Eeek new tank, dead fish!

[smatts]

Hey all,

I've had my tank up and running with plants for the last week or so, temp is around 76f, ph is 7.5-7.6.

So anyways, last night I went to get my first fish (I want to do fishy cycling) So I brought home 6 zebra danios.

Well the first thing I notice is that one of the fish appears to be missing his right "gill cover" as all i see there is a red splotch.
He is very active and eats and plays with the others.

But this morning I did a through examination on all the fish (hard to do with danios, they are nuts!) and I noticed that one had what looked like some small whiskers coming out near his mouth.

Well 3 hours after seeing that, he started to flip around and well die. It looked like he wasn't getting air as he would try to go to the top of the tank in his last fighting moments.

Anyone know what that might have been by his mouth??

Also I've noticed a few of my fish have lighter "whitish" lower lips, where some of my fish don't, is that an infection?

I didn't really want to start with 6 fish, but petcetera had them on sale buy 1 get 2 free.

[CHughes]

I believe the wiskers are normal for that breed of fish, so I wouldn't be concerned. As to the other symptoms, your tank will take about a month to cycle, so expect some fish deaths unless you are on top of monitoring the AM and NO2 spikes...that means doing treated water changes often to keep these down.

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

Yep i have 6 danios and they all have little 'whiskers' called barbells..... They put them out at night and when eating to find food i think and use them as feelers. Anyways, they are natural for danios to have.

You put your fish in last night and already one has died. It's probebly not an ammonia spike or anything... i think the fish probebly just died of shock. It happens sometimes when they go through drastic changes like being taken from a cycled tank and put into a strange uncycled one. The white spots on thier lip could be from them hitting the glass.

6 fish is a lot to start with in a 10 gallon. you never know what they went through in the lfs either.... like the gill cover being missing most likely happend before you got them. Just keep an eye on them and keep up with your water changes and you should be okay within a month.... hopefully with no more deaths. (but with fishy cycling it cant be unexpected).

HTH :)

[Drakerizzo]

smatts, sorry to hear about you fish.

Danios are very hardy fish therefore the fish probably was already diseased/stressed prior to bringing him home.

IMHO, if you are going to do a fishy cycle I would suggest a purchasing a quality water test kit. Regular water tests along with frequent water changes will go a long way to minimize fish death.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

[smatts]

Thanks for the replies, I currently have the Hagen Test Kits in PH, Ammonia, and Nitrite. I will be checking these daily for the next few weeks. If the ammonia gets crazy high I also bought an ammonia insert which I can add in my AC Mini, filter.

I didnt' know danios had whiskers, it was strange though, because that fish that had them showwing was the one that died.

The only other concern I have for my fish, is the temperature.

I have a Hagen Jumbo (it can float) but I have it suctioned under the water line and that is reading at 76f. I also have a stick on hagen LCD style, but that is only showing 74f (green). So I don't really know which one is correct. My Tronic 50w is set at like 73f (I Don't trust the knob for accuracy though).

Is 76f a good temperature for danios?? All the fish seem to be very active, constantly chasing each other around, and looking for food.

[Prometheus]

I don't personally like 'ammonia absorbers'... but just remember to take it out once it's absorbed all it can, otherwise, it has a tendency to 'seep' back out of those chip things...

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

I think anywhere in the mid 70's is okay. My tanks fluctuate temps between 72 and 76 between winter and summer and day and night, but mostly stays at 74. It's natural in the wild and so it shouldn't do any harm in the tanks. Your temps is fine.... :)

[daveedka]

Just an FYI, A stick on Thermometer is almost always going to read slightly different than a floating or suction cupped thermometer. Unless the air around the tank is exactly the same temp as the water there is heat being exchanged at the glass. IN A REAL PRACTICAL sense this doesn't matter unless you are outside normal ranges, or there is a huge differnce in room vs tank temp. Just don't be suprised to see your stick on read two degrees different than your other thermometer. Both are reading temp. that should be fine for your fish. I'ts like having two watches, one says it's 2 minutes untill noon, the other says it is noon. they disagree but either way it's still lunchtime.

[Cartman8779]

:confused:

I have a 29 gallon tank and have 6 Zebra Danios to go through the cycling stage. It is now 11 days in and so far everything is going occording to plan. My fish are doing just fine. Yet I have noticed that one of the danios (the largest one) seems to be fin nipping the other ones. It seems like he hones in on them when they pass by and he chases them. Is it something I should be concerned about. Nothing seems to be going wrong so I asume it's just playfullness. Also, my water seems to be very cloudy white. i know this is from a bacteria bloom and I added some stuff to clear up the water. Should I do this during the cycle or is it just natural and I should leave it alone?

Any help would be appreciated from one fish owner to another.

Thanks.

:)