Dying Synodontis Angelicus?

[tckgfranklin]

Here is a little background on the fish. My mother had this 10 gal. tank with the synodontis angelicus and 2 hatchet fish at her house. The tank was never cleaned and filthy as could be. My daughters wanted some fish so we rescued the fish and the tank and brought it to our house. First thing we did was clean the tank. For the longest time my mother thought the synodontis angelicus was a plecostomus. When we took him out he made catfish noises and after inspecting him came to the conclusion he was not a plecostomus. We did our research online and discovered he was a synodontis angelicus. So my mother never cleaned the tank and only fed the 3 fish tropical fish food and the synodontis angelicus (which is named fat joe) was super healthy! We dont know too much about fishtanks or fish. We kept the 3 fish we had but then got a few plattys and a chinese algea eater. So then the plattys started having babies and out tank became LOADED with fish! Then we noticed Fat Joe's fins were getting smaller. After watching him for a week or so I noticed his tail fin was like half the size as it was when we first brought him to our house, I came to the conclusion the plattys were eating his fins! I tried taking him out of the tank but he started turning white and looked sick so I returned him to the tank and he did better. Now his tail fin along with the rest of his fins are completely gone! He can barely swim around the tank and I feel awful!! He did better with a dirty tank than he has at our house with a clean tank. We even bought him shrimp pellets and he wont eat them, he prefers the tropical fish food. I dont know what to do. We have thought for the past few weeks he would die anyday but he is still here and alive and I dont want him to keep suffering. I tried to give some of my plattys away, we cant really afford to buy a huge tank and I would hate to start flushing fish down the toilet. But holy cow the plattys breed like rabbits. Here are tank stats:

10 gal tank
73 degrees
Water cycled 5 days ago
Dont know much else as far as ph or other water stuff
1 synodontis angelicus (which I know he needs a way bigger tank just for himself 50 gal min. right?)
1 chinese algea eater
1 neon tetra
2 hatchets
3 zebra fish
and I dont even know how many plattys.

I know the tank is way overcrowded but I dont know what to do with all the excess fish. I am so new to the whole fish thing and I need help!!

 

[Spishkey]

do you have a filter in the tank?

firstly a few important factors here

1. the tank is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar too small for those fish (especially if you have a fair few platys in there!) the syno needs a tank no smaller than 200Litres, he needs to be rehomed to someone who can care for him in the right sized enviroiment

2. guessing you scrubbed out the whole tank and just added new water, means your tank IS NOT cycled, andthe fish are possible in shock. they'd more than likely got used to the filthy conditions and having fresh clean water has knocked them for six(!) with the tank being so overcrowded (mainly due to the fact of the catfish and so many platys there must be lots of ammonia building up, which could also be contributing to the cats diminishing fins. do a few water changes immedietly and invest in a good liquid water test kit, not the strip ones. this way you can monitor ammonia nitrite and nitrate, and do water changes accordingly

3. neons need to be in groups of at least 6, as do zebra danios

4. chinese algae eaters can grow BIG (upwards of 20cm) he also needs rehoming if you cannot get a larger tank asap. it is possible he's nibbling on your cats fins

5. NEVER NEVER EVER flush fish, dead or alive down a toilet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6. excess fish/or fish that need rehoming - you can advertise them on here or take them down to your local fish shop who should take them off your hands free of charge. some shops also give you store credit (but not all!!)

 

[tckgfranklin]

Yes I do have a filter in the tank. It is a topfin10 and we change the filters regularly.

When we had originally gotten the tank yes we did scrub the tank and put new water in but that was about 6 months ago and the only fish in it at the time were the 2 hatchets and Fat Joe. Now we only cycle out a portion of the tank at a time.

The neons we did buy in a group but all of the died but one of them and for the last 5 months he has been one of our healthiest fish. The zebra fish we bought about 3 months ago and they are also very healthy.

The only sick fish is the catfish. We occassionally have a platty die but it is usually the mother that gives birth or a sick/deformed baby fish.

I feel like I am way out of my league on the whole fish tank thing. I have posted an ad on my local Craigslist to rehome some of the fish, hopefully someone will take them.

And just to clarify, if we had known this was an angel cat, my mother would have never purchased him in the first place. He was in the tank with the plecostomus' at the pet store. The pet store employee sold him to my mother as a "small plecostomus". So she never intended on purchasing him as an angel cat. Just an fyi so you dont think we are intentional bad fish owners.