My Bloodfin Tetras

[pnyklr3]

The behavior of my bloodfin tetras has changed over the past week. Usually, you can find them all together at the top of the tank. Now, they are mostly all separated, and at various levels of the tank (some are evern very near the bottom, but not resting/laying on it). Is this normal?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20 The lowest it's EVER been

Any advice? Am I overreacting?

 

[paulioo]

Did you only recently buy them?

If thats a yes, then they could be settled in now and thats why they are no longer staying together and are investigating different areas of the tank.

I wouldnt be too concerned if it was me.

Paul.

 

[pnyklr3]

I've had them for a year and a half! I hope it hasn't taken them this long to settle in. Thanks for the reassurance; I'm probably worried about nothing.

 

[@ombomb]

They may just be more relaxed with less Nitrates in the water. What's your normal nitrate level?

 

[pnyklr3]

I have been struggling with nitrate levels for over a year, and nothing seemed to help. I bought live plants. Still high. No matter how many water changes I did, the nitrate were always HIGH (80 would have been wonderful! We are talking on the top end of the test-strip scale...).

After that, I'm not quite buying in to the nitrates too high will kill your fish, only because some of my fish even spawned in high nitrates. But that is besides the point. After I switched from gravel to sand, my clown loaches caught a chill and got ich. Since I was having to do large daily water chagnes, I ran out and spent the money on a python. Heck, now that water changes are so simple, it isn't a problem doing a 35% water change. Before, my water changes were only about 15% because of how tiring it was.

 

[illusion54]

My danios never school and stay together. Usually they are found on the bottom of the tank instead of the top. I think schooling is a sign of stress more than a sign of good water.

 

[@ombomb]

Still high. No matter how many water changes I did, the nitrate were always HIGH (80 would have been wonderful! We are talking on the top end of the test-strip scale...).

Bloody hell!

Have you tested the water straight from the tap?

I'd say you'd be MUCH better off with a liquid test kit that strips.

 

[Lateral Line]

Normally a nitrate reading of 40 would get my "bloody hell", but 80 is astronomic. I agree with testing the tap water and using a different kit. Certainly that level of pollution would be enough to stress tetras into weird behaviour, and swimming around the surface would be atypical.

 

[pnyklr3]

There are no/low nitrates in the tap. I agree that the nitrates were astronomical! I had tried everything to bring them down" water changes, much less feeding, live plants. Nothing worked. I had even considered getting the ammonia chips that pull ammonia out of the water. My thought was" Less ammonia=less nitrite=less nitrate. But on the contrary, I could send my tank into a mini-cycle when the chips "were full."

It appears that either my test strips are faulty, or that the only way to handle the nitrates are DAILY 30% water changes. I feed every other day, generally.

My question is, why were my dwarf cichlids spawning if the conditions were so bad? Don't you think if the test strips were faulty, there would have been a reading on nitrates in the tap? Haven't lost a fish until this ich incident. Darn clown loaches, those ich-magnets.

EDIT: THe swimming wasn't at the surface, exactly. Just in the top level of the tank. Now they are using the whole thing, and sometimes preferring the bottom.