I want some color without overcrowding.

[Catlady379]

Ok, all is good so far. After a week the water cleared up. I purchased some Tetra Easy Balance Plus and used it to lower the nitrates. I put the fish in the tank and they are doing good. I added some buddies to the tank and all seem to be doing well and getting along just fine. I will have to get some pics of the tank and fish and post them. I love watching the fish, it's so relaxing.

 

[Catlady379]

I have an update and it isn't good. I have lost several fish within a week to a week and a half. I checked my water and all is good; no ammonia, no nitrites, and low nitrates. I noticed yesterday that one of the tetras has white spots on him. I looked online and I think it might be ick. I am going to get stuff today to treat the tank. I am also thinking that water temp is a bigger issue than I thought it would be. My tank is unheated and with winter here it is colder in the house so the tank is colder. I have a thermometer in it and with winter it is around 66 degrees. The fish are losing their color brightness, and kind of "gasping". I have a heater ordered and I should get it today. I didn't consider how much the tank temp would drop with the weather change.

 

[Essjay]

That temperature is too cold for tropical fish; you do need that heater.

Once the heater arrives,increase the water temperature slowly to 86 deg F and keep it there for 2 weeks. This is the best way to eradicate ich. Keep the temp raised even when the spots have gone because that's just the fist stage of the ich life cycle. After two weeks, turn the heater down till the water temps reaches about 77 deg F

 

[Catlady379]

That temperature is too cold for tropical fish; you do need that heater.

Once the heater arrives,increase the water temperature slowly to 86 deg F and keep it there for 2 weeks. This is the best way to eradicate ich. Keep the temp raised even when the spots have gone because that's just the fist stage of the ich life cycle. After two weeks, turn the heater down till the water temps reaches about 77 deg F

Thank you. I should have caught the temp issue sooner. I was so worried about the water quality...ammonia, nitrites, etc. that I missed the temp. The heater I ordered is one where I can adjust the temp as needed, no factory preset.

 

[seangee]

Thank you. I should have caught the temp issue sooner. I was so worried about the water quality...ammonia, nitrites, etc. that I missed the temp. The heater I ordered is one where I can adjust the temp as needed, no factory preset.

That's good. You should still use a thermometer (known to be accurate) to check the calibration. Heater are often a few degrees different to what the thermostat says - even the expensive ones. As long as you know what the difference is they are fine.

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

You could use a bigger tank, or you probably could do more frequent water change and be just fine with your pleco - I have some kind of pleco in every tank, none of them seem to realize that they are vegetarians because they eat carnivorous wafers like crazy. They also eat the middle (algae part) out of a Pleco wafer, then then other fish eat the left over outside part - it's too funny to watch. They don't like the straight algae wafers of course. I always have a heavy bioload because I tend to overfeed because I have so many fish with specialty diets (that they all end up eating) but rarely is there any food left in the morning (about 1/3 of my fish do most of their eating at night).

Anyway so I wouldn't count the pleco in the number of fish because they just don't go anywhere and most prefer the night. So I'd say you might as well get one or two neon tetras. They are NOT just for kids and old people like me, they have seriously cool colors - pick the right color to coordinate with the colors you already have in the tank - their "greens" for example are more of a stunning yellow color. And you'll get some real color in that little tank.

In the meantime start saving up for a 20 gallon tank and they'll all feel more comfortable. These little 2" tetras will likely join with your other tetras and school. I think that's as good of solution as getting say 5 smaller cherry barbs or (my much hated) danios.

I have a very serious problem on my hand where I have 6 LARGE fish - in a 29 gallon tank. Talk about being too small - it's so obvious even though my other tanks have 4x the number of fish. These fish all were supposed to be no more than 5" - turns out my smallest is 6" and most are closer to 8" - I guess I feed them too well - it just makes me cringe looking at them in this small tank. They are all "semi-aggressive" to "aggressive" so I cannot put them in my community tanks. Funny enough they are also the friendliest - letting me rub them, hold them and feed them by hand - I guess because they have no fear. I see everybody's fondness for the cichlids - most of mine are supersized gourami's but I have once particularly stunning cichlid that one of those lovely "mom and pop" fish stores told me was a chocolate gourami - because I told them I was looking for a Gourami and they coincidently don't mark their fish - so once I got a real chocolate gourami (about 1/2" in size) instead of 8 inches with huge eyes and huge lips I realized something was wrong. As far as I've heard, most Mom and Pop stores are so desperate to make a buck they LIE to their buyers. They'd probably take some of my fish (for free) then feed them for fun to their piranahs. (that they have in an open tank without any warnings and charge people to watch them feed them live fish - it's sickening). I buy online only from highly rated fish breeders and collectors for those that can't be bred, and I pay a fortune in overnight shipping. But they won't take any fish back, nor could I afford to ship them.

Do you have any friends that would take your pleco - I would think that would be a highly desirable fish they are so cool. I still think it's just a young male or female bristlenose (albino) but will still get up to 5 inches in a year or two. I've had mine for 8 months and I got him at 3" and he is just now approaching 4". While the other one was 1 1/2" and is just now 2 1/2" - so you have some time. Plus to me they don't "count" towards my fish count because they take up virtually no room in the tank but they do poop a lot so I do change the water more frequently.or at least do a quick clean of the gravel.

Bottom line - you need a bigger tank to be really happy.

 

[Catlady379]

I have a question about ich….does it affect all fish in the tank or only certain ones? I have a black skirt tetra and a platy with a lot of white bumps but my 2 dwarf gouramis, phantom tetra, and sailfin molly don't have any. Could it be something else? By the way the heater came and I have it going now. The fish seem so much happier and active.

 

[Byron]

I have a question about ich….does it affect all fish in the tank or only certain ones? I have a black skirt tetra and a platy with a lot of white bumps but my 2 dwarf gouramis, phantom tetra, and sailfin molly don't have any. Could it be something else? By the way the heater came and I have it going now. The fish seem so much happier and active.

Some fish species have more resistance to ich than other species. I've never heard this of mollies. And before you see any spots on a fish, it will likely be "flashing" which is the term we use when a fish flashes or scratches its gill region of the substrtate, a plant leaf, wood or rock. This is because ich first attacks fish in the gills where we cannot see it. If the fish are healthy, meaning not under stress, they can usually fight this off. If spots appear though, it signals more of a problem. Raise the tank temperature to 86F (30C) for two weeks. Avoid anything that may cause additional stress and this can cure it.

A clear photo of one of the infected fish might help, just in case the "bumps" are something other than ich, but having read your earlier thread I would suspect this is ich.

 

[Catlady379]

Some fish species have more resistance to ich than other species. I've never heard this of mollies. And before you see any spots on a fish, it will likely be "flashing" which is the term we use when a fish flashes or scratches its gill region of the substrtate, a plant leaf, wood or rock. This is because ich first attacks fish in the gills where we cannot see it. If the fish are healthy, meaning not under stress, they can usually fight this off. If spots appear though, it signals more of a problem. Raise the tank temperature to 86F (30C) for two weeks. Avoid anything that may cause additional stress and this can cure it.

A clear photo of one of the infected fish might help, just in case the "bumps" are something other than ich, but having read your earlier thread I would suspect this is ich.

I'll try and get a pic of the BS tetra. I don't think he is going to make it much longer. The platy was dead when I got home earlier. I hope I can get a hang of fish keeping without losing any more fish. I have my betta and a snail in my 10 gallon and they have (knock on wood) no problems.

 

[Byron]

I'll try and get a pic of the BS tetra. I don't think he is going to make it much longer. The platy was dead when I got home earlier. I hope I can get a hang of fish keeping without losing any more fish. I have my betta and a snail in my 10 gallon and they have (knock on wood) no problems.

Leave the Betta on its own in the 10g (with the snail) and it should be OK. Be careful not to use any implement in this tank that have been in the ich-infected tank. Ich can spread via water, and any wet objects including fish nets, water change tubes, etc.