Catfish Acting Strange

[craig101]

I have a small tank, 32lts, 14x13x14in.

set up on 19th oct 08 (8 days ago)

tested the water sunday morning and all was fine (ammonia 0, ph6.5, kh 3, gh 6, n02 0, n03 10).

so went and got 2 corydoras catfish and 4 neon tetra's

Today, one of the catfish has spent most the day not moving much as if it was dead, laying on its side or floating on the surface, when it does try to move it seems to find it hard to swim, the other cat fish seems to be restless, swimming around allday and spending most the day near the top of the tank and keeps going up for air every couple of seconds before swimming back down again, but he never stops for a rest.

Iv now added a swim bladder treatment, but could it be anything else? All the neons tetra's seem to be ok

 

[smegforbrains]

What temperature have you got the tank at?

Corys need a minimum of 22 degrees celcius ideally.


If the temperature is too low, they will be lethargic.


However, if it is too high (over 28c) the water will be less oxygenated, hence the hovering near the surface.


What filter have you got? For that size of tank you would need something like the Fluval 1+

 

[craig101]

the temp was at 26oC, but iv now lowered that to 23oC to try to incress oxygen, at the moment its at 24oC and dropping slowly, the 1st catfish that was actting strange seems to have got a bit better, but the other one is still spending most his time at or near the top.

i use a filter that i had from years ago that i gave a good clean and put new media in, its a fluval 204 external filter but has a tap on the out let and is at about 1/4 to 1/2 of the max flow rate (i wanted to use the fluval as it has a large media area). i did have the out let below the water but have moved it to the surface level so that to cause more movement of the water surface to try to incress the oxygen.

 

[Arimus]

During the setup did you add a source of ammonia to kick start the seeding of bacteria in the filter media?

 

[WILDER]

So the tank hasn't cycled.
You just set the tank up and added fish.
Though going by your stats it says cycled.

Need to read up on the nitrogen cycle.
Worst fish you could of added to a newly set up tank both the neon tetra and corys need matured tanks.

 

[smegforbrains]

Was it brand new media you added? If so, did you rinse them through in de-chlorinated tank water before running them in the filter?


How long has this filter and media been running?


Did you use any of the chemical bacteria products to kick start the cycling process?


EDIT:

Following Wilder's reply, I would politely recommend that you return the fish to the LFS or see if a friend can look after them for you.


It definitely looks like your tank is not ready for fish. leave it fishless for another two or three weeks minimum. Then consider three or four Guppies or Platys. nothing more after that for another month or so.

 

[craig101]

used interpet no1 and filter aid and filter start when setting up, filter media was new.

 

[WILDER]

I doubt the tanks cycled that fast.
What test kit are you using?

The corys sounds like it has a bacterial infection if its laying on its side.
Any red streaking or sores on his tummy or fins.

 

[craig101]

the nitrate level has incressed from 5 to 10 since set up, all other levels seem'd ok.

using api ammonia test strips and esha aqua test strips

 

[WILDER]

Test strip cards are not that accurate.
I would take a sample of your water to the lfs and tell them to write the readings down for you.
Also I would invest in some liquid test kits.

Any fish laboured breathing or darting around the tank.

 

[vinylman]

It definitely looks like your tank is not ready for fish. leave it fishless for another two or three weeks minimum. Then consider three or four Guppies or Platys. nothing more after that for another month or so.

I confess to being a little baffled by that advice.

 

[craig101]

the catfish seem to be looking better now, the one that was floating and having probs swimming seems to be slowly getting better and seems to be able to keep his balance and the other cat fish seems to be resting more and not flying about so much.

maybe it was just the big change in water chemistry due to the fact that i dont use the same water that the local pet shops use, the swim bladder treatment seem to have helped too.

 

[WILDER]

Altering water stats to fast yes can cause stress to fish.
Glad the fish seem to be abit better.