My Pictus's Are Dying! Help!

[Rensky]

Well I appreciate anyones opinion, My Black shark is only about 2 inches, and thats being generous same as my pictus's lol, I thought they all looked so small in my tank, do they grow to be pretty big?

 

[CFC]

Even when a tank is running perfectly there is no reason to feed more than once a day and the majority of experienced fish keepers starve the fish for one or two days in a week to give them time to empty their bowels and the filtration to catch up with any uneaten food that the fish may have missed.

Unfortunately the black shark has an adult size of around 2 feet, the plec around a foot and the kissers around 8 inches each, the pims are more suitable than the others at around 6 inches each and the danios only grow to around 2 inches, which is another problem as the pictus are likely to eat any fish under 3 inches once they are large enough. But these are all things to discuss later, for now lets just concentrate on getting the tank on track and the fish healthy.

 

[Fawke]

Hi there,

Just to add my positive 2 pence worth.....

I was in exactly the same position as you a couple of years back..
I had 1 pictus who was in a bad way after i added 10 fish (including him and a plec) to a new tank without being warned of "the cycle".

That same pictus is still swimming about in my tank just fine and is now joined by a few more.
So keep up the water changes, however tiresome they maybe sometimes, and they may just be alright!

Top advice here - these guys have helped me through some proper sticky situations.....

Good luck!

 

[Rensky]

hey Fawke
Thanks for the words of encouragement, it's nice to hear there may be hope!

 

[Fishy412]

Even when a tank is running perfectly there is no reason to feed more than once a day and the majority of experienced fish keepers starve the fish for one or two days in a week to give them time to empty their bowels and the filtration to catch up with any uneaten food that the fish may have missed.

Unfortunately the black shark has an adult size of around 2 feet, the plec around a foot and the kissers around 8 inches each, the pims are more suitable than the others at around 6 inches each and the danios only grow to around 2 inches, which is another problem as the pictus are likely to eat any fish under 3 inches once they are large enough. But these are all things to discuss later, for now lets just concentrate on getting the tank on track and the fish healthy.

i dont doubt that pims will eat smaller fish as ive had a few swallow a neon before but they will almost never do it on purpose if at all. i put around 12 feeders in my tank yesterday and even after small ones swimming in front of my pims noses they didnt go after them.

 

[CFC]

Give it time, if there are smaller fish in a tank with pims they will be eaten eventually. Pims are predators and it is their natural instinct to catch and eat smaller fish, it might take them a couple of months to work out how to catch them but when they do they will slowly disappeer over the space of a few nights.

 

[Fishy412]

Give it time, if there are smaller fish in a tank with pims they will be eaten eventually. Pims are predators and it is their natural instinct to catch and eat smaller fish, it might take them a couple of months to work out how to catch them but when they do they will slowly disappeer over the space of a few nights.

yeah i know they'll get eaten eventually but i dont think its really in their nature to go after smaller fish as food. so far ive had a pair of neons get eaten but even that took a few months.

and they could not catch my danio. they were in the same tank for a year. it never got attacked or anything by them. then i added a lima and it finished it off in about a day. i think danios may be fast enough to not get eaten. im mine are fat pigs so that may contribute to it

 

[Bloo]

Give it time, if there are smaller fish in a tank with pims they will be eaten eventually. Pims are predators and it is their natural instinct to catch and eat smaller fish, it might take them a couple of months to work out how to catch them but when they do they will slowly disappeer over the space of a few nights.

yeah i know they'll get eaten eventually but i dont think its really in their nature to go after smaller fish as food.

Yes, without a doubt it is
Once when my pictus was younger I added adult 10 neons - within an hour there were 9. By the end of the day the last one was gone to.

 

[Fishy412]

Give it time, if there are smaller fish in a tank with pims they will be eaten eventually. Pims are predators and it is their natural instinct to catch and eat smaller fish, it might take them a couple of months to work out how to catch them but when they do they will slowly disappeer over the space of a few nights.

yeah i know they'll get eaten eventually but i dont think its really in their nature to go after smaller fish as food.

Yes, without a doubt it is
Once when my pictus was younger I added adult 10 neons - within an hour there were 9. By the end of the day the last one was gone to.

i think mine just may be accustomed to being fed regularly then. i put in small tuffies as feeders and they swim all around my pictus's and the pims dont go after em or even give em a second look

 

[Bloo]

Give it time, if there are smaller fish in a tank with pims they will be eaten eventually. Pims are predators and it is their natural instinct to catch and eat smaller fish, it might take them a couple of months to work out how to catch them but when they do they will slowly disappeer over the space of a few nights.

yeah i know they'll get eaten eventually but i dont think its really in their nature to go after smaller fish as food.

Yes, without a doubt it is
Once when my pictus was younger I added adult 10 neons - within an hour there were 9. By the end of the day the last one was gone to.

i think mine just may be accustomed to being fed regularly then. i put in small tuffies as feeders and they swim all around my pictus's and the pims dont go after em or even give em a second look

Sorry, meat to say, within an hour there was 1 - so 9 neons eaten in under an hour.
Not a chance to be taken by anyone.

 

[Rensky]

Well wanted to let you know my Pictus's are still kicking, how I don't know because every couple hours they seem to be near death, but then they perk up, today they seem alot better, but i lost a lot of fish the last coupkle days, danio's are dropping like flies, my pleco died and so did my black shark, and they seemed the strongest!
Heres a question, I know my fish are really sick and the treatments that I gave them were terrible things to do, but they are still alive and they were really bad, but now the pictus's whiskers are curling up in ringlets, what does this mean??

 

[bunjiweb]

If they are curling up this could be nitrite poisoning, keep up with the water changes as best you can and they may pull through.
Its a shame that you lost the other stuff but you would have only been taking them back to the shop anyway. Remember, DONT get any new fish at all until your pictus have been happy and healthy in the tank for at least a month.

Ben

 

[Fawke]

As bunjiweb said the fish could have nitrite poisoning....

Mine also have curly whiskers for a few weeks when my kribs are breeding, the kribs pretty much take over the whole tank when they breed and the pictus get a little restless.
They generally do it when they are stressed and / or the water quality is bad.

As previous advise has mentioned, keep up the water changes and keep up the water testing!