Petfish.net Message Board Archive No. 8

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196.
From: Heather 1/20/00
Subject: How do you know how old a betta is? Posted by (mailto:Krunchie_O@yahoo.com) Heather on January 20, 100 at 10:48:26:
I was just wondering how old my betta is. Is there any way to tell?

195.
From: steve 1/20/00
Subject: Pregnant Molly Posted by steve on January 20, 100 at 06:54:21:
We think we brought a molly mother to be home last night from LFS. She has separate tank and any advice would be hlpful.

188.
From: amber 1/18/00
Subject: Painted Glass Fish: Inhumane or Safe? Posted by amber on January 18, 100 at 16:57:50:
Turns out the mystery fish I adopted is a pink painted glass fish. I've heard that people inject the dye in the fish or they give them color dye baths which ruin their slime coating...Is this painful for the fish? Could I have some info about the coloring process and any organizations that are against animal cruelty? Thanks in advance!

198.
From: Victor 1/20/00
Subject: Re: Painted Glass Fish (Chanda Ranga) Posted by (mailto:vabrito@aol.com) Victor on January 20, 100 at 11:50:56: Re: (188.
) Painted Glass Fish: Inhumane or Safe? posted by amber on January 18, 100 at 16:57:50:
I cycled my tank the first time with 3 painted glass fish. They were so pretty. Within the first two weeks one of them got ick. So my third week of keeping fish I was treating the tank. No way, not again. The glass fish are too beautiful to color, and coloring does make them more susceptible to disease. I have asked my LFR to look into ordering me some un-painted glass fish, which are available! Also, FYI, the White Skirt and Black Skirt Tetras are also "painted". The colors are softer and more uniform but they are still painted so make sure to ask your LFR before purchasing a fish if it is artifically colored and refrain, if at all possible, from purchasing an artificially colored fish.

192.
From: Eddie 1/19/00
Subject: Inhumane...period Posted by Eddie on January 19, 100 at 11:03:36: Re: (188.
) Painted Glass Fish: Inhumane or Safe? posted by amber on January 18, 100 at 16:57:50:
Painted Glassfish that are dyed have shorter lives. The colors disappear in a few months, and dyed glassfish are ALOT more prone to disease.

191.
From: kitty fish 1/18/00
Subject: Re: Painted Glass Fish: Inhumane or Safe? Posted by (mailto:kitty_fish@petfish.net) kitty fish on January 18, 100 at 19:13:57: Re: (188.
) Painted Glass Fish: Inhumane or Safe? posted by amber on January 18, 100 at 16:57:50:
though there is no real definition of 'pain' in fish, it is a very rough thing for a fish to go through. stress is the leading killer of fish. think of some stabbing the equivalent of a pencil into you and injecting you with that dye. not to mention the dye isnt really that attractive, over half the fish die from the stress/injuries caused by injection. i have not heard much about the stripping of the slime coat, but i dont think ridding the fish of its protective slime coat that guards it from disease and makes it a more efficient swimmer is very good for your poor pet fish at all. i dont know many organizations that really will stand up for pet fish, apparently the only pets that deserve compassion are the cute fluffy ones (cute i can argue with ;). the controversial, sometimes extravagant PETA does stand up for some fish rights, they are helping out RedKat's boycott of the 'perfect little mini ecosystem', Aquababies. if it were up to me, id inform the petshop of your dislike of them purchasing the mistreated fish and ask them to find a different type of fish to support. lol flaming ;) hope this helps, good luck! kitty fish

185.
From: Amy 1/18/00
Subject: Fungus? Eggs? Posted by (mailto:amy@rainman-soft.com) Amy on January 18, 100 at 13:27:38:
I have a recently set up 25 gallon freshwater tank with lid filter/lamp and bio wheel (Eclipse). I've been doing testing, and everything (ammonia, nitrite)seems to be in the acceptable range. The general hardness is a little on the high side (160 ppm), and I can't get the pH down to 7. It stays at about 7.6 to 7.8. I have 3 neon tetras, 2 platys, 2 glass fish, 3 glow light tetras, a scissor tail, an upsidedown catfish and a greenback catfish. In the last 24 hours, I've noticed several white "tribbles" floating around. Three to 5 mm in diameter with a bright white nucleus and a halo of what I thought was mycelia. Then in the last 12, there are sheets of white filamentous stuff in the plants in the tank. They are about 2 cm in diameter. This stuff seems to be associated with the plants, and the fish look healthy to me. No gulping, plenty of activity. The greenback catfish has been hyperactive, and has a damaged dorsal fin. I'm not sure what species the plants are. They are not pictured on this web site. They are 'ferny', with a central stem and needle-like leaves in circles around the central stem. Does anyone know what this stuff is?

186.
From: kitty fish 1/18/00
Subject: Re: Fungus? Eggs? Posted by (mailto:kitty_fish@petfish.net) kitty fish on January 18, 100 at 13:44:38: Re: (185.
) Fungus? Eggs? posted by Amy on January 18, 100 at 13:27:38:
most likely it is uneaten food that has found a nook in the gravel to fungus in, then been knocked back into circulation by foraging fish. then the rotten food particles get caught in your plants. i wouldnt really worry about it, just be thourough when siphoning and maybe try feeding a bit less. good luck! kitty fish

197.
From: amy 1/20/00
Subject: Re: Fungus? Eggs? Posted by (mailto:amy@rainman-soft.com) amy on January 20, 100 at 10:59:22: Re: (186.
) Re: Fungus? Eggs? posted by kitty fish on January 18, 100 at 13:44:38:
Thanks for your help! I don't know anyone to show me this stuff, so I'm going a bit by trial and error. I was not being good about stirring up the gravel and junk when I do water changes. Someone did confirm that my glass fish has ick, and I'm treating with copper sulfate. Wish me luck!

181.
From: Lbowes 1/17/00
Subject: FYI-PH Problems Posted by (mailto:belinda@vax2.concordia.ca) Lbowes on January 17, 100 at 07:53:17:
A friend and I both had problems with a spike in the PH and we lost quite a few fish. I have been trying to track down why this would happen. Well, I think I found the answer and thought it might be useful for others. Apparently cities "treat" their pipes usually twice a year. At this time they add chemicals to clean. I checked with the city where I live and sure enough, they did this just before I lost all my angels. They do announce in newspapers when they are planning to do this. So keep watch!

189.
From: wmily 1/18/00
Subject: Re: FYI-PH Problems Posted by (mailto:fuzzy@kurama.zzn.com) wmily on January 18, 100 at 17:59:00: Re: (181.
) FYI-PH Problems posted by Lbowes on January 17, 100 at 07:53:17:
Hey, do you think most cities do this at a specific time of year? I just had a pH spike in my tap water, too. And I made it worse because I saw my betta getting sick and did an extra water change. Can we say dumb? Next time, I guess I'll have to check the pH before I do that.

180.
From: Lisa Walker 1/17/00
Subject: treating with salt? Posted by (mailto:lwalker@usm.maine.edu) Lisa Walker on January 17, 100 at 07:14:33:
No advice about my swollen betta fish? Yesterday I put 2 tsp. of salt in his water and he seemed to feel better right away. It may be my imagination, but I think he looks a tiny bit less swollen today. How do I continue salt treatment?

190.
From: wmily 1/18/00
Subject: Re: treating with salt? Posted by (mailto:fuzzy@kurama.zzn.com) wmily on January 18, 100 at 18:02:17: Re: (180.
) treating with salt? posted by Lisa Walker on January 17, 100 at 07:14:33:
I'm not the expert on keeping bettas alive, but I think the deal with the salt treatment is to just keep it at the ratio of 1 tsp salt per 1 gallon water. So put salt in when you change the water. Good luck. I hope your fish gets better. If he looks better, you're probably on the right track. I think.

179.
From: Kristen 1/17/00
Subject: Oh no! Too many fish... Posted by Kristen on January 17, 100 at 05:54:14:
Ok. I know my boyfriend meant well when he brought me some new additions to my fish tank this weekend, but now I am overstocked. Currently, I have 2 cories, 4 zebra danios, 4 neon tetras, and now 3 lemon tetras in my 10 gallon tank. That's "lucky 13" small fish. I'm not sure what made him pick the lemon tetras, but they're cool (probably the fish store suggested them to him among other beginners' fish). I did a little reading about them this morning and they seem like good fish for me to keep with the others if I had a 15 gallon tank. Since that's not going to happen, am I completely doomed now that I am 3 fish over what I should have? All the fish get along great, they are all active (especially at meal time), and the display is very pretty (good color and body shape contrasts among the fish and all the tetras appear to school together). Will I be Ok if I continue to feed lightly and keep up with the water changes?

184.
From: Victor 1/18/00
Subject: Re: Oh no! Too many fish... Posted by (mailto:vabrito@aol.com) Victor on January 18, 100 at 13:24:42: Re: (179.
) Oh no! Too many fish... posted by Kristen on January 17, 100 at 05:54:14:
You might want to add a sponge filter. The Tetra Brilliant is not very big. I have a Double Brilliant in my 10 gal tank with a AquaClear Mini power filter. I currently have 11 fish in my tank. 3 Cories, 5 Harleys, and 3 neons. They all seem to be doing fine, and the sponge filter helps to keep the bacterial activity going.

182.
From: Steve 1/17/00
Subject: Re: Oh no! Too many fish... Posted by Steve on January 17, 100 at 09:29:37: Re: (179.
) Oh no! Too many fish... posted by Kristen on January 17, 100 at 05:54:14:
You aren't over stocked. You ar at the limit of what you should be. Just don't get any more fish. And like you said don't over feed and don't forget the water changes. Good Luck.

173.
From: amber 1/16/00
Subject: kuhlie loach Posted by amber on January 16, 100 at 15:54:31:
two days ago i purchased 3 kuhlie loaches for my 10 gal tank. the next morning at 8 i woke up to find that one of them and a guppy were in the filter. The guppy survived, but the loach got skinned badly. I bought Kanacyn and a net for the loach yesterday, but he passed away today. What i did to prevent loaches ever jumping into the current of the filter was superglued small tacks to where the water comes out, and cut up an old fish net, streched it out, and slid it onto the tacks. It is totally loach proof. I put this up here so anyone out there think bout getting a loach and has an aquaclear filter, will know what to do before its too late....

193.
From: ZeKe 1/19/00
Subject: Re: kuhlie loach Posted by (mailto:zeke0@hotmail.com) ZeKe on January 19, 100 at 15:00:55: Re: (173.
) kuhlie loach posted by amber on January 16, 100 at 15:54:31:
I baught 2 kuhli's and they immediatly found my filter, I had to take them out myself. Oddly, they never got caught in there again, like they learned? I dont' know what type of filter you're talking about though. -Z

169.
From: Lisa Walker 1/16/00
Subject: betta swollen on left side Posted by (mailto:lwalker@usm.maine.edu) Lisa Walker on January 16, 100 at 14:27:12:
My betta fish, Dumaine, is about two years old. He's been living in a 2 gallon aquarium with no filter, and I hate to admit it, but in dirty water lots of the time. He's been a trooper. About two days ago, he started swelling up on the left side, mostly up by his head, but also down the length of his body. Is this dropsy, or do they swell up on both sides when it's dropsy? I put salt in the aquarium, and a little bit of medicine that the fish store sold me, called "Nala-Gram," which is supposed to be for "swollen belly disease." Any advice about treatment, and or when to euthanize? He's still eating, but also is on the bottom of the tank a lot. I don't want him to suffer a long time if he's going to die anyway. He's a good fish.

166.
From: ZeKe 1/15/00
Subject: Male betta can't get it up? Posted by (mailto:zeke0@hotmail.com) ZeKe on January 15, 100 at 17:05:21:
I did everything correct(first time) to spawn some bettas. 80 degree aged water, 5 inch deep in 2 gal hex tank. floating Eegleana(sp), floated female in small sandwhich bag: The male noticed the famale and sort of went towards her, and the female flaired out and manifested black verticle lines by his stomach, her gills, she flaired them along with her back tail and her stomach got wider. Obviously arrosed 30 minutes passed the male just continuesly swam around in circles? no nest, nothing. I released the female and she just tried raping the male, he wouldn't even acknowledge her existance? What should I do? ICQ me at 4310427 and I can take pictures with my digital cam. or post reply, or e-mail thanks ZeKe

175.
From: Clint 1/16/00
Subject: Re: Male betta can't get it up? Posted by (mailto:clint@petfish.net) Clint on January 16, 100 at 18:22:39: Re: (166.
) Male betta can't get it up? posted by ZeKe on January 15, 100 at 17:05:21:
Spawning Bettas always seems to have some kind of problem to(not) come up, the standard practice is to separate them for 3 or 4 days and try again. Clint

187.
From: ZeKe 1/18/00
Subject: Re: Male betta can't get it up? Posted by (mailto:zeke0@hotmail.com) ZeKe on January 18, 100 at 16:25:33: Re: (175.
) Re: Male betta can't get it up? posted by Clint on January 16, 100 at 18:22:39:
I posted on the 15th, day after I tried. So it has been 4 days. I fed both the bettas very well, and they have both become confident and unstressed(unlike last time?). I then went through with introducing the male to the 4-5inch deep hex tank again. With calm water and floating plants. Instead of floating the female I placed a fish *bowl* next to the glass. It fits very well and gives both the specimens a good view of each other. Immediatly both of them were about as horny as.. etc.. Flairing Gills(the whole 9 yards).. etc But the male has no nest? I'm still confused(after reading about 6 different docs on this) how/when the male builds a nest. They have been in for 2 hours now. They are still stairing each other down and trying to get it on with the glass ): sure enough I located my camera and took these pics 5 minutes ago. members.xoom.com/bas69/bettas.gif Thx -Z

162.
From: Jen 1/14/00
Subject: Ammonia Posted by (mailto:maryalyce@surry.net) Jen on January 14, 100 at 18:34:38:
Help! I've searched for my answer but I'm having information overload problems. We have a new ( five weeks old) 10g tank. The ph is 7.6, ammonia is .5-1ppm, water is clear. Have tried "ph down" to lower ph, it didn't work. Pet store person recommended C-100 water purifier pillow to remove ammonia, this has been in for 24 hours and no change in ammonia or ph levels. Fish appear healthy. We have 2 guppies, 2 mollies and 2 tetras. What should I do about the ammonia?

176.
From: Jose 1/16/00
Subject: Re: Ammonia Posted by (mailto:FrankPA99@aol.com) Jose on January 16, 100 at 21:35:11: Re: (162.
) Ammonia posted by Jen on January 14, 100 at 18:34:38:
Hi Jen. It seems to me that your tank is still in the process of cycling (time period where nitrifying bacteria establish themselves). You don't mention whether you tested for nitrites and nitrates, or the temperature of the water (all important parameters). Ammonia produced by fish is converted (oxidized) by nitrosomonas into nitrtie, and then nitrobacter further oxidize nitrite into nitrate. Therefore, when your tank is fully cycled, your ammonia and nitrite should read 0ppm, while your nitrate should be positive (you want to keep it below 20-30ppm with weekly 20-25%water changes). I think bying the ammonia-removing pillow was a waste of money... It will delay completion of the cycle (it will "steal" ammonia from bacteria). At this time, you don't want to introduce any more fish into the tank, until it's cycled (I think you shouldn't put anymore fish in there period). I would assume your LFS also sold you those fish...well, they're too many to start up a 10-gal tank, you usually start with 2 "hardy" fish for that size tank. So many fish in a tank that size can produce lots of toxic ammonia that can kill them. Yes, ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish, but their toxicity depends on factors such as temperature and pH. At pH>7.0 ammonia is highly toxic, but it's not at pH<7.0. Nitrite works the other way around (toxic at acidic pH and not so-toxic at pH>7.0), the higher the temp, the greater the toxicity of these compounds. The best thing to do, is just do partial water changes (20%) twice a week (without cleaning the filter or the gravel at all), and don't overfeed your fish (to prevent further toxins build up). Don't mess up with pHDown or pHUp, or with any other thing to adjust the pH, just let it be as it is (7.6 is OK). The more you change the original conditions of your tap water, the harder it will be to keep those values, and the greater the likelyhood that your fish will suffer from stress. Most fish can adapt pretty well to the conditions of the tap water in most places. Always keep in mind that LFS want to sell you their products, and for the most part, their employers are not prepared to answer any of the questions that you see posted in fish boards. They like to hire cheap labor force, with little regard to knowledge of fishkeeping. It's always better to research and find out about the fish you want to keep before hand, and not to rely on what the clerck at your LFS will tell you. There are of course, exceptions to this rule (as to most others). In my experience, owner-operated small LFS are usually more useful in providing help.

183.
From: jen 1/17/00
Subject: Re: Ammonia Posted by (mailto:maryalyce@surry.net) jen on January 17, 100 at 16:01:54: Re: (176.
) Re: Ammonia posted by Jose on January 16, 100 at 21:35:11:
Thanks Jose. I did another 20% water change today, but we did lose one of the mollies. The ammonia level has not changed. Have not checked the nitrites/nitrates, but will. The temp. has been a constant 78, that seems to be the only thing that is going my way. The water is from a community well, I checked the tap water before adding to the tank each change and there is not ammonia present. I still think the problem was with overfeeding in the first two weeks. While on the subject, what type of food do you suggest? Oh, and the LFS here in town can't keep his own fish alive so I got help from a store in the town were I work. It's a college town and the staff at the store appeared to be more fish savy. So much for that. Thanks again for the help.

164.
From: kitty fish 1/15/00
Subject: Re: Ammonia Posted by (mailto:kitty_fish@petfish.net) kitty fish on January 15, 100 at 10:15:53: Re: (162.
) Ammonia posted by Jen on January 14, 100 at 18:34:38:
hey jen, DONT worry about the pH. beginners should find out the pH of their tap water and find a fish that prefers that pH. DONT use pH down, it just doesnt work. the only way your going to keep that ammonia down is to do *water changes* in this new tank you should do them every few days til your ammonia is zero. ive never heard of 'water purifier pillows' but theyre probably just a bandaid on a gaping chest wound ;) you know what i mean! good luck! kitty fish

168.
From: jen 1/16/00
Subject: Re: Ammonia Posted by (mailto:maryalyce@surry.net) jen on January 16, 100 at 08:19:17: Re: (164.
) Re: Ammonia posted by kitty fish on January 15, 100 at 10:15:53:
Thanks kitty fish. I did the first water change and I think I found the problem, lots of old food in the gravel that was not seen just looking at the tank. I'll continue the water changes, thanks again.

161.
From: chris 1/14/00
Subject: help me!!! fish trouble Posted by (mailto:nythug21@aol.com) chris on January 14, 100 at 16:57:05:
hi all,i have a big problem i have a red devil cichlid which i have had for 3 years now he is sick,he has some type of fugi or somethign cloud looking covering his right eye and he is not eating and having a difficult time swimming..what is wrong?? how do i help this fish out?? thanks for your help

171.
From: Lisa Walker 1/16/00
Subject: Re: help me!!! fish trouble Posted by (mailto:lwalker@usm.maine.edu) Lisa Walker on January 16, 100 at 14:50:34: Re: (161.
) help me!!! fish trouble posted by chris on January 14, 100 at 16:57:05:
I don't know much about fish trouble myself but I have been on the net since my betta got sick and I did read about something called "eye cloud"; I read that it was a fungal infection. Since I'm new to the sick fish scene I'm not offering any advice, but that may be something to go on. I hope your fish gets better and that someone who knows more writes back to you.

172.
From: amber 1/16/00
Subject: Re: help me!!! fish trouble Posted by amber on January 16, 100 at 15:43:27: Re: (171.
) Re: help me!!! fish trouble posted by Lisa Walker on January 16, 100 at 14:50:34:
go to your pet store, avoid petco/premium pet/ etc, and look for fungus medications, ask an employee for advice...good luck