Stress coat levels

[Dan the Fish]

if my stress coat levels are a little on the high side, just bearly in the yellow. should i worry i only have one zebra danio in the tank at this time. the pet store worker said if i'm not to concerned not to worry about it, but i trust her as fall as i could throw her. need som imput from the pro's. What if anything can happen when stress coat levels get to high and will it naturally drop?
:dive2:

 

[daveedka]

Dan,
It sounds as if you are a bit confused. Stress coat is a dechlorinator product, ammonia tests read yellow, and ammonia levels are dangerous to fish.
If you are reading ammonia above about 0.5 ppm then you should do water changes until the level gets back below that and keep it there with frequent water changes. in the mean time, read up on the cycle sticky in the newbie forum and ask any questions you have.

As far as trusting your LFS employee, you have made the right choice. As far as that goes don't trust my advice Without checking it either. Lots of research is the way to go.
Dave

 

[Dan the Fish]

I'm fairly a newbie to this so if you could would you explain that a little more to me? I mean when she came back she said the stress was a little high, then i said "stress coat?" she said yes and that it was borderline yellow and that if i was very concerned that i could change the water otherwise water was fine? Also has anyone had a automatic feeder and do they work at all, or is it better to count on a friend (as i suspect) thanks 1 more question. Is there such a thing as a stress coat test?

 

[daveedka]

Auto feeders are arguably useful, Run a search for them in the DIY forum and you'll get several good discussions and experiences.

It seems that ammonia is what she was testing for. Ammonia causes gill irritation and will result in permanent damage if the fish is exposed to for any length of time. Water changes are the best way to reduce it, and cutting back on feeding will help your cause immensly.Fish can and will go for a week or two without food added and suffer no negative effects. One danio doesn't need much food. I would feed once every 2 days an amount equivalent to the size of his eye (no I'm not kidding and this isn't cruelty) He will be fine and you won't have excess food creating extra ammonia.

Don't be at all suprised that the girl at the LFS doesn't know what she is even testing for. She probably heard that ammonia causes stress, and she is gauging stress on your fish based on the ammonia test level. If it showed yellow at all it's too high.

If you don't have your own test kit for ammonia, I would start with a 50% water change and then do a 25% daily until you get through the cycle.

And read up on the nitrogen cycle, it's pretty simple overall, and there is plenty of good info on this site and others as well.
dave

 

[Dan the Fish]

thank you very much, very helpful information. I'm going back to that store with another sample today and am going to ask more questions when which ever 3 stooge comes out this time. And it seems i have been feeding danio a little bit too much but i was informed once a day was the normal feeding amount. Thanks alot!

 

[daveedka]

In a well stocked tank, most folks feed once or twice a day, with one danio there is a mich higher risk of uneaten food remaining in the tank. One little fish just won't find all of the particles and eat them so extra feeding will produce heavy waste. As you increase numbers you can increase interval and amount, and see less issue. In Reality, most if not all of us overfeed, even the highly experienced folks who know better tend to feed heavier than we should. fish just don't need that much food to be healthy.
Dave

 

[Holly9937]

By the way, since it sounds like the tank is newly set up and cycling, don't get anymore fish for a while!! It will make things alot easier. Also, I wouldn't bother with the auto-feeder unless you'll be gone for more than a couple of weeks. If a friend can feed them if you'll be gone a really long time thats the way to go. That way, you can leave out baggies, or whatever and specify how much is fed and you won't have to worry about overfeeding and things getting screwed up while you're gone

Amonia is very toxic to the fish so I wouldn't listen to the store and "not worry about it". If you want your fish to live....worry !!!

 

[jaylin]

One of the most valuable things you can buy for your fish is a good water test kit. That way you don't have to rely on LFS employees who might not know what they're doing in the first place. It's not hard at all to test your own water. You'll be an expert at it if you test your water once a day all the way through your cycle.