help my new fish!

M

mtdewlover

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Dec 19, 2002
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I've had a ten gallon set up for quite some time now with six danios and a CAE. Well, I got rid of the danios and today got some new fish. I got a male betta, two swordtails male and female, and five neon tetras. There is something wrong w/ them and I'm worried! :( The two swordtails are at the top and not looking very healthy. The betta was hanging out at the bottom but he seems ok now.
PH~7.6
Nitrites~little above zero
Amonia~o
GH~4
KH~13
I do have two plants in there as well I've had for awhile. I thought maybe they were not getting enough oxygen so I took out some of the water. Any suggestions? I don't want to kill my fish the first day!
:eek:
 
Bettas and swordtails may not be a good mix. Bettas are notorious for beating up on any animal with a long tail because they mistake said animals for bettas for some reason.

The swordtails might not mind a little salt in their water, because they are brackish fish by nature, but they may be far-enough removed from the wild so that this may not be an issue.

What you probably saw is your betta sleeping. They have a tendency to do that and it scared me the first few times "Mo" did it. I felt like I had to get him moving to see if he was okay. Unless he, too, starts gasping for air, I would not make a big deal out of it.

Do you still have the CAE in there? As I have said in other strings, they get very aggressive as they mature, and very big as well. Yours will not be suitable for a 10g as it approaches maturity.

You have written that the nitrites are "a little above 0". I don't know enough about nitrite levels to be able to give you advice on that aspect, but I'm not sure how helpful that assessment may be for the water quality buffs on this site?

Also, the one other thing which is missing is temperature of the tank. The higher the temperature, the lower the amount of dissolved oxygen (but most truly tropical fish cannot withstand low temperatures), which could cause your swordtails to be gasping.

Best of luck to you and your fish.

Matthew
 
Nitrite should be zero. Anything readable can cause respiratory distress.

A teaspoon of salt total for your tank will reduce nitrite toxicity and probably save your fish, but not because swordtails are brackish (they aren't; they are a purely freshwater species). This salt should be gradually diluted out by water changes over the next few days and weeks, once the nitrite has zeroed.

The problem is that the fish stock you now have is much greater than the six danios it replaces, so the bacterial flora is not up to the task yet. Hence the salt (for nitrite toxicity) and the water changes.

The plants can only be a help (unless they are dying) and the level of salt described will not harm them.

I don't think that the fighting fish will bother the swordtails or vice versa, unless the swordtails are hi-fin varieties.

What filtration are you using?
 
My filter is an AquaClear Mini. They all seem to get along fine. My readings were fine before I got my new fish so I'll try the salt. They seem to feel better today.The temperature is like 78 maybe a little higher. I will lower it as well. Thank you for your help.
 
Before I forget - do predissolve the salt in water and put it in relatively slowly - you don't want to give the fish a shock.
 
spanky said:
Bring the ph down to neutral or a little lower
Click to expand...
Why on earth should that be done? There is nothing wrong with the pH in this tank.

I agree that the biomass you've added is greater than what you removed and that's why your nitrites are up. Add salt, as suggested, 1 tsp per gallon and do water changes until the nitrites are down to 0 again. Keep the water good and the animals will be fine.

Roan
 
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