Iridescent shark losing balance .. help

I recently bought a pair of iridescent sharks.. I resumed to the hobby of making acquarium after some break.. My fish tank is around 1.5 feet long and 0.5 feet wide.. The sharks are of length approx 4 inches.. One of them always used to come to the water surface and rest there ..within a day I bought .. So I separated it in a bucket.. It sometimes showed signs of itching by scratching itself on the bed.. now it is losing balance often and becoming vertical or upside down and not swimming.. It is not at all eating any food .. there is a few white furry spots near its mouth.. I m not sure what is the disease..Now I placed it in a bucket and added two spoons of table salt to cure if there is an itch.. Should I continue the same.. what should I do?

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but irridescent sharks grow to be very, very large, and your small tank is not nearly big enough. Although I can't answer the one's health issue, you will have much worse issues if you keep them. They can grow to over several feet and need at least a few hundred gallons of water.

I would try to get the one back to healthy and then return them asap. They will both most likely die if you keep them.

Good luck.

 

I would also read up on the Nitrogen cycle, reading your profile states that you don't know about it. I would cycle the tank first.

I agree with brody, Adult Iridescent sharks can grow up to be 4 feet long and the tank you have is small for them.

 

Yes, ID sharks need very large tanks to provide enough swim space as well as enough water to dilute their waste.

Even at 4 inches your tank is too narrow for the fish to turn around.

IMO these "sharks" need a 4 foot tank while under 6 inches and a 6 foot tank as an adult.

How was this tank cycled? What are the current water parameters?

I recommend returning the healthy shark now, before he gets sick. Then large daily water changes, 75-90% daily with a detoxing water conditioner, such as Seachem Prime or Kordon AmQuel+ with NovAqua+. Then as soon as the second one starts to improve, rehome him as well.

A tank that measures 18 inches long and 6 inches wide is very small for most fish. Without knowing the height I cannot determine exact volume, but I suspect the tank is less than 5G. Not much can be kept these small tanks. More appropriate choices are a single betta, a school of shrimp or depending on actual volume maybe honey gourami.

 

yeah I did read about the issue of their mature size of 4ft..But I m not pretty sure whether I have identified it correctly as iridescent sharks.. coz here in local shops they jus say sharks.. it costed only around Rs.30 INR.. I found this from internet that better resembled the one I have..

I m new to fish keeping .. I used to have fishes in my childhood in this same tank... I have a pair of small gold fishes now.. I just left the fishes after filling water.. I don't do any cycling.. in childhood I used to change the water and clean the tank once in a month..

 

I could nt save it..

 

I'm sorry you lost your fish.

I realize that when you were a child you didn't cycle a tank, but as a responsible adult you now have the opportunity to learn about the nitrogen cycle and how to be a better fishkeeper.

Here are a few links you may want to read through:
https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
https://www.fishlore.com/FishFAQs.htm
https://www.fishlore.com/Maintenance.htm
https://www.fishlore.com/freshwaterfish.htm

 

Thank you.. But should I follow this even for very small tanks having only small gold fishes..?

 

Welcome to Fishlore, venktech!

Goldfish get to be huge. They need pretty big tanks (or, better yet, ponds). And yes, every fish should have a cycled tank. My 10 gallon tank, which has six fish of less than an inch apiece, is cycled just as well as the 120 gallon with a bunch of giant danios.

 

I do in all my tanks. They currently range in size from 2.5G up to 125G. In my experience the smaller the tank the harder it is to stabilize it. Cycling a tank and following a weekly maintenance plan has allowed me to keep fish alive and healthy for many years.

But, in the end, the choice is yours on how you care for your fish.

 

oh fine.. Now I have a pair of gold fish around 2 inches size.. what are the good tank mates I can have.. I had red sword tail , blue mountain nd guppies in childhood but they used to chase the gold and bite its tails..was it usual or they are fighting.. is it correct to have them with gold fish..?

 

For your small tank size, guppies, endlers, shrimp or a single betta would be good after the tank has cycled. To house 2 goldfish into adulthood, you'd need a tank 5 or 6 times larger than the current tank.

If you want to keep the goldfish and add others, then you should start looking for a 55G or 200L tank, if not larger.