red gills

[bman1985]

Well I have one fish who seems to have some red above the gills...not sure of the type exactly, some kind of tetra, and she seems to swim sideways once in a while . Another fish I thought died yesterday, it was stuck to the filter, but when I went to take it out..he swam away but not very well, its been sitting at the top of the tank and having troble swiming, the filter's water pushes it around..Its a fancy guppie, are they sick..what should I do..I've had them a month and no problems, but all the sudden they aren't lookin so hot

 

[SarahBravo]

Have you tested the water recently? If the water readings are okay it may be a disease, but I would get the water readings taken first. If you don't have a test kit usually your local fish shop (lfs) will check them if you take them a sample.

What size is the tank, what fish are in there, is the tank cycled? Sorry for so many questions but we need as much info as possible to give advice.

Hope the fishies hang on in there.

Sarah

 

[bman1985]

Water nitrate and nitrite were high ph and kh were good 10 gallon tank, 2 tetras, 2 fancy guppies, 2 upside down catfish, and an algae eater, not sure what you mean by cycled tank..

 

[sunflower]

How long has the tank been set up?

 

[SarahBravo]

Ok, the first thing you need to do is a water change - take out 30% of the water in your tank and then put back in dechlorinated water at the same temp as your tank. Then you need to check out the pinned topics on cycling in the 'Beginner' section here.

Basically the uneaten food in your tank and all your fishes' waste products become ammonia, which is extremely toxic to fish and can build up very quickly to fatal levels. Tanks gradually build up bacteria which convert the ammonia into nitrIte. This is still very toxic. More bacteria build up which turn the NitrIte into nitrate, which is not as toxic but must be removed regularly through partial water changes. Once all the bacteria have built up and can convert ALL the ammonia to nitrAte, then your tank is cycled and your fish should be healthy providing you take out the nitrate thru water changes once a week/fortnight. The pinned topics will explain this and what you need to do during this process much better than I can.

Hopefully some more experienced people will post with advice about how to treat the sick fish. Hope they get better soon.

Sarah

 

[bman1985]

Tank has been going strong for more than a month... had it running a week before I put any fish in. fish were fine the whole time. Had done 2 partial water changes in that month, only about 10-20% each time though. I put that easy balance chemical in. I did about a 40% water change last night but it didn't reduce my nitrite/trate levels by much at all still bright pink on the test strips. my tap water does not test high for either of them, and I had run the water through a filter before I put it in the tank.

 

[sunflower]

Definately continue with the water changes.

Any chance of getting any more mature filter media from anywhere? Maybe your lfs would give you some. Put this in your filter. It should help.

 

[bman1985]

Ifs

 

[SarahBravo]

lfs = local fish shop..... took me a while to get that one too!

 

[bman1985]

ah ha, it was an l, lol theres one across the way, I'll try tomorrow