having some problems need some help

[crystalawrence]

hi all, im new here. im having some problems with my new 7 tinfoil barbs and 2 silver dollars. one of my silver dollars died yesterday sadsad ... and 1 of my tinfoil barb has i long line at its scale.. i dunno whether is fungles or cut leh, cause i have breaks in my fish tank... and some of my tinfoil barb also got abit of white dot, and i dunno wat izzit.. most important is that "i dun see them eat at all" is already been 1 week le.. i feed them in the morning and when i come back from work they still didnt finish the food. they also start to become more aggressive. please i really need some help...

[Lorazoo]

How old is the tank? How big is it? How long was the tank running before you added the fish? What are your water parameters? We need more info please.

[hondamx]

Watch them for like 10 mins when you feed them. What are you feeding them??? I think the white dot are ich. Here's a couple good websites.
http://www.nunnie.com/ick.html
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/ich.htm
hope that helps.

[crystalawrence]

im not sure how old is the tank, but quit old liao, is a 4ft tank, my wife got koi in the tank last time but died liao :(.. than i change more than half of the water...than put the fish inside liao...

[1_luv_betta]

did u cycle it?

[crystalawrence]

sorry, wat u mean cycle it?

[100gw]

Before you start over with replacing the fish in your tank you should have cycled it for awhile. It sounds like you have a 55G (being its 4ft. long). Cycling should be done before putting any new fish in your aquarium. Cycling = running your tank (filter, air pump, whatever) for a week or two or three and then adding your fish. Test your water parameters with a test kit and hope for the best.

[Lorazoo]

To have a healthy tank you need to do a 25-50% water change every week. You need to have good filtration and you need to test your water for Ammonia, pH, nitrite, Nitrate, and hardness to really know what state it is in. Sounds to me like maybe the tank wasn't too healthy and you just threw these fish in there. When they talk about cycling the tank they mean to make sure there is a bacteria colony present which will be able to eat up all of the harmful waste that the fish produce. Sounds like you need to do some research maybe?

Your water probably wasn't the best when you added the fish. you might also be overfeeding them. They might have ich which is a parasite which will kill the fish if not treated. You really need to test your water and tell us what the results are. we cannot tell what condition your tank is in without any information.

Maybe go talk with a local fish store and find out what you need to keep the tank healthy. if you do have ich do not add any more fish into this tank or they will get sick too.

There is alot to know to keeping fish i cannot tell you everything. Does any of this sound familiar?

[crystalawrence]

I definately did not overfeed them, cause i didnt even see them eating at all... i look at alot of artical of feeding fishes, its says best to finish in 8 to 10mins... after 1 to 2hr if there is still food is a must to take it out... but i think the amount i take out is the same amount i put in... i only gave them less than 20 pieces..(those normal round small fish food)... is it ok that if i change 3 quater of the water, than put some medical like CopperSafe or Quick Cure... than cycle the tank with my fish in the tank???

[Lorazoo]

It is very unusual for fish not to eat at all. Do not do a 75% water change. That would put more stress on the fish. never do more thn 50%. if your fish are dying b/c your water is no good, the meds wont help. You really need to test your water for pH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels ASAP. If you do have ich, you can look treatments for it on here. White fuzzies on the fish could be a fungal/bacterial infection. There are many different possibilities, but you need to figure out what it is and read about it before you just throw medicine in there. You need to test that water and take a pic of the fish or give a more detailed description before we can tell you anything else to do.

[MDcrinos]

Cycling = running your tank (filter, air pump, whatever) for a week or two or three and then adding your fish. Test your water parameters with a test kit and hope for the best.

You'll have to have a source of ammonia just running the filters won't get you there, and if could take a lot longer to get a full cycle.

Do a web search on fishless cycling (I'm not telling you that you have to do it that way, but most articles will talk about both fishless and with fish cycling) or search this site, I know I've seen it somewhere in here.

Good luck!

[crystalawrence]

i did it~~! im so happy... :dance2: my fishes are eating well now... :dance2: the ich or fungals are gone... ok this is wat i did...

yesterday i went to my friends fish shop straight after work... i bought a $3 2ft filter spounge got 5 pieces, $22 dollars 8000 2way air pump which is ex, 30cent 3meter air pump tube, 4ft $5 air pump pipe for the bubbles to blow from below ex, $4 2 leopard Pleco, $8 5kg sand ex, and the most important is the most helpful thing "the medician".. ok i bought a medician from the other fish shop its written for ich and fugals so i bought it for $13, the guy says for 4ft tank put 1/4 of the medician to the tank, when i go back to my friends shop he tell me if u put this ypur fsh will die... (-_-").. so he introdues me anyother medician which cost only $5, i forgot the name liao.. but is a glass bottle with a arowana pic and when in water is green in colour.. so i when home straight and started the job..

ok 1st i took out everything in the tank except the filter pump but switches off, i use some scrap and spounge to clean the tank, leave it for 1 to 2hr for the material to settles down.. than i use 1 long hose to suck all the material out from the tank, untill the water left less than half, than i switch on the filter pump, fill up the tank with water, by now tank water is quit clean liao.. than i proceed with my air pump i fix it down behind the tank, switch it on, hmmm.. very nice.. than i start to clean up the sand, put it in, put back all the rocks and fake sea weed and than i put 2 caps of medician in the water which is wat my friend told me.. let it cycle with my pump... i put the pleco on top of the water still inside plastic bag.. i let it be for 1hr.. after 1hr i let the 2 pleco out to the tank and observe... these something i cant believe... all the ich and fungles from the fishes are ALL gone all disappear.. and the medician helps to clean the tank too.. i never b4 have a so clear tank b4 haha so happy... can see that my fishes are happy too... ok now i try the most important thing is feeding time... SO happy that i jump up.. guess what i feeded them and they finish the food withthin 3mins... haha 1st time see them eat so happily... the medician is so helpful... i will check what name is it and update again.. i now not at home... i wan to put pictures but i dun have a digital cam.. only phone cam not clear.. but i will get the pic asap to post it here to let u all see.... too bad my one of the silver dollar died liao :(

and i wanna thanks u guys trying to help me up.. thanks alot..

[Lorazoo]

Glad its looking better, but so you know, ich or fungus does not clear up in one day. If it is ich you need to treat the tank for 3 weeks to make sure the parasite is completely gone. When you see the white spots, that is the parasite leaving the body of the fish. There are still many stages of the life cycle alive in the tank and even though you might not see the white spots, the parasites are still there. the reason your tiger barabs probably have made it is b/c they are a tough fish.

Do you have a filter on the tank?

the water change probably helped alot b/c my feeling is that if you never did water chnages your Nitrates are through the roof. While you were at the fish store did you take in a water sample and let them test it for the Ammonia, Nitrates, etc? they usually do it for free.

Also, by the way, getting 2 plecos for that tank isnt a good idea. Those fish grow to be 2 feet long and will take over the tank if they are the common pleco species, which is what most stores sell. I would see if the store will take those fish back once they start growing.

The easiest thing to do now is get your water tested and keep up with samll water changes every week. if you do not have a filter you need one asap.

[crystalawrence]

Yes i do have a filter.. and the medician i use is acuric arowana aid.. my friend told me to put 2 caps than after 3 days put 2 caps than after another 3 days put 2caps again and c if u wanna change abit of water.. dun change also can... than every month change 1 time.. when changing water put 2 caps... is it alright?

[Lorazoo]

i DON'T REALLY KNOW THIS MEDICATION YOU ARE USING, but putting it in every month as a preventative does not sound like a good idea to me. if your tank is healthy you should have to medicate all of the time.

The true way to have a healthy tank is to have a good bacteria colony (cycling the tank). You need to check your water parameters once a week (almost daily when first setting up the tank to make sure nothing gets to high) which is the Ammonia, pH, Nitrite, Nitrate, water hardness. You can buy this kit in the store for $15-20 (if you print the internet price from Petsmart and take it into the store they will honor it) and that will last you 6 months to a year.

Then you need to do a water change of 25-50% EVERY WEEK, adding the dechlorinator to the water every time (like AmQuel or Prime).

Then every 2-3 months, when your filter gets dirty you need to clean it, using dechlorinated water so not to kill the bacteria colonies, chnage out some of the pads when they get too old.

What you keep asking about seems to be short term solution and I am trying to tell you long term success. But, keep using that medication if it is working for the next few weeks. Look at the directions. Some say you need to do water changes every couple of days so that you dont make the medication in the tank too high and kill the fish or the good bacteria in your tank. You can over-medicate. Then when you are done medicating do a big water change and add carbon to your filter to get the rest out of the water. Make sure not to put fresh carbon in the filter while medicating or it will take the medicine out of the water.

[crystalawrence]

ok thanks alot alot for your advises.. i really appreciate it.. thanks alot.. i will do my best to make my fish tank clean and remain the water a tip top quality conditions... and give my fish a happy healthy life... i will be posting pic soon real soon... thanks alot...