Fish are Bloated and Behaving Strangely

[ksimonsen]

I have a 60 gallon fish tank with...
4 Zebra Danios, 5 Neon tetras, 3 Peppered Cory Catfish,
2 Green Cory Catfish, 3 Dwarf Gouramis, 3 Wagtail Platies

Problem
I work from home so I am here with them all day. When I first got them they seemed to all hide under the faux tree roots (except the danios). At first I thought it was from the change of bringing them home and being in a different environment but now it is becoming troublesome. Then today I was looking them over and I realized one of the danios, all 3 Gouramis and one of the Wag tail platties looked bloated. When I did some research, it looked as though it could be malawi bloat, but it says the first symptom is loss of hunger and they never presented with a not wanting to eat. Also since being bloated the danio is being very aggressive towards the other danios. Also the gouramis have an increased gill rate.

Below Is Some Background Information:

I got some REALLY BAD information at the local pet store about cycling my tank. They said that with a 60 gal tank I could get all of them and cycle it with no problems, but since adding the fish there has been nothing but problems.

It's been 1-1/2 weeks since we got them and the ammonia shot up and has stayed up despite my best efforts. It seems to be hovering around 1 ppm with it sometimes going higher. I got the python and have been doing 25% - 50% water changes everyday. No matter what it cant seem to get it below 1 ppm. I wondered if my API test tube kit was giving false positive results due to the ammonia remover but it's the same or higher on Quick Dip test strips.

I have AquaClear 70 Power Filter and 300W submerge heater.

My temp has been steady at 77-78 degrees, and the pH seems to be holding at 7.0. My water is soft. The things I add regularly to the tank are Top Fin Ammonia Remover, API Water Conditioner, and Tetra FloraPride during water changes, and Cycle once a week.

The food I feed them is...
Aqueon Color Enhancing Tropical Flakes
Crude Protein: 42%, Crude Fat: 7%, Crude Fiber: 3%, Moisture: 8%,
Phosphorous: 1%
Hikari Tropocal Sinking Wafers
Crude Protein: 32%, Crude Fat: 5%, Crude Fiber: 3%, Moisture: 10%
Crude Ash: 12%, Phosphorous: 0.8%
I was also thinking of starting to feed them brine shrimp for variety.
I am trying to feed them a smaller amount of food to help the ammonia issue.

[pinkertd]

I think Malawi bloat is specific only to malawi cichlids. I'm not sure why they are looking bloated but you need to do more water changes to get that ammonia under control. Fish exposed to increased ammonia levels are not going to do well. It's sad that you got such bad info about from the LFS and the fish are the ones to suffer for it.

First, is your API test kit relatively new for accuracy or is it old? Might as well throw those test strips in the garbage, they are notoriously inaccurate.

Remember, whatever your ammonia level is at testing, an immediate 50% water change will cut that in half. So if you're reading is 1.0, a 50% water change is going to bring it down to .5. I would suggest to do a 50% water change to get it down to .5 and then after refilling, immediately do another 50% water change to bring it down to .25. Monitor the ammonia at least twice a day. If it has snuck up again at the second reading, do another 50% water change to get it down. Less ammonia is going to be less stress on the fish. You have to start taking your nitrite and nitrate readings so that you can determine when your cycle is beginning and completed. A cycle starts out with ammonia readings but no nitrite and no nitrate. Slowly the ammonia is converted by your filter into nitrite, which can be just as deadly to your fish, so continue the water changes religiously. As the filter begins to populate with the nitrifying bacteria that you need, to process ammonia, you will see the ammonia and nitrite levels fall and the nitrate begin to rise. When the cycle is finally completed, you will have readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and somewhere around 5-20 nitrate. Only when you have 0 ammonia and nitrite and are showing the nitrates is your cycle complete.

It is good to cut down on the food as much as you can so that there isn't any leftover waste food to feed that ammonia.

Do you know anyone in your area that also keeps freshwater fish tanks? The best solution would be to grab some established filter media from them to innoculate your filter with their good bacteria.

[Star_Rider]

:iagree:

[jpappy789]

Just for clarification, bloated but no pine cone shape?

Sounds like some sort of internal blockage. In addition to what Debbi said people recommend feeding peas to help flush out fish's digestive system.