froggiegal

I moved Wiggles into his new home last night! A cycled 10 gallon tank with toys, heat, silk plant, & filter. This morning I noticed that his fins are spread out, he's swimming all over - curious as can be. When he was in the vase, his fins looked shriveled. I'm seeing what appears to be debris on the end of his tail. Hope it's not anything else!

I think I found a local wholesaler fish store. I'm thinking of getting 4 corys. I think 6 will be too much for the 10 gallon. He has the following available: Arcuatus, metae, albinos and adolfoi corys. I'll have to see which is more appealing to the eye. However, would appreciate your input as to your experience and which of these may be the better tankmate.

I love this site and all the helpful members! ty all.

rifter098

i dont think any cory is better suited than the other, but watch out, bettas get aggressive with other fish...keep an eye on them the first week
...personally i like the adolfoi...they are cool looking...but the pandas(metae) are supposed to be really cool also...maybe 2 of each?

Lucy

I'm so glad Wiggles like his new tank, what a difference, huh?
I love his name!

Make sure you quarantine any new inhabitants to a tank for a minimum of 2 weeks, a month being better.

Before you add the cories, take the betta out and out the cories in, hopefully that'll help with any territorial issues.

Have a back up plan in case there's any aggression.

Post some pics when you get them.

COBettaCouple

They love exploring new territory.. do you have a picture you could post of his fins?

froggiegal

Thank you Rifter and Lucy for your input. I'm going to have to wait then and buy a QT. Wow, this is a costly hobby and I don't even have the fish yet! Then will have to wait till the new tank cycles...uggghh. Is there a product I can use to get the new tank to fully cycle? Also, do you think if I buy a 5 gallon to house new fish that thank will be big enough to hold the 4 corys?

Lucy, you helped me out with my chiclid question earlier this week regarding "Killer". I'm working with three different tanks - the established 45 gallon (what was) a chiclid tank, this new cycled betta 10 gallon tank (which WAS my QT) and last week, I set up a 50 gallon that I am trying to get cycled. I want to make that a community tank for fancytale guppies, tetras, angels... I'm a novice but love looking at the fish. So, trying to get over the hump about cycling the tank and find it so hard to quarantine a fish when in the past, I just acclimated them and put them in the tank! (I guess, I was lucky I had no problems.) So, I appreciate everyone's patience and hope I'll be able to help someone out some day as well. Thanks.

froggiegal

CoBetta,

I'm going to take a picture and then will have to figure out how to upload it. Thanks

Alessa

yes, there is a product.

it is called Tetra Safe Start. You add it, wait a week without testing or changing water and hopefully voila, youre done!

if you dont know who carries it around your area, go to the tetra website, search for the product and type your zip code. It shoud tell you who carries it in your area.

Lucy

In the beginning it can be expensive, especially with multiple tanks, but after everything is established, it's usually just maintenance.

I think the problem is, you get a tank going, find another fish you like, find out they're not compatible with your existing fish so of course, you have to get them another tank. lol

froggiegal

Alessa - thank you. I will look for it today.

froggiegal

Hope this you can see Wiggle's fins in this picture...



first time doing this - hope it works... (guess not)


I posted his picture in the betta site it's picture # DSC01142 - Can anyone tell me what type of betta he is?

froggiegal

ooopps, click on the camera? He's there lol

rifter098

he is a veiltail betta...very pretty! but it does look like he has some fin rot that u will want to treat right away...before it gets into his bloodstream

froggiegal

Oh no..........The pet store should be able to stock me up with some meds? Thank you for identifying him. Let me see shat fishlore says about fin rot.

Lucy

I wouldn't trust the fish store unless they've shown they really know what they're talking about.

Keep his water pristine, you can add a few drops of garlic juice and if you can get vita-chem and fish protector, that will help him.

Rid-Fungus and Triple Sulfa are good for fin rot. Rid-Fungus is organic, so it's not as hard on the fish.

froggiegal

I finally give him a GOOD home and I have issues...no tankmates today...Thank you everyone.

Lucy

He'll be fine, you're doing very well for him.

rifter098

it is in the early stages, so it will be easy to treat and get rid of...he will be healthy very soon with good care!
i would do daily 1gal. water changes to keep his water clean, i have heard really good things about triple sulfa when used for fin rot...i would go with that and rid fungus as lucy suggested...that should stop the bacteria...and to help speed up his recovery, others have suggested vita-chem and garlic guard
i know u will take good care of him! good luck and let us know how we can help!

froggiegal

Thank you all - without your input, I would have been totally ignorant, wiggles would have stayed in the vase and I would be still cursing Killer for still being alive by himself in the 45G chiclid tank. Now, Wiggles has better hopes for survival AND Killer is gonna be getting "company" SOON. Hopefully he'll fall "in fish love" with one of the females that I plan to put in...***keeping fingers crossed that I won't have to by another tank*** LOL Have a good weekend.

welshalien

make sure you add the fish at the same time as the Safe Start

Kelly

pamd

Excellent that you're open-minded about quarantining and attributed your previous success without it to luck! Which is true.

Maybe I'm confused here, but I thought you were planning to buy a five-gallon tank to use for quarantine. Later you said you're hoping not to have to buy another tank, but I probably lost track somewhere.

If you are planning to buy a five-gallon and if it were my fish, I'd move the betta into the five-gallon and put the corys in the 10-gallon. The reason for this is that the corys will have time to get established and the likelihood of Wiggles behaving aggressively toward them will be reduced. After the quarantine period is over and you're quite sure the corys are healthy, then put Wiggles back into his tank.

The downside of this is that if the corys do show signs of any contagious disease, then you might be back to Square One with the 10-gallon and have to tear it down and sterilize it. Also, you'd have to move Wiggles twice.

But Lucy suggested removing Wiggles, putting in the corys and then Wiggles. I assume she means removing Wiggles for a short period of time only, which might be the best strategy of all, but I don't know how long it will take him to "forget" that it's his territory and for the corys to feel comfortable.

Maybe Lucy and others will chime in as to which is the least risky strategy:

1) Quarantine the corys in the 10-gallon and take the chance of them becoming sick.

2) Quarantine the corys in the five-gallon and take the chance of Wiggles feeling his territory has been intruded upon.

3) Quarantine the corys in the 10-gallon and taking Wiggles out for a short period of time before you introduce them.

Whatever you decide to do, do everything possible to make sure the corys are healthy when you buy them. Read everything you can on fish diseases before you go to the store, then take plenty of time to observe them there. You're probably lucky to have found a wholesaler. The people there will probably be more knowledgeable than typical pet store employees and probably much less likely to sell you a diseased fish.

To answer an earlier question of yours, the corys will probably be juveniles, so they'll probably be small enough to get along just fine in the five-gallon for a month if you decide to go that route (which I personally wouldn't).

Safe Start might be a bit difficult to find, but I've read it works great for most people. It's a relatively new (from July 2008, maybe?) product in the U.S. Don't let anybody talk you into a product called Cycle. It would be just like a typical pet store employee to tell you Cycle does the same thing out of ignorance or just to get you to buy it, but Cycle has a reputation of being worthless -- perhaps even dangerous for people depending on it.

I know all this sounds complicated, but it'll be worth the effort and decision-making in the long run. Corys are really, really adorable little fish. Good luck!

Lucy

If it were me, I'd Q the cories in the 5 with frequent water changes for a couple of weeks, because like Pam said, if they are sick, you'd have to sterlize the 10 and you'd be back where you started.
If you have some used filter media, it would help keep the ammonia down.

After your Q period, move Wiggles for a short time, you could use the 5 if there were no signs of illness with the cories. I'd probably do a 100% water change in the 5 first. Rearrangement the decorations a little then put Wiggles back in.

I hope that helps.

Butterfly

Everyone has done such a good job helping you figure out what to do for wiggles that theres nothing to add
As for Corys I love my albinos to death but some people don't like albino fish. Pandas (metae) are a little small and can be hard to keep. Arctuas are really cool, their common name is skunk Cory because of the stripe down their backs
Carol

froggiegal

Hello Everyone - there's a lot to digest! Yesterday, I went to PurrFect Pets in Milford, CT where I met Marc and was highly impressed with the store and with him. Since I had just identified the fact that Wiggles may have the early start of fin rot, I decided that I would wait to get his tankmates. Marc showed me some Arcuatus and Metae corys. I liked the Metaes a little more than the Arcuatus and will probably get 4 of those at the right time. I wasn't able to get Rid-Fungus but have started Wiggles on a dose of Triple Sulfa. Maybe it's my imagination but his fins look a lot smoother and prettier. His fins appeared to be clamped together when I first put him in on Friday. The fact that the fins are flowing shows that Wiggles is enjoying his 10G tank.

I became concerned after reading Lucy's post because I didn't have a Q tank and mentioned getting a 5 gallon not sure if that would suffice in size to be a good Q tank. As luck would have it, I discovered I had ANOTHER 10G in my garage along with filter heater, etc. Right now it's in my tub. I've got to go clean and set it up. So, until it cycles, I'll have to wait for the Corys to come live with us. I've got to get a good handle on the Aquarium nitrogen cycle - how to read the water's parameters what is good and what is bad. Marc recommended that I squeeze the filter from my chiclid tank and to introduce some flakes into the tank to get my 50G through the full cycle. I wasn't able to get the new Tetra product Safe Start. However, I bought some Stress Coat and hope it will be as good as the Tetra product.

So, I suspect I'll have to wait a couple of weeks for the Q tank to be in order. The ONLY thing I'll be able to do this coming weekend is to take "Killer" in and swap him for the other chiclids. Marc is on the look out for Yellow Labs. He showed me some Peacocks and Jewel Chiclids that are friendlier chiclids.

Phew...hope I clarified some of my mixed messages. Wait till my 50G tank cycles. Then, I'll have a LOT of questions on fantail guppies!! For now, I'm on countdown for the QT and the 50G to cyle....I can't wait to put the fish in.

froggiegal

Thank you everyone for your help and support! Hugs,

Lucy

Wow, what luck finding the 10g!
Marc's right about squeezing the filter media, you could also cut some off from the established tank (if the cycle complete on your big tank) and add it to the new 10, that'll ready give it a good head start.

Stress coat is a good water conditioner, however, it's not like Tetra Safe Start, it doesn't contain any beneficial bacteria.

With everything we've all thrown at you, you're doing great!