Newbie: Pleco With White Patch On Chest.

[ciaranm]

Hi,
I have just inherited a tank with fish (Biorb 30L, 1 angelfish, 1 common plec and 3 rasboras)
I have never had fish before so I am reading up as much as I can but I have noticed the plec has a pale patch on its chest.
I am not sure if this has come on on the last few days since I have had the fish.
I kept about a third to half the original water and have added some plants. There was only some glass beads and a couple of stones in there when i got it so I added plants and made some caves for the fish to hide in.
tetra test 6 in 1 reads...
NO3 50 (25 yesterday!)
NO2 1
GH 16
KH 3
PH 6.4 (6.8 yesterday)
CL2 0

I was expecting adding the plants (tape grass) to lower the nitrates. could the wife adding her shell be doing it? and also could that be making it more acidic?
any way, here's the plec.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Hi there, welcome to the forum

I've got a liiiittle bit of bad news for you - sorry! Those fish are WAY wrong for your tank. Your pleco will grow to be a foot long easily and your angel fish gets big as well and needs a tall swimming space for it's "feelers" to have plenty of room. I hate to say it but I reccomend you find another home for your fish or get a MUCH bigger tank. Like....3 ft long? The plec will still outgrow even that. Your local fish store will probably take them for you, maybe even for a store credit?

Your big clue that you are overstocked is your nitrite (No2) is supposed to be 0. A level of 1 is harmful to your fish and you should change out as much water as you can (only leave enough water for the fish to swim upright).

I'm not sure what the white mark is on your pleco, it could be a heater burn? You'll need to change the water and keep it very clean if you want it to heal.

Your nitrates aren't as much of a concern but you do need to get a test that reads ammonia, I'd bet you that with all of those fish in there it is far too high (as plecos are very messy fish!). The test strips aren't very accurate so I reccomend you get a liquid test kit, for example, the API kit.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi, ciaranm, to the forum.

I'd just like to say that Alm0stAwesome is 100% right with their advice. The only fish you have that might be alright in a BiOrb are the rasboras. Everything else is going to have to move before their health starts to suffer

 

[ciaranm]

Thanks for the quick replies and the advice.
Looks like setting up a new tank for them is going to be the only way then.
I feared as much.
So here's my plan...
get a new tank and set that up ready to cycle.
get a liquid test kit and be as vigilant as possible while their new home is being made ready.
I reckon i can do a 50%+ water change and the angel will still be able to swim upright. how often can i do this?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

You can do water changes a couple of times a day really. Just try and match the temperature of the new water to the tank as closely as you can (a few degrees difference doesn't matter)

Also, depending on how long the biorb has been set up, you may not need to cycle the new tank. You could just move the filter media (sponges or ceramic media..not sure what the biorb filtration is like...) from the biorb into the new filter in your new tank and then you don't need to cycle again

Have a look on ebay and gumtree for some used tanks, you can get a good deal that way

 

[fluttermoth]

Don't forget to use a dechlorinator on the new water.

Just to go back to your first post; you need a lot of plants to see any reduction in nitrate, but 50ppm is nothing to worry about anyway.

The shell will dissolve over time and make the water harder and slightly more alkaline, rather than acidify it. Nitrate is acidic though, and with large fish in a small tank, that'll be enough to be dropping the pH. But, that's not really a problem either; the fish you have a quite tolerant of differing pH levels.

Forget about pH and nitrate for the moment, and concentrate on the ammonia (which you should try and get a test kit for if you can) and the nitrite.

 

[ciaranm]

Right, I'm on it. Searching for a suitable (cheap) tank and accessories.
Off to get some proper test stuff now. Tested the strips with plain water and the PH read as 6.4 so I think those strips may be old.
We're quite used to this as our house seems to be the local depository for unwanted animals, although this is the first time we've had fish. The fish and tank have come from a friend of a friend who is moving to Australia next week and he'd threatened to flush them. Looking at the environment and care that these fish need it is obvious they were there purely for ornamental reasons and their welfare was a poor second.
Whenever we take on an animal we want to do the best for it and give it a happy life. If we can do that for the fish then all well and good but if they have to go somewhere else then that's that.
Thanks for all the help and I'll be back on soon to let you know how we've gone on.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Great news So glad you found the forum, we love good animal lovers like you! My house is similar! When I was a kid every spring we got inundated with kittens and baby squirrels that had fallen out of their nests i had a fantastic pet flying squirrel for years (grew up in America)

 

[ciaranm]

Sounds a lot like my childhood home! No flying squirrels though.
Here's the results from the API liquid tests

Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0


I have binned the strips.

 

[fluttermoth]

That's great

Keep up the water changes until you can sort out a larger tank and you should be fine

 

[xingumike]

Seriously?

Someone kept a common and an angel in a biorb??

Advice above is good, what size tank are you sourcing?

 

[ciaranm]

Advice above is good, what size tank are you sourcing?

4ft I reckon. Dependent on price distance etc. Our previous addition, a 16 week old pup, came to us in quite a state and has cost a fortune in vet bills so we're low on spare cash at the moment.

That's great

Keep up the water changes until you can sort out a larger tank and you should be fine

Thanks fluttermoth, glad I found this forum. I'm sure I'll be back on here for more advice in the future.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Well stick around in the meantime reading up in the beginner's section and stuff - it's amazing the info you will soak up in a short period of time

 

[xingumike]

Unless it is a 4x2x2 minimum you get I would just try and rehome it, otherwise you are going to have the same problem in the not too distant future.