Rainsong

All the fish in my 5g hex appear healthy. No sores, no ragged fins, they all eat normally- etc.

It's got 4 female platies, 3 danios, and an octinulus (sp?) catfish. The females are a blue, a mickey mouse tiger, and two rather strangely-colored hi-fins. The Hi-fins were just added last night.

Until I added the tiger platy not too long ago, the tank held a male and female platy and the 2-3 danios. The male platy did an odd thing a few times- rubbing himself on rocks or the little sunken ship in there. Only ever saw him do it a couple times over two days, and he's never done it again.

My tiger girl has recently started hiding a lot- before the two Hi-Fins came to live with us. She comes out to eat, but mostly stays near the top in the back behind the filter box/intake, or in the ship. I LOVE this fish, and I thought perhaps her hiding was because there were only two platies... hence... the Hi-fins came home. She started doing a weird shimmy in place last night- and once more this morning. She isn't fanning her fins out either- no gasping, but her color is faded.

This morning, I catch the female blue doing the same odd rubbing as the male blue had done- only she was doing it to the silk and live plants, not anything particularly hard. She did it twice, and hasn't done it again since.

I have no -idea- what's wrong, and I don't want to treat the tank and stress these guys out if I don't have to. I'm pondering moving my little tiger girl in with the molly babies to see if maybe the problem is her other tank mates?? She seemed fine for several days, I never saw any chasing.

I've read the rubbing could be velvet, but there's no outward signs of anything wrong with anyone!! Should I try another partial water change? I don't have a test kit to test water parameters with, and going and getting one won't be doable till Monday or later. I did a nearly 50% water change/tank cleaning just a couple days ago for this tank.

Shawnie

Hi Rainsong...I think its stressed because of overstocking the tank...keep up with the daily water changes, treating the tap water with prime, until you can get a test kit...you might have to think of a bigger tank for all the fish ....goodluck!

Rainsong

I want a bigger tank She was stressed before I added the two Hi-Fin platies, though- at which point the tank shouldn't have been all that overstocked (3 danios, 2 platy, 1 cat).

_____________

Alright. I did just move her in with the babies- and less then a minute later she's active and happy. I don't think he liked the danios- their wild chases in the front of the tank had sort of disturbed her in the past. Still, I know I need to do more water changes in that tank, as I was treating the molly who died recently.

Now I just wonder what the on-again off-again rubbing is..

Lucy

Hi Rainsong Welcome to Fish Lore,

Unfortunately your tank is over stocked.
If I read your post correctly, there are
4 platys = 8"
2 danios= 4"
1 oto = 2"

That's 14" of fish in a 5g tank. The rule of thumb is 1" of fish per gallon of water (depending on the fish).
You should consider getting a larger tank.

Are any of the new fish rubbing? Could they have been ill when you bought them? I know I've read about rubbing somewhere here on the forum, but I couldn't find it.

Follow Shawnie's advise about the water changes and getting the water tested.
I'm sure someone will have an answer soon.

Good luck with your tank.

Edit: lol Rainsong, you posted before I did, I am so slow! Even with 3 danios, 2 platy, 1 cat, that was 10" of fish.

Shawnie

it was overstocked unfortunately but seeing how you cant get a bigger tank, daily water changes are deffintaly necessary ...check out craigslist theres always alot of free stuffs!!

Rainsong

Nope- none of the danios have ever rubbed, and neither had the tiger nor the 2 new Platies. Just those two blues.

All the danios, the platies, and the catfish EXCEPT the two blues were bought at the same store- the two blues were bought someplace else.

And the sizes aren't totally correct- the cat is maybe an inch, same with one of the danios (they were both bought small- when I thought we'd be able to afford a bigger aquarium recently). The platies are big- I can't believe the growth in the blues alone since I got them. I may put the blue female in the growout molly tank too- she's got a huge belly that's been slowly coloring in darker.

For the moment, all seems well- except for the blue female looking for the tiger. I'm trying to do daily or every-other day (small- 25% or less) changes on the growout for the mollies, so it's not hard to take some from the 5g.

I've been checking Craigslist a lot- I just don't live anywhere near any of the major cities. And it seems people here know their fish stuff... I'm hoping maybe I can find something at garage sales soon, or something.

Shawnie

how about freecycle.org? have you checked that out? ALL that stuff is totally free and you can post want adds also....its hard to buy fish thinking we will upgrade eventually...it almost never happens in time ..that was me with with my oscars as babies and living in a 30 gallon 4 years later...goodluck..dont give up

angelfish220

the numbers are their adult size.

Rainsong

THAT's the other site I couldn't remember! Thank you!

And in truth, it was planned to upgrade- and it ended up being used to pay off an old bill or three, instead. I was pretty upset- I haven't had a tank bigger then my 5g since I was a teen (oh, 10+ years). I was really -really- hoping to get something nice, like my mother's 29g.

Now -that- is overstock... >.> But very stable and healthy. It's insane.


Still, overstocking doesn't explain the rubbing- does it? I could stare at them all day (... I do end up watching them at odd times >.>) and not see anything wrong other then that!

Lucy

When calculating fish, it's best to use their adult size, not the size they are at the moment, as they do grow quickly.

Shawnie

I think the rubbing is stress, but its hard to tell ....the test kit if u can get it, will give you much more info on your own...instead of relying on petstores to tell you

Lucy

That's the way it is here, I've seen some good deals, but when you figure in the gas costs, it's hardly worth it.

Good Luck to you, I'm sure you'll find something and it sounds like you are trying to do what's right for your fish.

Rainsong

Freecycle worked!

I found a wonderful lady who gave me a 10g plus plants, heater, filter, even a bubble stick (those hard-plastic bubble wall devices?) and an air pump! I was looking at the heater, though, and it may be toast.

Everything was algae-ridden (Dried algae) and had calcium buildup all over. I spent several hours cleaning everything- tomorrow I'll see about cleaning the tank itself, which is also badly stained with calcium buildup. However, it's better then what I have! She'd have sent me off with her 30g too, if we'd had a way to transport it!

I may have to switch some fish around. I'm not sure if I should set up the 10g... just to have to move it again in a little while, or not... Everyone is fine and dandy now, it seems. One of the new platies did the weird flashing thing, but as long as I change out some of the water at least every other day, they don't do it. Even when I don't manage it, they do it maybe twice and then stop and go about their normal fishie lives.

I've noticed the platies do some weird swimming moves to try and grab food out of the substrate, sometimes I wonder if some of it is just them being goofballs!

Still, I change out some of the water every other day at least, from all the tanks- not much, but some, and everyone seems happier for it.

Lucy

Nice find on the 10g, too bad you couldn't get the 30g too.

joy613

It sounds like the flashing is velvet to me. It is very hard to see, the only way I can see it is turn off all lights and use a flashlight if you see like a gold dust on the fish it is velvet. I have caught it in the early stage so raising the water temperature, water changes and lights out for a few days was all that was needed. Nice find on your tank.

Rainsong

I hadn't checked until last night. The5g tank is on my desk in the dining room, and my whole family are night owls- there was too much light for a good check.

Last night, the lights were low for once since almost everyone was gone. When I turned the light off and pulled out a flashlight, I was all set to see gold.

All I saw was blue. LOL The danios had some bluish irridescent sparks on their dark stripes, and the blue platy's metallic blue was nice. The weird hied-platy Pineapple's green irrid scales are metallic too. No matter, I tried- got both sides of each fish (oto, all the platies, and as best I could with the Danios- since they just refuse to be still). Not a gold sparkle in sight, except for one brief flash in Dusty's fin that wasn't there once she moved a little. Pineapple and Dusty are two the the platies, fyi

In the process of cleaning and checking the 10 gallon today. Finally got my hands on a blade to scrape the calcium deposits off of it- now I'm testing the heater that came with it, and testing the tank's seals.

steveangela1

I will say that at petsmart if you live near one we got a 20L for 29.99, then bought the glass top, and we already had a light that fit it, it wasn't expensive once you ad your heater and filter on.
The 29g's they had that you could buy everything and peice together was just as cheap, then you could get the good heater, tops, filters, etc.

Ask around, I was also surprised at work there was a lady willing to sell me a 30g for 30 dollars w/ the works (unfortunatlly it was after I bought the 20long to raise my cichlid fry in)

Rainsong

It'd be nice to get a bigger tank; but the truth is- we absolutely cannot right now. My mother decided to move, and we're living with her. Or... we were? She never bothered to tell us we weren't going to be moving too- we found out from my brother that she had signed for a credit check to rent a place that didn't have enough room to include us. Lovely way to break the news, eh? But because of that, all our money HAS to go towards saving up for a new place and moving into that new place. It was/is a rotten situation.

It's alright, the 10 gallon should be enough to settle everyone out I'll just bide my time and wait for a bigger tank later... and have my husband stand there in exhausted exasperation when he comes home and finds my 10 gallon has "had a baby" twice it's size! :P

Nah. I'm not that nuts