Fishy Issues

I've decided to make a mega post rather than posting them separately, Save space or something I don't know but if needs be ill post 3 separate threads.

Background: Water levels are all fine, () if your interested - Tanks been up and running for about a month now having cycled a week or two ago (Fish in cycle, 5 Platties)

An issue with a fin nipping Plattie bullying a Gourami:

Spoiler

So recently our tank has completed its cycle and we are gradually starting to stock the tank. A few days ago we bought some guppies and two dwarf neon gourami.
We added them and they seemed to all get along swimmingly however recently I have seen one particular platty almost seemingly bully the Gourami. It has a chunk missing from its tail and is constantly hiding within our Amazon Swords.

I wouldn't have thought the platties to be particularly nippy fish - all the others seem to get along well, it's just the one particular platty going after the gourami (particularly focussing on the one with a notch out the tail).

How best would I stop this happening? Also, would it be worth adding some salt to the aquarium to prevent infection?

Plattie hangs out by the filter daily and doesn't move:

Spoiler

So basically I have this one red platty which hangs out in the same corner by the heater and filter almost all day every day. Occasionally he will move forwards a couple of inches, but always in the top inch of the water collum. It will come to the surface for food but that's about all I've seen it move for. Otherwise, it literally does not move - It just almost hovers stationary, but its putting effort into it as in its moving its fins and tail to keep itself there and steady..

All the other fish are swimming around the tank generally fine and integrated well with water levels all fine. When the platties where new there used to be another one that did that but it died within the first 3 days of us getting it. This one has been going strong for at least a week, if not two. It has no visible sign of illness (but I am looking at it with a beginners eye)

Plattie with a sudden white spot on its head:

Spoiler

I noticed this today whilst looking at my Gourami, However, this plattie seems to have developed a white spot on the top of its head. Could it be ich? Some sort of fungal thing? If so would adding salts help? It doesn't appear to be affecting the fish badly - still eating and swimming around etc.
It almost looks like its part of the fish's scale - Can they get sudden colour mutations?

Any advice is much appreciated!

 

I've decided to make a mega post rather than posting them separately, Save space or something I don't know but if needs be ill post 3 separate threads.

Background: Water levels are all fine, () if your interested - Tanks been up and running for about a month now having cycled a week or two ago (Fish in cycle, 5 Platties)

An issue with a fin nipping Plattie bullying a Gourami:

Spoiler

So recently our tank has completed its cycle and we are gradually starting to stock the tank. A few days ago we bought some guppies and two dwarf neon gourami.
We added them and they seemed to all get along swimmingly however recently I have seen one particular platty almost seemingly bully the Gourami. It has a chunk missing from its tail and is constantly hiding within our Amazon Swords.

I wouldn't have thought the platties to be particularly nippy fish - all the others seem to get along well, it's just the one particular platty going after the gourami (particularly focussing on the one with a notch out the tail).

How best would I stop this happening? Also, would it be worth adding some salt to the aquarium to prevent infection?

View attachment 495753

Plattie hangs out by the filter daily and doesn't move:

Spoiler

So basically I have this one red platty which hangs out in the same corner by the heater and filter almost all day every day. Occasionally he will move forwards a couple of inches, but always in the top inch of the water collum. It will come to the surface for food but that's about all I've seen it move for. Otherwise, it literally does not move - It just almost hovers stationary, but its putting effort into it as in its moving its fins and tail to keep itself there and steady..

All the other fish are swimming around the tank generally fine and integrated well with water levels all fine. When the platties where new there used to be another one that did that but it died within the first 3 days of us getting it. This one has been going strong for at least a week, if not two. It has no visible sign of illness (but I am looking at it with a beginners eye)

View attachment 495755 View attachment 495759

Plattie with a sudden white spot on its head:

Spoiler

I noticed this today whilst looking at my Gourami, However, this plattie seems to have developed a white spot on the top of its head. Could it be ich? Some sort of fungal thing? If so would adding salts help? It doesn't appear to be affecting the fish badly - still eating and swimming around etc.
It almost looks like its part of the fish's scale - Can they get sudden colour mutations?

View attachment 495757 View attachment 495758

Any advice is much appreciated!

More of a goldfish keeper but one thing that works to reduce aggression is to get more plants to block the line of sight of your platy so it can't focus on your gourami as much.

Fish also target weak or sick fish so any chance your gourami is ill?

That or you could just have a nippy platy. Happens with some fish. The rest are fine but one is particularly troublesome

A fish hanging by a filter is usually a sign that either your params are off or your fish is sick. That or it's stressed

That white stuff looks like some type of fungus. Best to treat with medication or salt. Can recommend seachem paraguard. Pretty gentle, won't affect filter and should take care of it, plus the notch in your gouramis tail.

I may have missed it but what size is your tank? If its overcrowded that may very well lead to aggression.

Hope this helps

 

You water readings don't make sense. The way I read it, your ammonia went low, high, zero, you never had nitrites, and your nitrates went to zero. A normal cycle would progress with ammonia high, low, zero, then nitrites high, low, zero, then nitrates zero, low, high, over a period of a few weeks.

Something's way out of whack with those readings careening all over the place in three days time. To be honest those readings don't look fine.

The only way your water could have zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and zero nitrates after adding 12 guppies is if you had the tank completely stuffed with live plants, and I still don't think you'd get those readings.

 

Water changes.

 

You water readings don't make sense. The way I read it, your ammonia went low, high, zero, you never had nitrites, and your nitrates went to zero. A normal cycle would progress with ammonia high, low, zero, then nitrites high, low, zero, then nitrates zero, low, high, over a period of a few weeks.

Something's way out of whack with those readings careening all over the place in three days time. To be honest those readings don't look fine.

The only way your water could have zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and zero nitrates after adding 12 guppies is if you had the tank completely stuffed with live plants, and I still don't think you'd get those readings.

I wasn't too sure about the readings either but I did a quick dip test and it seemed to coberate them. I wiped the old sheet 4 days ago because the previous results where dip test and a single questionable liquid test for nitrates. We do have a decent amount of live plants, and with the new fish, I added API Stress Coat and API Quick start - Which probably explains why they haven't shown up yet.

The tank has been running for just over a month now (24th October) - Those results are only with the new kit (API Master Test Kit). Tested just now at ammonia 0.25, nitrite 0, nitrate ~2, and am currently doing a 15% water change (along with adding more Stress Coat and a 15% dose of QuickStart

More of a goldfish keeper but one thing that works to reduce aggression is to get more plants to block the line of sight of your platy so it can't focus on your gourami as much.

A fish hanging by a filter is usually a sign that either your params are off or your fish is sick. That or it's stressed

That white stuff looks like some type of fungus. Best to treat with medication or salt. Can recommend seachem paraguard. Pretty gentle, won't affect filter and should take care of it, plus the notch in your gouramis tail.

I may have missed it but what size is your tank? If its overcrowded that may very well lead to aggression.

I'm planning to do a substantial water change as part of routine maintenance sometime this month and during then I'm going to be replacing a plant as well as adding some smaller ones, The large one is the Java Fern in the middle so a healthier one of those will probably help break up the line of sight.
The tank is 125 Liters, That's about 27 US Gallons I think.

Ill dose the tank today with some aquarium salts - Would raising the temperature slightly (to about 80) help? Read that its good for getting rid of ich and other fungi.

 

The fact you're using Quick Start is likely why your water readings don't make sense. I'm in the camp that believes magic cycle boosters do more harm than good, and wacky water readings are just one of the problems.

If you let nature take its course without cycle boosters, add plants, and do water changes to keep your combined ammonia and nitrite at 1 ppm or below, your tank should be completely cycled in a month, and your water readings would make sense all along the way.

It's good that you got the API Master Test Kit. To be honest, I don't believe you're at the point where you should do "routine" water changes. Especially while your tank is cycling, you want to do water changes based on your test readings, rather than a set schedule. When ammonia and nitrite readings get to 1 ppm, do a water change. That might mean every day, every other day, every third day, it just depends. I'd also recommend doing 25% to 30% to get your levels down.

I'd recommend using Prime as a water conditioner. It not only dechlorinates, but neutralizes ammonia, ammonium, and nitrites for at least 24 hours.

I recommend letting nature take its course and managing the cycle completely through water changes. I'm not sure why you want to put in salt, or raise the temperature. Certainly, if you have ich, you'll know it and you'll have to treat it. But taking steps to treat it as a precaution doesn't make much sense, especially while you're trying to get through the cycle process.

 

The fact you're using Quick Start is likely why your water readings don't make sense. I'm in the camp that believes magic cycle boosters do more harm than good, and wacky water readings are just one of the problems.

If you let nature take its course without cycle boosters, add plants, and do water changes to keep your combined ammonia and nitrite at 1 ppm or below, your tank should be completely cycled in a month, and your water readings would make sense all along the way.

It's good that you got the API Master Test Kit. To be honest, I don't believe you're at the point where you should do "routine" water changes. Especially while your tank is cycling, you want to do water changes based on your test readings, rather than a set schedule. When ammonia and nitrite readings get to 1 ppm, do a water change. That might mean every day, every other day, every third day, it just depends. I'd also recommend doing 25% to 30% to get your levels down.

I'd recommend using Prime as a water conditioner. It not only dechlorinates, but neutralizes ammonia, ammonium, and nitrites for at least 24 hours.

I recommend letting nature take its course and managing the cycle completely through water changes. I'm not sure why you want to put in salt, or raise the temperature. Certainly, if you have ich, you'll know it and you'll have to treat it. But taking steps to treat it as a precaution doesn't make much sense, especially while you're trying to get through the cycle process.

Yeah, we want the tank to be as natural as possible but decided for when we add fish to add a de-stressor and cycle booster to try and stop a drastic spike, considering it was 12 guppies. I do base my water changes off my readings but since its only .25 ammonia, I felt that a large water change wouldn't be necessary.

The salt and temp rise was for the guppie with some sort of fungus looking thing on its head, and the gourami with a chunk of tail missing - But I suppose I could hold off on it for a few days.

 

I would go frequent with the water changes. I try to avoid doing more than 50% at once, unless there's an ammonia spike.

BTW, ich is a parasite, not a fungus. It's hard to say what the diseases are with the patch on the guppy's head and the chunk of tail missing on the gourami, but in general disease breakouts happen when water conditions are not good. You're kind of defeating the purpose if you medicate while in a pattern of frequent water changes. I'd focus on water changes for a few days, then maybe start medicating when your water is cleaner.

 

IMO water changes are the cure of most evil.

I’ve been lucky. I started this hobby again 1 year ago. I have 7 tanks, all up for 6-12 months. Not a single disease.

But I change water at a minimum of 50% weekly and in my heavily stocked tanks it’s 50%, 2Xs a week.

I agree with Dazzle, just do regular water changes.