FishProfiles.com Message Forums

My tank is cycles, my water parameters are good. I can only guess that the fish brought something home form the store with the. I'm not sure what it is, but I have lost two of my 6 harleqines, though neither seemed to be haveing problems. When I checked them out after they died, thier jaws looked a little strange, almost like part was missing. I don't know what would cause this, but I was wondering if anyone could tell me what it is, and how I should treat it so the rest of my new fish don't die.

I need to know soon though, because I ordered some shrimp online, and I want to get my tank cleared up before they get here...I know a lot of medications are hard on invertibrates..

Please post tank size, tank mates, and all water perimiters

Inky

Amonia 0. Nitrates 0 (or at least, less then .3 mg/l). PH 7.5. Nitrates between 25 and 50 mg/l.
Yeah, I know the nitrates are high, my nitrates are always high. I think its the tap water,, since I just did a major water change 3 days ago (just before I got my fish)

Do you need to know the water hardness? and KH or GH or both if you do? (I only have so many test tubes...)

Tank size is 10 gallons, filters are 2 duetto minis (they are both rated for 10 gallons, but I figured it was better to go with a little more filtration, then potentialy not quite enough) There is an air stone, though I have the bubbles turned down low. Fish are not showing signs of needing more air. Umm, no plants in the tank yet, though I am planing on it.

Anything else you need to know?

Edit: opps, forgot the critters. There are now 4 harlequin rosbaras, and 2 cherry barbs. I was advised on a previous thread that 6 harlequins, 2 cherry barbs, and a small colony of shrimp would work well. I havent gotten the shrimp yet. LFS doesn't carry them, so I ordered them online. The guy is shipping them on monday.


Edit: Yeah, I just tested my tap water...Nitrates are at about 12.5 mg/l strait form the tap.

If the nitrates in the tank are near 50...thats a little too high. That could have killed the harlies, but they are actually pretty hardy fish. You mention the jaw abnormality. I'm wondering if they may have had a disease.

Do any of your other harlies have the jaw problem?

I'm not really sure what you should treat for. Try posting on the hospital forum.

Did their jaws have any fungus (white growth)?

Sorry I can't help anymore, I've just never heard of this. Hopefully someone has seen this before and can help you out more!

*Kristin*

It is very difficult to exactly say what the problem is as it could be a fish problem or a water problem.

To start of with live plants will help with the water. Also increase the air flow to full this will help to airate the water. Have you done any filter maintenaince if so did you clean it in the tank water. Also add some Bio starter (cycle) at each water change this will assist in keeping the good bacteria in its origional state.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

keithgh:
My tank is cycled. The only paremeter that is high is the nitrates, and nothing eats them (well, plants do, but I understand that you need a fairly heavily planted tank for it to make much difference).
Also, I have read many times, both on forums and research i did on my own, that items like Cycle are a waste of money. They don't do anything, because the bacteria that the tank needs requires oxegyn, and has no suspended state...so Cycle doesn't actualy have any of them in it, they wouldnt survive.

I do plan on planting my tank, I am going to get plants tomarrow. I held off because i had done no research on them. No, I have not done any filter maintence. I have only had the fish for three days, the filters certainly arent clogged yet! I dont think the filters will have accumulated much in the way of dirt before the fish were introduced (I did a fishless cycle).


GirlieGirl8519 wrote
Did their jaws have any fungus (white growth)?

Yeah, I did notice something that looked white near thier mouths. I didn't recognize it as fungus..none of my other fish have suffered from it.
None of the surviving fish show any signs of it, but as a precaution I have treated the tank with a "Fungus Clear" tablet, produced by "Jungle".
At a guess, my fishies brought the problem home with them from the store. On other occasions (it has been almost 2 years since I bought fish) I have just went ahead and treated the tank as a precaustion...but i didnt do that this time, because so many people seem to be against ttreating an entire tank, instead of just one fish.

*Sigh* I have brough home sick fish, unknowingly, from this LFS before...they have so many tanks that I suppose they can't keep up with all of them. But they also have the biggest variety. My other options would have been Superpetz, and Petsmart....Superpetz's fish are usualy in visibly poor condition, and Petsmart is rather far away, and my mom gives me a hard time about shopping there because they carry a brand of pet products that she is boycotting. Their fish always seem very healthy, but thier selection is limited too, I doubt they would have had the Harlequins.

Hi,
You really need to get another tank, say 20G, and outfit
it as a QT tank. I would set it up with places for the
fish to "hide" or call their own territories, and keep
just a 1/2 inch to an inch of gravel on the bottom.
Toss a couple of live bearers in the tank or something
really hardy that schools, about 1 -2 inches long to
keep the nitrogen cycle running inbetween "guests."

Isolate the new fish in that tank for several weeks,
a month or so, and then shift them over to the main
tank using correct acclimation procedures.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks for the advice Frank, but I definitly dont have room for another 20 gallon. (im in a college appartment, 3 other girls, and they need room for thier pets too)
Besides, there werent any fish in this tank untill wednesday. Its a brand new tank (yes, I cycled it, fishless cycle, took about three weeks), so I didnt have to worry about new fish making old fish sick. There wasnt anything to quarentine them from yet.

When I have my own place, I have every intention of setting up a large tank, so the two I have now (A 10 gallon and a 20 gallon) can be set aside for quarentien and such.

Question though: What do you do with the fish that live in the quarentien tank to keep it cycled, when you need to quarentien another fish?

Hi,
I understand your "temporary housing situation."
I would leave the permanent residents in the tank even
during the QT period.
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--