Please Help...Sick Zebra Danio('s)
Well I guess Ill start at the beginning to save you guys the time of asking more questions than necessary. And thanks in advance for anything you may be able to help me with.
About a month ago I came into possession of a 29 gallon tank and stand for free along with 2 Aqua-Tech 20-40 filters, heater, and assorted accessories. The only catch was I had to take the only remaining fish in the tank a rare 2-3 year old (what I believe to be) Rollofs Barb. They were running one of the filters with no media and no heater. So it was pretty much bio only filtration for about a year. They would simply bring the hose in to top it off every so often.
So needless to say I thoroughly cleaned the tank and all equipment as you could barely even see through the glass there was so much algae covering everything. I purchased media for the filters, Stress Coat, and a strip style test kit. I then proceeded to fill up the tank with tap water and the stress coat and let the tank sit for about 36 hours with both filters and the heater running.
After reading about cycling tanks i headed to my LFS for fish and ended up coming home with API PH 7.0 instead. The next day I returned back to the LFS for fish yet again. This time I came home with 6 Zebra Danios and promptly added them along with my Barb to the tank. They all seemed to be doing very well.
Soon after I found that I could not control the PH it would jump up from 7.0 to about 7.9 -8.1 withon 12 hours of adding the API PH 7.0. I took some water up to the LFS for testing. They told me my hardness was the problem and the only solution was softer water. So I bought 15 Gallons of R.O. Water with a PH of 6.0 and did a 50% water change. Since then I have been running a steady 6.9 - 7.0 at all times. (Every water change since has been with the R.O. Water as well)
I was taking a sample of water to the LFS about every other day as it was free and they were very helpful. I was progressing very nicely through my cycle and my fish seemed very healthy and energetic. About 10 days in my Ammonia and nitrites had dropped to 0 and my nitrates started to rise slowly so I started doing 10% water changes every couple days and consistently took the water in for testing. Still no ammonia or Nitrites after 15 days so I decided to add 8 Neon tetras and 3 Panda Corys. Which I now know was a mistake. But for a time they did fine. The ammonia spiked only slightly the first day and by the second both the ammonia and nitrites were at zero and the Nitrates were at about 10.
About the third day after I had added the neons my Barb started to get very aggresive towards them. Before I knew it 2 neons had mysteriously disappeared. That night I watched the tank with the lights off. My Barb was terrorizing them chasing them all over the tank and taking chunks out of their fins. So I put him in isolation and bought him his own 15 gal tank the next day.
Now Im thinking I was good. Great water, frequent water changes and happy fish. Then I noticed my neon's were becoming very bloated. Within a day or so they were very lumpy, colors were faded and they were becoming very inactive. So I isolated them and they quickly deteriorated so I had to euthonize the last living few. Turns out they had Neon Tetra Diesase.
Which leads me now, If your still reading this, to the main point of this post. One of my Zebra Danios now has a red but and occasionly spits out her food, just the really big pieces she trys to inhale. I fear it may be a bacteria infection but Im unsure. She has always been huge compared to the rest of the Danios with a huge gut, but I think that was because she hoarded most of the food. And some of the other danios are starting to present red bums as well. They are still pretty active and eat well.
I may be paranoid but I just dont want to lose anymore fish. By the way the Pandas seem to be doing just fine. And the water is good with 15% water changes every 3-4 days wether the Nitrate levels are high or not. I also added a 60 gal whisper air pump with 2 air stones. That really seemed to bring up the energy level in the tank. Also Im buying some BIO Pure Daphnia tomorrow. Is there anything else I should do? Ive attached pics of the Danio with the red bum.
Any other feedback you could give me regarding any tips or advice for future fishkeeping would also be nice as I have a 30gal Im preparing to set up in the near future. Another freebie this time with no fish attached.
Well I guess Ill start at the beginning to save you guys the time of asking more questions than necessary. And thanks in advance for anything you may be able to help me with.
About a month ago I came into possession of a 29 gallon tank and stand for free along with 2 Aqua-Tech 20-40 filters, heater, and assorted accessories. The only catch was I had to take the only remaining fish in the tank a rare 2-3 year old (what I believe to be) Rollofs Barb. They were running one of the filters with no media and no heater. So it was pretty much bio only filtration for about a year. They would simply bring the hose in to top it off every so often.
So needless to say I thoroughly cleaned the tank and all equipment as you could barely even see through the glass there was so much algae covering everything. I purchased media for the filters, Stress Coat, and a strip style test kit. I then proceeded to fill up the tank with tap water and the stress coat and let the tank sit for about 36 hours with both filters and the heater running.
After reading about cycling tanks i headed to my LFS for fish and ended up coming home with API PH 7.0 instead. The next day I returned back to the LFS for fish yet again. This time I came home with 6 Zebra Danios and promptly added them along with my Barb to the tank. They all seemed to be doing very well.
Soon after I found that I could not control the PH it would jump up from 7.0 to about 7.9 -8.1 withon 12 hours of adding the API PH 7.0. I took some water up to the LFS for testing. They told me my hardness was the problem and the only solution was softer water. So I bought 15 Gallons of R.O. Water with a PH of 6.0 and did a 50% water change. Since then I have been running a steady 6.9 - 7.0 at all times. (Every water change since has been with the R.O. Water as well)
I was taking a sample of water to the LFS about every other day as it was free and they were very helpful. I was progressing very nicely through my cycle and my fish seemed very healthy and energetic. About 10 days in my Ammonia and nitrites had dropped to 0 and my nitrates started to rise slowly so I started doing 10% water changes every couple days and consistently took the water in for testing. Still no ammonia or Nitrites after 15 days so I decided to add 8 Neon tetras and 3 Panda Corys. Which I now know was a mistake. But for a time they did fine. The ammonia spiked only slightly the first day and by the second both the ammonia and nitrites were at zero and the Nitrates were at about 10.
About the third day after I had added the neons my Barb started to get very aggresive towards them. Before I knew it 2 neons had mysteriously disappeared. That night I watched the tank with the lights off. My Barb was terrorizing them chasing them all over the tank and taking chunks out of their fins. So I put him in isolation and bought him his own 15 gal tank the next day.
Now Im thinking I was good. Great water, frequent water changes and happy fish. Then I noticed my neon's were becoming very bloated. Within a day or so they were very lumpy, colors were faded and they were becoming very inactive. So I isolated them and they quickly deteriorated so I had to euthonize the last living few. Turns out they had Neon Tetra Diesase.
Which leads me now, If your still reading this, to the main point of this post. One of my Zebra Danios now has a red but and occasionly spits out her food, just the really big pieces she trys to inhale. I fear it may be a bacteria infection but Im unsure. She has always been huge compared to the rest of the Danios with a huge gut, but I think that was because she hoarded most of the food. And some of the other danios are starting to present red bums as well. They are still pretty active and eat well.
I may be paranoid but I just dont want to lose anymore fish. By the way the Pandas seem to be doing just fine. And the water is good with 15% water changes every 3-4 days wether the Nitrate levels are high or not. I also added a 60 gal whisper air pump with 2 air stones. That really seemed to bring up the energy level in the tank. Also Im buying some BIO Pure Daphnia tomorrow. Is there anything else I should do? Ive attached pics of the Danio with the red bum.
Any other feedback you could give me regarding any tips or advice for future fishkeeping would also be nice as I have a 30gal Im preparing to set up in the near future. Another freebie this time with no fish attached.
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