Red Point Hondurans

[Volsavious]

The tank they're in now for the next couple days is a 20 gal. They're still relatively small as the male is only about 2in max.
The tank they're originally in is a 40gal and has been set up for about 4 months with having the fish for about 3 - 3.5 months.
The male seemed to be doing ok, he lost his stripes too but the red was still full on all fins. He was active, but not as much as he normally is, and breathing seemed slow too, but not as severe as the female.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I can almost guarantee you they were suffering from poor water quality.
We can fix it, no problem, let us know when your test kit comes in....in the meantime, heed Colin's advice
Were you doing regular WC's? Bucket, siphon?
Are you preserving your filter media BB (beneficial bacteria) in old tank water, or treated water, during the WC's?

 

[Volsavious]

I was doing weekly water changes around 40-50% and use a siphon. And clean the filter internals in the old tank water to get the debris out, and put it into the new water, not running it under tap water at all.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Good. You never want uneaten food laying around, bad for water params...your fish don't need feeding every day, I feed mine every other, only an amount they can eat in a few minutes..
What kind of filtration? Have you ever cleaned the filters?

 

[Volsavious]

I'm using a Top Fin Silentstream 40 Power Filter, and squeeze out the filter pads during every clean and replace them every 4 weeks.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I'm not familiar with that filter, but don't replace those pads...clean them in old tank water, and reuse them, until they are no longer usable.

Many filter companies advise "replacing" filter media, because they want to sell more product.....$$$

But most of the time, IME, you are tossing away valuable BB colonies away that keeps your tank stable in the first place.

That's what biological filter media is for, to grow and maintain our BB...and it comes in many forms.

Seeded media is the "heartbeat" of every successful tank, without it, most don't support fauna for long.

 

[Volsavious]

Ok that's good to know that's actually going to save me some good money lol.
Thanks for all the help, I'll update in a few days once I get ready to put them back in their main tank.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Sounds good, keep us updated.

 

[Colin_T]

I'm using a Top Fin Silentstream 40 Power Filter, and squeeze out the filter pads during every clean and replace them every 4 weeks.

If you get a sponge for another type of filter, you can cut the sponge with a pr of scissors and when the filter pad starts to fall apart, replace it with the sponge. If you have several filter pads, replace one with a sponge and wait a few months, then replace the other. That way you keep half the beneficial filter bacteria and the fish should be good.

You might even be able to put some sponge in the filter with the current filter pads.

Sponges will last for years and get squeezed out in a bucket of tank water and re-used.