sick black phantom tetras

[sunnnshine99]

i'm a newbie, first post!!, when it comes to fish... so i really need help. i have a 20 gal tank with
3: glofish danios
3: glolight tetras
3: tiger barbs (babies)
2: albino barbs ( babies)
2: rainbow dwarf
2: von rio flame tetras

i've read that barbs bully other fish... but the fish store told me if i got baby barbs they would "grow up" liking the other fish...

temp is 77-78, did water test and its: amonia - 0; pH - 7; nitrites - .5; nitrates - 10 -- my testing kit does not come with recommended levels... and the fish place website only gave me pH to go by.... i know i shouldnt have amonia so thats good. but any other advice would be great on what my levels should be, and if they are off - how can i correct them?

also... i just cleaned and did a water change-about 30% yesterday (i put in water conditioner and bacteria starter when i did the water change). i bought some expensive siphon that hooks up to the sink faucet, its supposed to help suck the dirt off the gravel (it was getting pretty brown). well it didnt suck that well .. it just pushed the dirt into the water. (its clear now... it lasted for about 25 min though) all my fishies seem to be doing great, except my black phantom tetras. one died yesterday :sad: the other 2 dont seem to be doing too well. when i woke up, one was hiding in my sunken car and the other behind the heater. if they came out they would be chased by the barbs... it might even look like they were nipped at. -this never happened before... they always got along well. i think the b.p. tetras are sick (dont fish pick on the sick ones). they dont really swim around anymore. they didnt eat the last time i fed them. i removed them from the tank and have them in a pretty big glass bowl.-used the fish tank water for the bowl.

so what should i do? they dont seem very happy... or healthy. is there anything i can do??? i know this is might sound stupid, but do they have dr.s for fish? like a vet or something?? please help fish experts!!!!!!!

 

[kveeti]

How long has the tank been set up? Did you add all those fish at once? What was the product name of the “bacteria starter” you are using? If it is anything other than Bio Spira, it is useless, junk it.

It is good you have 0 ammonia. But you have .5 nitrItes, which is likely the problem. You need to do water changes to get that as close to 0 as possible until it stays at 0 by itself.

Congratulations for having test kits! And Welcome to Aquaria Central!

 

[jwddboy]

Yup, I agree with everything Kveeti said... just a few extra pointers.

Dont panic and dont start pouring in every treatment you can lay eyes on.

Make sure they are warm enough in and out of the tank especially if your glass bowl doesnt have a heater.

Phantoms prefer a nice planted tank (love the floating plants), less lighting and a dark substrate. Water parameters are not critical and may be soft to hard, and acidic to slightly alkaline. They can cope with a little extra ammonia, nitrite and nitrate than is supposed to be in there but its best that you minimise those levels asap. They should be kept in schools of around 6 so that they do not quarrel. Any pushyness in the tank is probably not going to damage them though.

The illness could be a number of things.

A few possible theories:
Wrong water parameters
Internal parasites (endoparasites)
Low dissolved oxygen levels. (unlikley if it is only affecting one type of fish)
Bacterial disease

With the systemic bacterial disease bacteria invade the fish’s body and can damage their internal organs. This may be why you cant see anything wrong on the outside and why they are so weak.

To properly diagnose you would need to take one of the fish to a proper fish store or an aquarium to be (posibly) sedated and then tested. This can be done at home but i do not reccomend it to the beginner.

If they are stressed that could be a reason for their body to let in the opportunistic bacteria that is always present in an aquarium.

Do a 30% water change every week during the illness and get that tank as nice and clean as possible without stressing them out.

Obviously, the fish will only be able to put their immune system into action if conditions are improved and all efforts are made to keep the numbers of bacteria as low as possible. So really any small ammounts of anti-bacterial treatments should be seen as supportive treatment for the fish’s own immune system and what we are trying to do is to tilt the balance of health back in the fish’s favour.

Before adding anything though, make sure you have properly diagnosed it or taken it to a specialist at a pet store or a vet (they often are experienced enough, especially in my area) to be diagnosed for you.

When adding anti-bacterial treatments always be careful and test your water parameters during the course. The chances are that you will kill off a lot of the good bacteria too. This is where those bacteria starter come in (if they work) get the bad out and then top up the good.

Thats all I can really think of for you at the moment. Just remember not to just go mad and treat them with anything. Diagnose it and deal with it properly.

 

[sunnnshine99]

tank has been set up for almost 2 months. i had starter fish, danios, for 3 weeks then gave them to another to start their tank. i added all the fish in a period of 3-4 days. but i was told they were all from the same tank water at the fish store. im using proquatics for my water conditioner, water clarifier and bacteria starter. i will go out and get bio spira.
i decided to put them in a baggie and keep them floating in the tank... so i was sure they would stay warm. they seemed ok.. so after a few hours i put them back into the tank. the tiger barbs kept picking on them.. actually bit off a back part of their tail. so im going to out to get the black phantoms their own tank. poor fish