) but I'm sure the rainwater in my rainbarell has more microorganisms...

Yes, thanks, that makes sense.

Thanks again for the advice everyone.    I managed to stuff the old dirty filter into the new pump -- hopefully that'll get the ecosystem jumpstarted a little faster.  I just hope that the little shark can hold on until the tank actually starts cycling.  I actually have a liquid test kit too...

Thanks for your advice!  I purchased a new pump and filter -- the old one was not working well, and was too small for the larger tank.  Unfortunately I already tossed it.  I do have one filter left from the larger tank that I didn't clean, though it's dried out.  It doesn't fit the new pump I...

Greetings Everyone,   I wish I had thought to come here and post before I did anything at all, but here's my story, and a request for help.   I rescued some fish from an abandoned apartment -- they had been unattended in a building with no power for about 5 days.  There were (amazingly) no dead...