Hey Everyone!

[zinki.monga]

Dear All,

I am new to this forum and this community as well. Got my first 10gal tank with 6 fishes 3 zebra danios, 1 white skirt tetra, 1 molly and 1 pleco.
One of my zebra danio's is a very small, and it keeps going near the filter all the time. It got sucked into it 3 times till now, first two times it was ok but this time its really hurt. Can't swim, tries to swim a little bit but cant go far and it hasn't had anything to eat since last 2 days. I am very concerned for my little guy, any suggestions on what should be done as I am a newbie, so don't have much clue what to do now

Thanks!!

 

[bordercollie05]

Welcome to the forum! I'd post your danio question in the Medical Emergencies section, you'll probably get more people who know the answer reading it there. Sorry I don't know what to tell you except you can cover the filter intake with a piece of panty hose to keep the danio out. Good luck with your new fish!

Laura

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi there, welcome to the forum

filters are designed so that the flow is not too strong for fish, a healthy fish will be able to swim against that current perfectly well so the filter won't be the cause of the problems but mroe a syptom showing that the fish is unwell in another way.

The most common issue in new tanks is water quality problems caused by the tank not being cycled before adding fish. Can you explain to us how you prepared the tank before adding fish? Do you have a water test kit, if so can you tell us your waters stats for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Have a read of the link in my sig 'whats cycling' if you've no idea what any of this means then post back with any questions!

 

[waterdrop]

Welcome to TFF zinki!

Miss Wiggle's questions there will get us started. Sorry to hear about your mr danio, its fairly common these days to have a danio that is very weak, even just among a group brought home, but as MW says, the most common problem of all is the new fishkeeper not having ever run across the month-long process necessary to prepare a working filter prior to introducing fish to the tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[zinki.monga]

Thanks All for your quick replies. Well I am fairly new but I've had this tank since last 2 months. I cycled my tank for 3 days and went to the pet store where they checked the water parameters and gave me 3 danios and after almost 20-25 days I added the other fish in there. I had a platy also earlier, which died, I suspect because of stress as I didn't have power for a few days and had to shift them all to a new place and then back. My molly got pop eyes and fungus so I am treating them with tetracycline now.
The danio is still on the floor, it tries to swim but drops back after few seconds. And it looks all black on the top and is kind of twisted, because of the filter accident. I am afraid its going to die

 

[Corleone]

Leaving the tank run does not cycle it, it just leaves it running. A cycle requires an ammonia source (In your case, fish) and takes a 3-6 weeks in general.

What's your maintenance routine, and do you have a test kit (liquid, preferably - strips are less accurate, and while a cheaper initial buy, you get many times as many tests from a liquid kit)? Don't trust pet stores to do this for you, I have a thread on that somewhere I can dig up, but basically, most of them will merrily give you fish to put in some of the most toxic water you can bring in if it doesn't dissolve the cup, and in the best case scenario, have poor information on what is good or bad in water stats. It's also important to monitor water stats regularly to catch any unhealthy trends like increasing nitrate or persistent ammonia levels.

Either way, leaving the tank running will of course give perfect water stats - the water generally has perfect or near-perfect stats coming out of the tap, and left running as you did, it's still tap water.

Edit: Now that I rambled longer than I wanted and didn't address the point at all... Get a test kit and post water stats, especially ammonia and nitrite, as well as readings from your tap water (mostly to detect significant differences in pH, but also sometimes your tap water will dictate the course of action when dealing with ammonia levels). It sounds like you're having recurrent illness issues, which sometimes can be caused by persistent water quality problems. It can also be caused by not quarantining new fish - have you noticed a series of deaths after getting a new fish?

 

[zinki.monga]

Corleone,

I don't have the test kit, guess I should buy one. I clean the gravel once every week and change 20-25% of water. While I do that, I try to fill up a bucket of water a night prior so that some of the toxic gases might escape, add stress coat in it and put aquarium salt after I am done cleaning.
Also I have a water wisteria planted in my tank, hope that helps to keep the nitrates low. I haven't had a series of deaths ever, except my platy which died soon after the shifting episode.

Thanks!

 

[Corleone]

It'd take a lot of wisteria to make an impact on nitrates (even in the tank in my sig, the difference in nitrate is pretty negligible), but healthy live plants are always good to have.

Since you're using stress coat, that does remove chlorine, so you can add water right away, roughly matched for temperature (hand-checking is sufficient, it doesn't need to be too exact). When you run out of stress coat, I'd suggest Seachem Prime, which is used in smaller quantities, so a bottle lasts much longer.

Aquarium salt, however, is a relic of older methods. I advise you stop using it. It reduces stress from nitrate toxicity, but with weekly water changes, this won't become an issue. Aside from that, it does add some stress of its own to fish, and no fish require it's use. A few fish require or prefer low levels of marine salt, however, of the fish you have, only the molly would benefit (if you have a low pH, it may be necessary for long term care), and there rest of your fish wouldn't appreciate it. Plecos (and many, though not all, catfish in general) are quite intolerant of salt.

Keep it on hand, it's an effective ich treatment, but it isn't necessary or recommended for continual use.

 

[quantumnerd]

Hmmmm....

I can't think of anything more to say.

Just don't add salt! It will Keeeeeeeeeeeeel, your fishies!
(warning: hyperbole used above)

 

[zinki.monga]

Thanks for the pointers. My danio died yesterday, it was badly hurt
Thanks for the info about aquarium salt, I was actually using it a lot because I was told it relieves the stress, guess I'll stop using it from now on.

 

[battlefish]

Hi doctor nick!