AboutRon Coleman Expertise I am an expert on cichlid fishes, particularly New World cichlids. My broader expertise includes the behavior, ecology and reproduction of fishes in general. (I am NOT an expert on Goldfish). Please do not use abbreviations, such as "my GT has a swollen eye" because I don't know what a "GT" is. The more clearly you can explain your question, the better chance I have of understanding what it is that you seek. I keep fishes both as a scientist and as a hobbyist and I currently maintain about 140 aquariums.
Experience I am an Assistant Professor at the California State University, Sacramento in the Department of Biological Sciences, and I run a website, called the Cichlid Research Home Page . I also write for many popular aquarist magazines, and I am editor of Cichlid News magazine. I am a scientist and I spend my time teaching fish biology, ecology, behavior and evolution and doing research on the reproductive biology of fishes, particularly cichlids. I do research in the laboratory and in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Mexico. My main interest is understanding the evolution of parental care in fishes. I am interested in encouraging greater public awareness, understanding and participation in science.
Publications Cichlid News, Tropical Fish Hobbyist, Freshwater and Marine Aquarium, Science, Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, Copeia, Canadian Journal of Zoology, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, AUK, Environmental Biology of Fishes
I set up a 20L tropical fish tank 2 months ago. I initially put in one gouramis, then ten neon tetra and four fancy male guppies.
On the first night I got the guppies one died, but after that everything was fine for about a month. Then I gradually began losing tetras as my ph rose. I corrected that and everything seemed fine once more.
However, a week ago I noticed one of my guppies had fin rot, I immediately added salt and turned up the temperature and he seemed to recover. However, the next day another guppy also got fin rot and died. THe day after that the other guppy with fin rot died. And finally, the fourth guppy died that same night (with no apparent signs of illness).
After that I went to the pet shop to have my water checked. All my levels were fine except for a high pH of 7.4. So I changed my gravel (to better quality stones without shells) and also have added microscopic amounts of ph every few days. However, my dwarf today is very ill. He is lying on the bottom of the tank and doesn't appear to be able to hold himself up.
Please help me, I only have the dwarf gouramis and a tetra left. The tetra is doing fine, healthy, eating etc.
I clean the tank weekly with a 25% water change, I add the water purification and a little salt with each change. I use a siphoner so the gravel is clean. I only feed the fish every second day.
I thank you in advance for your help.
Gill
ANSWER: Hi Gill,
If you hadn't said that the gourami was ill, I would have been pretty sure that the gourami was killing the guppies. Fin rot is not nearly as common as people think; typically "fin rot" is the result of attacks by another fish.
A pH of 7.4 is not very extreme and shouldn't likely cause many problems. I do not understand when you say "added microscopic amounts of pH every few days". Do you mean that you added one of the "pH down" products, i.e., sodium bicarbonate? (You can't "add pH" -- it just isn't something you can add or remove). You can increase it or decrease it by adding various chemicals.
Is there a chance that the tetra is bullying the other fish, i.e., is it one of the larger tetra species (there are hundreds of tetras)?
I generally feed my fish once a day, occasionally skipping a day.
Personally I never add salt to a freshwater aquarium.
-- Ron
rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately my gouramis died two days ago. He had no visible signs of illness, just sat at the bottom of the tank. I even tried to give him peas - which I read to be a remedy for some illnesses, but he did not touch them.
I apologise, I meant I was adding small amounts of the pH Down.
In regards to the fin rot I seriously doubt it was an attack by another fish. I watch my fish quite a lot, and never saw any bullying behaviour.
The only remaining fish I have, is a neon tetra. He is approx. one centimetre and I never saw him bullying my gouramis.
In regards to the salt... I only put it in, because the pet shop told me too... I understood it to be a good natural antibiotic, so I add one small teaspoon with each water change.
Is there anything else I could be doing wrong? I have now wasted quite a lot of money, and I am scared to add anymore fish before the problem has been identified.
Before setting up the fish tank, I read extensively about tropical fish keeping, and I can't identify anywhere I am going wrong. Nor can the pet shops I have asked.
Thanks again for your response. I appreciate the use of this service.
Gill
Answer Hi Gill,
It is unlikely that a neon was attacking the other fish.
There are some folks that use salt and recommend it -- it is basically
a folk remedy. There is no scientific basis for its use and in fact, one could argue strongly against it. For example, neon tetras come
from the central Amazon and there is absolutely NO salt in the water there. The other problem with adding salt is that it tends to accumulate. For example, if you add a teaspoon of salt, then replace
only water that evaporates, and add a teaspoon to the water you are adding, you now have two doses of salt in the tank and so on. Basically, you have to be sure that you are removing salt when you take out water and adding in only that much new salt -- all very complicated to get just right.
Don't be discouraged. It is very possible that one of your fish did have a disease that spread to the others. The best way to avoid this is to only buy fish from a quality fish pet shop and to never buy fish from a tank that has any sick, injured or unhappy looking fish in it, no matter how much you want that particular fish.
-- Ron
rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>
