Strange behaviour of new danios

[yashinfan]

I just bought 3 Zebra Danios from my LFS and they are acting quite strange. They are in my 10 gallon tank that is layered with marbles, has a sponge filter and is heated to 26C.

The three fish are swimming REALLY fast around the tank as if they were swimming laps. Once in a while one of the fish will bury itself in the marbles and not move until I tap on the side and then it will go back to swimming laps. I know danios are keen swimmers, I have 7 more. These fish, however, are acting VERY different from when I added others. Could it be a sign of bad water conditions? A disease??

In the tank where there were kept at the LFS there was one danio with fungus. I didn't purchase that one but chose healthy looking ones. In the bag, however, there was some weird fluffy lint looking stuff floating around. I put a little bit of this "Fungus Eliminator" stuff that I used for my goldfish previously, into their bag. I scooped them out of the bag so as not to add this stuff into the water. What might this be? Is it affecting my fish??

 

[allwet]

hi yash.your water parameters are ok arent they?have you checked them lately? ph..nitrites..nitrates? if one fish in a tank shows sign of illness,ich.fungus and etc its quite possible the other fish in that tank have an illness also but might not show it right away.i would do a large water change and see how the fish react to that.i have had danios do what you have describe and they might be just stressed out due to all of the chasing and new tank surroundings.also be sure to check your ammonia reading.was the Lfs water similar to your water?i certainly wouldnt tap on the glass as this really startles fish.keep an eye on your fish and keep the light off for a while and they might calm down.if they show outward signs of illness such as fungus,ich and etc you will probably have to treat the whole tank.allwet....

 

[yashinfan]

When I turn off the lights they are fine and act quite normal. The fish do not display any outward signs of disease. My water and the LFS' water are very close to the same pH, like 0.2 off. The temp in my tank is higher but I acclimated them to it. I don't have a nitrite or nitrate test available to me but I have tested it before and had readings of 0. **** I just tested the ammonia levels: 2-3 PPM!!! The thing says only to not feed for 24 hours! What else can I do!?!

 

[Winnie]

My guess is the are pretty freaked out - I recall when my danios were new, one kept dive-bombing into the gravel and partly burying itself. Danios put up quite a chase when they are being netted, and the 10-gallon is probably a lot smaller environment than what they were in. Hopefully in the next day or two you will notice them settling down - well as much as danios ever settle down.

 

[allwet]

hi again yash.their shouldnt be any ammonia in your water.i assumed your tank was already cycled.their shouldnt be ammonia or nitrites.your tank might show some nitrates.my nitrates run around 10 to 20.i keep the nitrates down by doing water changes and gravel vacing.do try and get the test kits(asap) as your water parameters can change in time.also check your water that comes out of your tap.it might have ammonia in it.if so you can get some amquel which will remove it.ammonia and nitrites even in small percentages can kill and or distress your fish.good luck.allwet...

 

[anonapersona]

too small for fast swimmer, IMO

I think the tank is mighty small for zebra danios. I have 5 in 29 gallons and I think they need more room for swimming than that, even.

 

[yashinfan]

The 10 gallon is a temporary home for now.. I was going to do this for 4 days because of two factors:

1) If they spawned this would be when the fry would start hatching and parents would have to be removed

2) Quarantine as one fish in the tank at the LFS had some sort of fungus.

As soon as I know my fish are not carriers of any sort of fungus they can be moved to a 23 gallon cycled tank. I'm so worried that they won't make it! Is 2-3 PPM of ammonia enough to kill a fish? Or just stress it? I did about a 5% water change earlier today, I am going to do more now.. maybe closer to 15 or 20% . Someone recommended 40% in my other post but I think that's WAY too much at once. What do you think?

 

[somefinnfishy]

Originally posted by yashinfan


In the tank where there were kept at the LFS there was one danio with fungus. I didn't purchase that one but chose healthy looking ones.

NEVER BUY OUT OF A SICK TANK !!!!!!!!!
You couldnt begin to guess what a correct dosage for 4oz of water so you probialy gave them a meds shock,on top of handleing them and fliping them with out aclimation are a few reasons they might be a bit off.Is this a sterile tank (uncycled)?

 

[yashinfan]

Yes, I know it wasn't wise to buy out of a sick tank. Unfortunately I don't have much choice. I thought it wouldn't be so bad because only one fish showed signs of fungus and there were probably 70 fish in that tank.. about 80g?

Alright, as for the "meds shock" you speak of. I doubt I shocked them at all considering I dropped like 10 crystals of it into the bag. It probably did NOTHING at all, but made me feel a bit better about fungus surviving.

Acclimation shouldn't be a problem. I spend an hour making sure the fish are adjusted to the temp and pH before I add them to the new tank. I pride myself in the care I do in that aspect.

Mainly I think the problems are: High ammonia levels because the tank is uncycled. I am now going to do 15-20% water changes a day like recommended in the thread about fishy cycles. Another problem I think is lack of cover. The fish are about 10 inches from the floor and there are no plants (real or fake) in the tank. This would explain why one of the fish tries to bury itself in the marbles.

So my only question really is: Can fish survive 2-3PPM of ammonia? They've lived for over a day so far but will they be able to survive long enough for the ammonia levels to reach at least 1PPM?? I don't like to seem them stressed but better that than dead.

 

[somefinnfishy]

I dont think anyone can answer that for you acurately.
We get fish strait from the far east and they actualy get amonia burns on their flesh its ugly but most survive.
Personaly I think if a fish is aclimated over MANY hours will take quite the amonia spike(off the charts).
So in a uncycled tank the spikes come on in a hard and fast but is differant than a over stocked under filtered tank as the amonia builds slowly as the cycle is eating most of it.
Marbles will never help the cycle in your tank no surface area and trap left overs and waste very well.
I would buy a bag of gravel to match the 23 then use a kilo of you 23's grav and seed your 10 NOW and add the replacement gravel latter you can leave the marbles just fillin the spaces around them.For a breeding tank go bare bottom and over light the tank to get a mass of alge growing on the glass and sponge.
Hope I helped more than I flamed had a bad day beating water changes in to eveyones heads to day as I guess its lets kill our new fish with amonia week here in MN
BTW We do 50% twice a week on 400 tanks and only found a few fish that wont take a 80%change