More fish = More Problems

Bossman0069 · 02-19-2008, 08:34 AM

My Alien tank has been doing great; I bought a master test kit and my tank is properly cycled all water parameters are perfect. Ive been adding fish at a rate of 2 a week and the tank has adjusted properly. My problems Started By Commiting What i`ll refer to as A Never Again Mistake!
I Bought Fish from Walmart. I couldent resist 2 beautiful red & yellow platy`s. I did not quarantine them before adding them to my tank and im now seeing signs of itch on my Silver tip shark (catfish) He`s covered in white spots. My Giant Danios have a few and so do my pleco`s.
I have started treatment for ich using Maracide. Im only on day 2 of treatment and worried about my clown loaches. What will this treatment do to them?

My tank is a bit crowded, Thankfully Everybody`s getting along well and no real Territorial Battles. However Ive read some of my fish are going to get Quite Large so i do see a bigger tank in the future.

Im currently using regular Blue aquarium substrate and My loaches are digging and Throwing gravel around every where Making a mess on the decor! Im interested in using aquarium sand but am unsure how to Clean A sandy Bottom. Will i Still need to use my gravel vac?
Or do i just let it be? Whats a good Minimal hassle substrate My Fish Will Like?

Another Question is ive been told to add aquarium salt to my water and have been for the last 3 weeks at 1tbls for every 5 gal. And i recently added 2 more tbls to help with the ich problem; shortly after doing this I noticed a Blister on the upper lip of one of my Pleco`s. And have subsequently read that Plecos are a no salt fish. (Zip Nadda) Am I hurting Them? I attempted to remove him for closer examination and the net Broke the blister. He seems ok But i do not want to repeat whatever caused his blister. Im assuming it was the salt! Any help with these probles whould be greatly appreciated.

29 gal
2 clown loaches
2Plecos
4 Giant danios
1 Silver tip Shark (catfish)
1 Bala Shark
2 minnows
3 comets
7 Fancy Guppies
2 Platys
2 Blue snails

tropical1 · 02-19-2008, 12:38 PM

i am no expert by any means but from what i see is that you have way too many fish for that tank. i had ich appear also in my 29 gallon and i think its cause i had too many fish also. i reduced the amount of rfish in the tank an d no more problems so far. you might want to reduce the amount of fish. but i am sure someone else will chime in with some better help.

fernival brainard · 02-20-2008, 05:11 PM

hello there,
first off, Ich is a parasite and is not caused by too many fish in one tank, although over stocking can and will eventually lead to other problems.

Ich happens when a fish carrying the parasite is introduced into your tank, thus infecting the entire tank and inhabitants. There are some great informative posts in the forum about Ich I recommend you read them.

2nd of all I am a bit concerned with the addition of salt. Did you add a total of 1 TBL. spoon per 5 gallon or did you add 1 Tbl. spn. per 5 gallons every week for 3 weeks?? with a 29 gal tank, you should have LESS than 6 TBL sp. per 5 gallons

3rd point. - clown loaches are super sensitive to certain medications. Loaches are a scaleless fish. When you add meds to the water that contain certain dyes it sends their slime coat production into overdrive and they will literally suffocate to death. Balas do not do well with some ich meds either.

4th point- this may not matter yet but it will at some point. your bala and your loaches are both going to be large fish and are going to outgrow a 29 gal. tank.
the loaches grow fairly slow but that bala on the other hand, will grow like a weed. for instance, I have 3 balas. I got them a year or so ago and they were all 2 to 3 inches long and living in a 55 gal. last october I moved them into a 120 gal. and they are almost a footlong each. They require alot of swimming room and they are going to get bigger. your plecs, depending on the type of plec may also grow WAY too big for 29 gal.

Hope this helps, let us know about the salt.
fern

hlsarge · 02-26-2008, 10:41 PM

Ok this just confuses me?

Quote:

Did you add a total of 1 TBL. spoon per 5 gallon or did you add 1 Tbl. spn. per 5 gallons every week for 3 weeks?? with a 29 gal tank, you should have LESS than 6 TBL sp. per 5 gallons

Quote:

Ich happens when a fish carrying the parasite is introduced into your tank, thus infecting the entire tank and inhabitants.

Assuming you bring home your new found friends from Wal-mart and they show no signs of ich (otherwise you don't buy them). You (being the prudent fish keeper you are), put them in the "holding" tank to see if they are "clean".

QUESTION: How long do you need to hold them before you can be confident that they are not contaminated carriers ready to spread ichy gloom?

E46er · 03-01-2008, 05:49 PM

ive read generally a 2 week quarentine is good