Unhappy Swordtail :(

[Mafro]

As some of you know im new to the world of fish keeping, and unfortunately started my tank off with bottled product instead of cycling.
I read through some of the articles, and my tank seemed to have cycled through the addition of the sera product. The ammonia had risen, the nitrites then rose, ammonia dropped and the nitrates rose, a few days later the nitrites had totally gone. I have an API test kit, and test the water everyday.
My tank seemed stable, and I talked to my local fish shop where I had bought my tank and was told that I was ready to start slowly adding fish.

I purchased 6 swordtails, being told that they were good starter fish, and hardy with new water conditions. Unfortunately I have 3 males to 3 females which from reading on here is a pretty terrible fish ratio.

I've had the fish for 16 days now, and have kept a close eye on the water conditions, and have been performing regular water changes of 25 - 30% of the water on an almost daily basis (Probably 9 out of 10 days I have changed this percent of water) Im also using API stress coat to condition the new water, and am trying to keep the tempreture of the new water the same as the tank water to try my best to keep the stress levels down.

Now one of my male sword tails has seemed a bit down over the past few days, and yesterday I noticed that his tail fin seemed a bit tatty. Today I have come home from work and his tail fin looks a bit worse, there seems to be a chunk taken out of the top of it, he still has the stord part in tact. He is also hovering in the top corner of the tank most of the time.

The other 5 fish are swimming round like normal, and always come to the top when I open the lid to test the water thinking that I'm going to feed them. All of them look very healthy, no tatty fins so I dont think its fin rot. Could it be that this male is getting bullied?

Any suggestions, or advise would be greatly received as the poor little fella doesn't seem to happy at the moment.

My tank stats are as follows, I tested the water about 20 mins ago.

PH - 8
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 40

Yesterday

PH - 8
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate 40
(30% water changed)

Monday

PH - 8
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate 40
(30% water changed)

Sorry if I have babbled on a bit, but wanted to give as much information as possible

 

[Mafro]

I've been watching the fish closly for the past half hour or so, and they really do seem to be picking on this fish, one of the females especially is nipping at him, mainly going for his pec fins.
He is spending a lot of time laying on the gravel on the bottom of the tank now, and slowly lays down on his side until one of them comes along and nips at him again when he darts about the tank trying to get away.

I'm guessing that this is my fault for getting such a bad ratio of males to females, but is there anything that I can do for this poor guy as I dont see him making it through the night this way

 

[Nicolas]

I've been watching the fish closly for the past half hour or so, and they really do seem to be picking on this fish, one of the females especially is nipping at him, mainly going for his pec fins.
He is spending a lot of time laying on the gravel on the bottom of the tank now, and slowly lays down on his side until one of them comes along and nips at him again when he darts about the tank trying to get away.

I'm guessing that this is my fault for getting such a bad ratio of males to females, but is there anything that I can do for this poor guy as I dont see him making it through the night this way

I don't get it. Usually its the other way around. The female swordtails are not known to be agressive towards the males. Is this fish the smallest one. The only real solution is to quarantine him and put him on some medicine to help him repair his fins. Also, try to lower your nitrates. With nitrates at fourty you will start to have algae blooms. High nitrates are not good. Oxygen can get depleted at 40 ppm of nitrates. Swordtails like moderately hard water but a ph of 8 is a little high. What is your GH or KH?

 

[dwarfgourami]

In many parts of the world, 40 ppm nitrates is what comes out of the tap, Nicholas. Shouldn't be a major problem unless you are keeping extremely sensitive fish.

A ph of 8 is also what you can expect if you live, for instance, in the South of England. Most species adapt well to this, certainly shouldn't be a problem with swordtail.

 

[Nicolas]

In many parts of the world, 40 ppm nitrates is what comes out of the tap, Nicholas. Shouldn't be a major problem unless you are keeping extremely sensitive fish.

A ph of 8 is also what you can expect if you live, for instance, in the South of England. Most species adapt well to this, certainly shouldn't be a problem with swordtail.

I live in Panama City, Florida, United States of America.

dwarfgourami we both agree that this fish should be quarantined, right?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the nitrite reading indicates the tank has not fully cycled, this is what's causing the problems, keep up the daily water changes until it goes. add some melafix to the tank which will speed up the healing process of the torn fin

 

[Mafro]

Thanks all for your responces.
Unfortunately this morning the fish had died
All the others look healthy, all of their fins are fine, they are active, and feed very well.
I shall keep a very close eye on them, and will continue to test and change the water every day.
Once again thats very much for your help

 

[Miss Wiggle]

sorry to hear that

unfortunatley a lot of these cycle products don't work that well, as you can see you still have a nitrite reading which you shouldn't have if the tank was fully cycled.

it's unfortunate but don't be too disheartened, learn from your mistakes and you'll be fine.

RIP

 

[Mafro]

I have again tested my water, and ammonia levels and Nitrite levels are both on 0 for the second day running, with Nitrates being at 40

Fish seem fine, and scoffed down their dinner. I think that as the other fish was smaller then the rest that they bullied him