# help with tank plz



## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

i have a 20 gallon tank setup with 2 swordtail(pair) 1 gourami 3 glolight tetras, 1 gold tetra a threadfin rainbow one i think killi not sure, a golden wonder killi and 2 male and 3 female guppies. i had had 2 angels but 1 got agressive so i h ad to remove him then the other did the same so i removed him(he killed one of my female guppies) so i assumed i was safe but i woke up to find my males tail half eaten this morning and he will most likely die any idea who the culprut is? I NEED TO GET RID OF CULPRIT!

ooo ps i have some ghost shrimp (didnt know if that was a factor bcuz i saw them eat some of males tail this morning wshen he was hurt)

if u can help plz give me advice thank you!


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Are you sure its fish aggression and not fin rot?Seems like too many fish in your tank to me.Could you possibly give us some water param readings?If it is aggression it could be due to crowding.Angels are usually the aggressors,when in pairs and ready to spawn or guard eggs.I dont really see them getting bullied.


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

well i got rid of angels because they were to agressive and id think its fin rot cuz it haooens mostly at night 4 some reason
if it was a culprit what would u guess?


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

i had swordtails and removed them almost straight away as they nipped the gourami and guppies and they constantly done it. Thats from my experience anyway, your best bet is to try and watch them as much as possible to see any 'bad' behaviour in the fish


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

ive seen the gourami do some agression since i got rid of angels and btw i just got the swordtails yesterday


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

how many male gouramis do you have?

My swordtails were removed and returned within 24hours they were that bad


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

only 1 gourami dont know male or emale guessing male by color thiough


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

a gourami can be aggressive if it does not have a companion so if its male you'd need a female. Most stores sell them as a pair for that reason. You could possibly try this.

Do you have a lot of hiding plants such as live plants? This can also help


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## rtbob (Jul 18, 2010)

Gourami's may be mildly aggressive towards other species but it is usually limited to a quick chase and no nipping. Two male Gourami in a tank your size would result in the dominate one harrassing the other until the weaker one would constantly hide, be stressed and more than likely die.


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

could a low ph affect the tank? cuz mine is 6.4 and i found some chemcials thatnget rid of fin rot should i try them?


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

p.s. idk if its fin rot cuz its only guppies that have been effected


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

If you catch the fin rot at an early stage then yes the treatments can be good so if it isnt to bad at the moment treat straight away. I had some cases of this when some of my fish were nipped and developed fin rot the quicker you act the better the chances nothing will be beyond repair


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

celticsfan13 said:


> p.s. idk if its fin rot cuz its only guppies that have been effected


is there what looks like a white cotton like build up around the nipped area, or loss of all colour so the fin has gone transparent in areas? if so then its fin rot


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## rtbob (Jul 18, 2010)

I myself would not try to adjust the PH and I also would not treat my entire tank with meds just to try and save one fish who more than likely is going to die.

If you see further signs of fin deterioration then meds may become necessary.

I don't mean to be insensitive to your injured fish. The injury you describe (tail half eaten off) is going to make this fish a target of all the healthy fish as they try to get rid of the obviously weaker tankmate. Sounds like to me this poor creature is on his way to crystal clear water with a never ending supply of it's favorite food, (fishy heaven)


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

I have feed fry and juv guppies to my Killi Fish. Aggressive and large mouths to eat other fish with, very possible its them.


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

yea its not 4 that fish but rather to prevent others from injury and the only other injury i noticed is a small amount of deterioration on my other males tail


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

yea but these are fully grown and since angelfish left its only the males would u suggest i give the gourami to a friend who only has a .10$ goldfish until i see what happens to see if its him/ cuz he will hold on to him for a week or more if needed


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

do you have a separate isolation tank or one of the floating isolation boxes, if so use it and place any of the injured fish in, progress of deterioration can be monitored more easily and also contains any possible bacteria, infections can spread if another fish were to touch or nip one of the 'possible infected' fins


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

best i have is a 1 gallon with no heater or filter


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

use some of the tank water in it and put the most severely damaged fish in there and treat if needed, dont keep in for to long as it will cause distress and do daily water changes replacing water with the tank water keep in a warm spot to try and maintain some of the heat. As long as it is temporary it could work and also then contains any possible infection breaking out to the other fish


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

yea my room is always warm and i cant fill all the way cuz my bro cracked the top but i can use that or a large plastic ziploc a like 2 gallon 1 that could float in tank


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## rtbob (Jul 18, 2010)

bolram said:


> use some of the tank water in it and put the most severely damaged fish in there and treat if needed, dont keep in for to long as it will cause distress and do daily water changes replacing water with the tank water keep in a warm spot to try and maintain some of the heat. As long as it is temporary it could work and also then contains any possible infection breaking out to the other fish


*i/a* Excellent advise.


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

if you can make something like a ziploc tub floating tank then do it try adding some holes on opposite sides to allow a flow of water to go through the tub so the water doesn't become stale(stagnant) also allowing for oxygen to remain in the water flow through the tub


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

i isolated males with infection in1gallon and added the treatment thx for advice will keep updated


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

Good to hear, be patient a treatment of fin rot can sometimes take several days before you see any improvement. Just keep daily water changes up and if needed re-dose with treatment in 4-7 days (do not dose every day as this can do more harm than good). Will look forward to seeing your progress *pc


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If you can isolate the fish, do so. Using breeder cages or holes in bags in the tank will not contain anything the fish may have. You could just dip the fish in a dip for a few minutes and then place him back in the tank. There are some different options for treating the fish if unable to isolate, but you may need to do some searching and figure out concentrations of the med for a dip. It's usually much stronger. I have also heard of taking the fish and pouring peroxide on its tale...again, don't do this without searching for the tested method.


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

ok i gave killi to afreind for a few nights to see if its him the attacker or gourami, i took the affected fish and put him in a more concentrated(still safe) amount of med in a 1 gallon and then placed him back after he was in that tank for 8hrs


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

thats good 

if you see no improvement in the next 24/48 hours i would suggest putting it back in the 1 gallon and keeping it isolated in there for a further 24 to 48 hour with only a small dosing of med. This should give it time to kick in over a more pro-longed period


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

ok thank you for ur help ill keep u updated


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If...it is fin rot it can be cured very easily. I have only had 2 fish to ever get it that had it when I got them and I only kept them in my 20g hosp tank for 3 days before I moved back to the tank they started in. The tail can take quite a while to grow back.


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

I look forward to it

I managed to get a dwarf gourami (who looked like he was about to die) who had severe fin rot that affected his whole balance, once he was isolated and with only a trace of meds within 3-4 days he was back up and swimming fine with fins regrowing already. It does take some time but dont give up even if they look like they are on deaths door. Alot of fish come round after some time  Hope things work out though!!!


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## ReStart (Jan 3, 2011)

My best fish buddy had one like that that was not responding to regular meds. He took it out, put Mercurochrome (sp) on the rot spot for about thee days. The fish got well. Who knows? If the fish is on deaths door, you might try it.


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

well once back in the tank the mystery killer picked off my last male and since then i ve had no problems but im still trying to id this fish


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## Lil Gashog (Dec 1, 2010)

Maybe you could leave the lights on all night (unless your sleep is affected by it) and set a video cam by it all night?


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## celticsfan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

well i got rid of a killifish whcih i bought and since i got rid of him 2 days ago there has been much more peace in the tank and n o injures


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

what or how many fish did you lose in total then?


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