Citypainter Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 In September I helped a mate set up an African tank.He has plenty of filtration and cycled the tank for a couple of weeks.The subxtrate is crushed shell grit and the Ph is 7.8The water is crystal clear.At the september auction I got him 6 Albino britlenose, 6 electric yellows and 6 electric blues. All of these fish were juvenile and showing no colour.Now the Eb's are starting to show colour.i belive that there is some aggression but the problem seems to lie elsewhere.The fish are fed a combination of flake, pellets and zuchini. The flake and pellets are from the trade table at the auctions.The problem is that the fish seem to have red spot like bleeding under the gill plates and in their faces. The e.Y's seem to have some bleeding as well and their stomachs seem to be bulging and some of them have enlarged eyes.The bristnose seem to be fineI have some pics of the blues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Sound like it could be chronic gill irritation. Common causes can be ammonia, nitrite and chlorine/chloramine. Two weeks doesn't seem like a long enough cycle? What are ammonia and nitrite levels? Is dechlorinator used? Could there be another source of a chemical irritant getting into the tank?The other thing it could be is a bacterial infection. If it is causing ulceration it is likely to be systemic and hard to treat. I'm not an expert on bacterial infections, but I'd be trying a course of broadspectrum antibiotics if water testing doesn't find anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodalizer Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Yes, if there is a number of fish with the same thing I would agree.. someone wrong with the water more so then agression.Check all your levels. Throw some declorinator in there asap (seachem prime if you have it )Edit: I would remove zuchini from the diet and probally stop feeding anything at all until this is fixed.. since it is most likely ammonia poisoning you need to lower there waste products. If your local fish shop has Prime .. get it .. and if they have purigen .. get that also .. the prime will detoxify a lot of common problems and the purigen is probally needed in that tank to keep ammonia at zero until its propperly cycled since there is fish in there now. Also do a big water change.. say 50%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link2Hell Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Need to get some levels on nitrate, nitrite & ammoniared blotching under the scales sound like bacterialcausing haemorragingChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citypainter Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 Thanks for the replies. It is really appreciated.The filter was an older filter that was full of bacteria and has run nono stop for 2 months now and I doubt it would be nitrite & ammoniaI think I will agvise him to go the other way witha bacterial infection.where do I get broadspectrum antibiotics for aquariums from?Is it sold by the LFS or do I need a vet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citypainter Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 You guys were right Nitrate was high. Prime added. Filter cleaned. No more food for a couple of days.Anything else?thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodalizer Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 You need to change the water.My guess would be the ammonia or nitrite was high at some point to cause problems, then whats happened is the bio system has caught up and changed it all to nitrate.So for the moment as long as the ammonia and nitirite is zero .. your ok, much better to have a high nitrate problem.Only way to get rid of that nitrate is to do a water change, and if it is higher then 80 ppm I would suggest a harsh change of like 50%.The prime is only masking the problem for now detoxifying, it does not remove nitrate or ammonia or nitrite. It just makes it safe until the biological fitler converts the nitrite and ammonia into nitrate and you manually remove the nitrate yourself by means of a water change.If you are having probelms with nitrate only you need to increase the amount of water changes and test your town water for nitrate (most town water will have very low nitrate so more water changes is problem whats needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 They should come good quickly if bacteria have not set in. I'd try melafix as a precaution, but this won't help if bacteria have set in. If there isn't swift improvement antibiotics will be needed. Preferably in a hospital tank as these can kill a filter and then you are back to square one.Google 'alternafix' or 'superfix' these are less expensive diy versions which are safe and work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnytw Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 It sounds like the tank will need some time to build up some bacteria as well if its a fresh new tank. And when the filter was cleaned was it with tap water or tank water? Also were all those fish added at once after the 2 week cycle which i am assuming was fishless? Please excuse me if i am missing any info as im replying from my phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citypainter Posted November 8, 2011 Author Share Posted November 8, 2011 Thanks for all your help guys. I will see my mate soon and get an update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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