NewTropicalFishOwner
New Member
Me and my partner have had our 100 litre tank approx 5 months now, it was a gift from a friend. We are completely new to fish owning. The tank came with the wood, gravel, all other decs have been bought by us. The tank also came with 3x clown loaches, a yoyo loach, 2x unidentified catfish, 3x black tetras and a bristlenose pleco.
We cycled the tank according to all instructions we were told/ researched. This took about a month. All water parameters were really good before introducing the fish.
The tank was a really happy place for a couple months or more, and then sadly we lost our yoyo loach. We hadn't see him for a couple days, and being new to fish we didn't worry too much. Sadly he'd got stuck in some decor and died, and we're assuming over those two days his body released ammonia causing a massive spike. This then killed the 3 clown loaches too. I'm newly pregnant and never though I'd cry over fish. But I did. A lot.
the ammonia spike is now under control, but we're having issues with ph. it's super low so we've done frequent small water changes, added an airstone and have a limestone chunk on order. We don't want to change it too quick as I've read that can also be bad for the fishes.
Since the ammonia spike the pleco has had a lump growing and we are at a loss as to what to do. He seems happy enough, comes out to feed and chews on the wood etc. But in this last couple weeks this lump has got biiiiiig. He's also got another smaller lump appearing on his face, which you can't see too well in this video.
We are on a massive budget with new baby on the way and really want to help this fish but cannot afford a specialist fish veterinarian.
Can someone please advise us on what to do? We'll do anything we can do to help him. This lump is big and must be affecting him. All other fish in the tank seem to be ok, I mean we don't see the two smaller catfish pretty much ever but when we do they seem healthy and growing well.
We cycled the tank according to all instructions we were told/ researched. This took about a month. All water parameters were really good before introducing the fish.
The tank was a really happy place for a couple months or more, and then sadly we lost our yoyo loach. We hadn't see him for a couple days, and being new to fish we didn't worry too much. Sadly he'd got stuck in some decor and died, and we're assuming over those two days his body released ammonia causing a massive spike. This then killed the 3 clown loaches too. I'm newly pregnant and never though I'd cry over fish. But I did. A lot.
the ammonia spike is now under control, but we're having issues with ph. it's super low so we've done frequent small water changes, added an airstone and have a limestone chunk on order. We don't want to change it too quick as I've read that can also be bad for the fishes.
Since the ammonia spike the pleco has had a lump growing and we are at a loss as to what to do. He seems happy enough, comes out to feed and chews on the wood etc. But in this last couple weeks this lump has got biiiiiig. He's also got another smaller lump appearing on his face, which you can't see too well in this video.
We are on a massive budget with new baby on the way and really want to help this fish but cannot afford a specialist fish veterinarian.
Can someone please advise us on what to do? We'll do anything we can do to help him. This lump is big and must be affecting him. All other fish in the tank seem to be ok, I mean we don't see the two smaller catfish pretty much ever but when we do they seem healthy and growing well.
