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Hello,

I really hope someone here will offer some suggestions. I have a new 55 gallon tank (set up for ~1 month). The tank is planted with low light plants. I do not run CO2 and have not started any fertilizers yet. Current fish residents are 6 neon tetras, 3 pristella tetras, 2 black phantom tetras and 6 panda corys. The tetras were moved in from an established 20 gallon tank about 3 weeks ago and the corys were added about 1 week ago (after a 2 week quarantine).

All fish are doing very well except for the male black phantom tetra. He has eaten very little for the past 2+ weeks and I have not seen him eat anything at all for the past few days.

Outwardly he looks okay; decent color, no clamped or tattered fins, no discolorations, spots, lumps or signs of fungus. His behavior seems about the same as usual with the exception that he's actually been making some mating overtures towards the female black phantom (dancing around her displaying his long dorsal and anal fins).

I've had him for about 2.5 months and he's always been a rather timid fish, but he ate well in the smaller 20 gallon tank. When I first moved him to the larger tank he was still eating although his appetite started to drop off soon after the move. I did notice that when I cleaned the filter (Rena Filstar XP3)4 days ago, he seemed a bit more active than normal the following day and even took one small bite of food, but by the next day he was back to no interest. I checked the filter media again tonight just to make sure that it wasn't starting to get dirty already, and it looked fine (I have foam pads in the bottom tray, ceramic rings in the middle tray, and quilt batting in the top tray).

I feed my fish both flake and frozen food. Yesterday I picked up some of Seachem's Garlic Guard and soaked some frozen food in it to see if that would stimulate the black phantom's appetite. The other fish went wild for the garlicky food; the black phantom ate nothing.

I perform small water changes once a week (10-15%) and test water parameters every 2 to 3 days as this tank is still becoming established. Parameters as of yesterday:

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm
pH: 7.4
KH: 5 deg
GH: 10 deg
Temp: 79 deg F

The only other thing going on with the tank at the moment is a bit of a brown diatom algae bloom (My first attempt at getting otocinclus to live through the quarantine period failed but I'm about to try again...).

I apologize for the length of this post. I'm trying to include anything that might have any pertinence at all.

Does anyone have any idea of what might be going on with my fish? Any suggestions for getting him to eat??

Thanks very much for any assistance!!

Might simply be that the shoal size is too small, and in a bigger tank the fish is really starting to feel vulnerable without some buddies. If the new tank is brighter,or more sparsely decorated this could add to stress too.

Don't apologise for the size of the text, better too much info than not enough, especially if youre not sure whats going to be relevant.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 04-Dec-2005 02:03

Firstly the info you have given is a big help and can save a lot of time if all the info is there.

I would think it could be a stress problem does he have an area he can call his own. Add some Stress Coat (or similar name) this "might" help try his favourite food away from the others if that is possible. I might be a touch of constipation if that is the case a squashed cooked pea will help. But it mainly think it is a stress factor.

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

[link=Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tanks]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/Betta%20desktop%20tank/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

Keith

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Thanks for the responses, longhairedgit and keithgh! I appreciate you taking the time to read through my information.

Longhairedgit, I am planning to add some more Black Phantoms to the mix, but I was going to try and get some otos in there first, as I do have some nice algae growth starting in the tank (in retrospect, I should have added otos before those adorable little corys, but I'm still new to aquarium keeping; live and learn!). Do you think I should add the Phantoms first? The lighting is definitely brighter than the 20 gallon was, but the fish actually have more hiding places than before and live plants as opposed to the fake ones in the smaller tank. I have Eco-Complete substrate and a black background on the aquarium which should make the fish happier than the lighter gravel they used to live with.

Keithgh, I will get some Stress Coat today. I just did another small water change in the tank last night, and as with the last change and filter cleaning a few days ago, this morning the fish is more active; not lurking in the plants like he usually does. He didn't eat anything, but he did show more curiosity and was out and about as the other fish ate. I don't know if this indicates that he's overly sensitive to water quality (the female Black Phantom is totally thriving in the tank and has a terrific appetite...), but in any case, the water quality has never been bad per se.

Do you guys think there would be any benefit to moving him to my quarantine tank? It's set up and awaiting the addition of some new otocinclus, but I could hold off on purchasing them. I don't know how else to assure that he can get to food before the other fish do, but I do worry that isolating him will just stress him out even more.

I will try the Stress Coat today and if you have any other ideas, I will happily incorporate those as well!

Thanks again for your responses!

Given the circumstances I might add more phantoms before the cories go in, cories will still add bioload to the filter even if they are scavenging well, and you can prevent water spikes by just doing a bit of vacuuming without cories present.Cories may reduce the amount of unwanted food on the bottom, but their eating it will still mean by-products from their venting and ammonia from their gills the same as any other fish. Its advantageous to gradually build the population up in small groups, but the choice of fish doesnt matter that much as far as bio-load is concerned.

Thanks for replying, Longhairedgit. I will get a few more Black Phantoms this week and see if that perks my boy up at all. I did feed my fish live brine shrimp tonight, and I think he actually ate a few. He was certainly darting around with the rest of the fish when I initially put the shrimp in the tank. Hopefully a few more of his own kind will make him feel more happy and secure.

Thanks for the suggestion and wish me luck!

Good luck!

BTW , With NTD about, make sure youre quarantining new tetras or have secured a source you know to be free of the disease.

Will do. Thanks!!