5 Gallon Newbie

[Hannah'sFabulousFish]

Hello! My name is Hannah. I have a 5 gallon tank stocked with 2 male guppies and 1 albino corycatfish. I wanted to start small and I really didn't have room for anything bigger (or the money to do it). I did my research and I believe things have gone swimmingly in my new tank. However, just last night I was watching my tank and I noticed that I haven't seen one of my male guppies for a while so I walked up to the tank and it took me a minute but I found him stuck against the intake tube of my Aqua-Tech 5-15 gallon filter. I quickly unplugged my filter and he used his front fins to swim away but he didn't go very far. At first his back was curved but after a few minutes it straightened out. His tale fin looks crippled and he isn't using it to swim (he is using his front two fins to move around the bottom of the tank. Then to make matters worse my corycat started nipping at him. So I set up a quarantine tank, 0.5 gallon is the best I can do right now, and put the injured fish in there. Well disaster struck again when my other guppy started swimming rapidly up and down the sides of the tank cause his buddy was gone. So (it was late and I wanted to go to bed) I decided to put the injured one back into the big tank with his buddy (I watched them for a bit to make sure no nipping was going on and checked on them in the middle of the night too) and put the corycat in the quarantine tank and wrapped it with a blanket hoping not the lose heat (again doing the best I could for the night not having a second heater). When I woke up, everything seemed the same way I left it last night. It's worth mentioning that I read online that the fish shouldn't have gotten stuck if it were healthy, and while I'm not able to test the water quality right now, I was keeping up on my maintenance. Another thing, it's time for me to do another water change (in the quarantine tank and in the big one) but I'm not sure it'll be worth it if my filters been off over night. BUT WHAT I REALLY NEED HELP WITH is I'm not sure what to do from here. The quarantine tank isn't suitable for the corycat and I just have no idea what to do from here, do I need medicine, when can I turn my filter back on with out any more disasters. I just don't know what to do and I'm getting nervous. I'm open to any help I can get.
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Tank size: 5 gallon
tank age: 2 weeks old
pH: idk I'm too broke for testing strips rn
ammonia: idk
nitrite: idk
nitrate: idk
kH: idk
gH: idk
tank temp: 78 degrees F


Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): Pretty much listed above, only using front two fins to move around. Not very active, staying at the bottom of the tank. Tail fin is definitely injured. Not much color change maybe a little darker. My other guppy still seems a bit stressed but not as bad as when I took out the other.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: weekly 20%

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: dechlorinate and Tetra Easy Balance

Tank inhabitants: 2 male guppies + corycat

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): NO

Exposure to chemicals: NO

Digital photo (include if possible): sick guppy, he actually seems to be doing a bit better, more active but still at the bottom

 

[emmagrace12]

Hi, did it you get it figured out?

 

[mrsjoannh13]

Hannah, if you take a water sample into a local pet store or PetCo they can test your water parameters for you. Please try to do this and post results so we can help troubleshoot with you.

Couple of thoughts.... if your filter intake does not have a pre-filter sponge you should get one. Smaller fish or weaker swimmers can get sucked onto the intake tube. Fluval sells one for a couple of bucks and I've seen these at PetSmart and PetCo. $2.44 at PetCo right now:

Fluval Edge Pre-Filter Sponge, Pack of 1 | Petco

The pre-filter sponge (for the Fluval Edge) effectively collects fine debris and keeps your aquarium clean.

www.petco.com

Next, on to your cory cat. I would suggest rehoming this fish or returning to where you purchased it. 5 gallons is too small and corydoras like to be with 6 of the same species.

5 gallons might be okay for your 2 guppies but not much else.

So just my suggestions on where to start. Rehome the cory cat and get a pre-filter intake sponge. While you're at the pet shop, get a pre-filter intake sponge.

 

[Hannah'sFabulousFish]

Hannah, if you take a water sample into a local pet store or PetCo they can test your water parameters for you. Please try to do this and post results so we can help troubleshoot with you.

Couple of thoughts.... if your filter intake does not have a pre-filter sponge you should get one. Smaller fish or weaker swimmers can get sucked onto the intake tube. Fluval sells one for a couple of bucks and I've seen these at PetSmart and PetCo. $2.44 at PetCo right now:

Fluval Edge Pre-Filter Sponge, Pack of 1 | Petco

The pre-filter sponge (for the Fluval Edge) effectively collects fine debris and keeps your aquarium clean.

www.petco.com

Next, on to your cory cat. I would suggest rehoming this fish or returning to where you purchased it. 5 gallons is too small and corydoras like to be with 6 of the same species.

5 gallons might be okay for your 2 guppies but not much else.

So just my suggestions on where to start. Rehome the cory cat and get a pre-filter intake sponge. While you're at the pet shop, get a pre-filter intake sponge.

Thanks so much for your help! I got my water tested and had high nitrates. Got some special filter medium and things cleared up. As for the corydora, I was unable to rehome him. I don't live near any major pet stores like Pet Smart of Petco and my local pet store is pretty small and wouldn't take it back. So, I was going to keep him until I figured out where to rehome him however tragedy struck and I woke up this morning to all of my fish being dead. I have absolutely no idea what went wrong. I bought a test kit a few weeks ago and tested the water that they were in and it was within completely normal parameters. Yesterday, I upgraded from the 5 gallon to a 10 gallon and added some gravel (that's the only change I made). I rinsed everything (didn't use soap because it said not to online) and set up the new 10 gallon. As I said before, everything was completely fine and normal (the temperature was slightly low from adding new water but the heater was working). I have absolutely no idea what went wrong and I'd like your help again. The gravel was painted and i noticed that when I was rinsing it, it turned my fingers blue. I made sure I rinsed it thoroughly and none of the paint was chipping off or anything so I assumed it would be okay. The tank was also previously used to house a lizard but, again, I rinsed it all very thoroughly and used a rag to wipe it down. I would really appreciate if you have any ideas on what went wrong. Thanks again!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Corydoras need to be in groups of 6 or more and they need to have sand as a substrate. They also need a 15g tank as a minimum.

2 guppies should be OK in a 5g tank, but if you could upgrade soon, then that would be best.

If you could get a 20g long tank, that would be good for both species.

 

[Hannah'sFabulousFish]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Corydoras need to be in groups of 6 or more and they need to have sand as a substrate. They also need a 15g tank as a minimum.

2 guppies should be OK in a 5g tank, but if you could upgrade soon, then that would be best.

If you could get a 20g long tank, that would be good for both species.

Thanks for the help! I upgraded to a 10 gallon yesterday and all of my fish mysteriously died! ( You can read the full story above in the reply I made. I'm planning on getting different fish but I need to find out what caused there sudden death.) Any information or fish suggestions you may have would be great. I really can't go bigger than 10 gallons right now due to spacing issues.