What are these?

[richelesro]

I got a set of three Marigold Wag Swordtails about 4 months ago. I've since moved them into a larger tank with live plants. For awhile, there have been some objects in the filter and water that I can only describe as "fuzzy". I'm not sure where they're coming from, so any help is appreciated.

For some recent history, two of the fish grew their swords, so now I have two males and one female in a 5 gallon aquarium with a filter. I had two plants, but one was losing all its needles/leaves, so I removed it the day before these pictures were taken. Since then, these objects showed up during the day in a far corner from the filter pickup.

Here are two pics:

Close-up of the objects (sorry for the quality; pictures through plastic and all):

Thank you for any help. I've had fish when I was a kid, but I could never keep them alive. These three are hanging in there well, and I'd like to find out what these are because they confuse me so much. Could they be eggs or something? But then I thought these were live-bearers. I'm not opposed to breeding if it happens, but I'm not going to push it.

 

[Joviella]

don't know if i am seeing things but they kind of look like fry to me.........

 

[tstenback]

THey look like premature/aborted fry that are starting to fungus.

 

[Joviella]

they do.......that would explain the fuzziness!!!

 

[richelesro]

What would have caused this?

 

[tstenback]

with 2 males and one female in the tank it is a good bet that the constant harassment from the males could have caused it, if indeed that is what has happened. Usually for livebearers the minimum grouping is 2 females per male otherwise the female will stress out with the constant attention and either get sick or possibly abort if she is pregnant. HTH

 

[richelesro]

So maybe get 2 or 3 more females? Here's the questions on that:

1. Will that overdo the tank (5 gal)?

2. I tried to get all females originally from Petco. I guess they were too young to have their tails, so we couldn't tell the difference. Is there a way to definitely get all females? How can you tell if they're young, or how can you tell if they're too young to tell?

 

[nightlife20]

i wouldnt get any more fish into that tank if i was u, why dont u simply take back one of the males and get a female in exchange?


also id get a syphon an clean that up if u already havnt... that amount of waste will only help poison ur fish

 

[jams.alaskan]

That's strange - it looks like uneaten, rotten food to me and it needs to be siphoned out.

ALASKA

 

[wrs]

a better idea is return that tank and get a 10 gallon 1 at walmart, its probly the same or less then what u paid, $30. i was going 2 get 1 but i found a 15 on sale somewere else.

 

[richelesro]

I'll get it out tonight. I can't return the male because I bought them months ago and I doubt they'd be willing to trade. Maybe remove a male into another bowl/tank and get another female?

 

[wrs]

the fish minght die in a bowl, they need all aeration, heater, filter, etc. maybe u can give the male to a friend or someone else w/a tank for holding until u can get a bigger tank for more.

 

[nightlife20]

hes got a filter in there...

it is a good idea to upgrade tho


u know u want to that little voice is sayin in ur head 'must buy more tanks'

 

[richelesro]

Aye, the voice is there and nagging, but there's another voice saying "Rent comes first." The second voice wins easily. Besides, I'm still doing my learning, so I'd rather not have something too big. This is a good size for what I need to learn before getting a big tank. Some day, I'd like to get a big salt water aquarium, but that's waaay in the future.

 

[fishn00b]

So, if the one male was removed in a seperate bowl, it would not be possible for him to live? I don't think that Petco takes returns/exchanges on used fish ...

The female is still very large.. is it possible that there are still fry in her .. yet to be born? If we did seperate them, would she calm down, and have the rest..?