JohnNYC

It's a 10 gallon tank with an ACO sponge filter and I have an airstone in the sponge filter. He wasn't gasping at all, literally no movement. Then it would swim off when I went to gather him. Except the last time, no movement at all. The other galaxy raspboras stay near the bottom and hide under the sponge filter. On a positive note in my 20 long there's a baby albino corydora. I've seen them lay eggs a few times. But this is the first birth. I'm going to leave it in there because the other fish are the albino corydoras and 5 neon tetras.

Several times a fish would be lying on its side, floating at the top. But when I would go over to the fish it would wake up and swim off. Last night I did a water change and this time it was floating and did not swim off. I looked closer and it looked like pine coning. But it is so small that it is hard to tell. Nonetheless I removed the fish and threw it away. It was dead. So this brings to 3 out of 12 galaxy raspboras being in QT. Is this to be expected, are some fish just a numbers game? During the month that they've been in QT I kept the tank at 76', raised it to 78' the other day. I only saw ammonia slightly rise above 0ppm for 2 days, a barely perceptible change with the test strips. I never saw nitrite above 0ppm. I saw a slight amount of nitrate. I've had no wild pH swings. I added aquarium salt 1 1/2 weeks ago, 1 tbsp per 3 gal. At this point I will continue with them in QT and do a few water changes with non-salted water. Maybe it's my inexperience. Maybe the fish are not the highest quality, although the LFS is highly rated. In the future should I just treat new fish with salt? I'd like to go 2 weeks without a death before adding them to the main tank.

I use Dr. Tims First Defense for water changes. It is a dechlorinator but also supports their immune system and helps with stress.

Well I’m slightly concerned. Earlier a fish was floating and looked dead, but when I opened the lid and went to gather him he swam off quickly. I checked a few times and a few hours later I saw the same thing. He did not looked bloated, although that me be hard to tell with a galaxy raspbora. I opened the lid and went to grab him with a paper towel and he darted off. It’s a bit concerning but I just have to monitor the situation.

I just wanted to give an update. I got home from being away for 5 nights and there have been no more deaths. I fed them and will do water testing later. I plan on a water change tomorrow but am going to replace the removed salted water with dechlorinated fresh water. Assuming the fish remain healthy, then I will add them to the main tank at the end of next week. The fish were shy as usual, but looked energetic. I'll see how quickly they eat. I have noticed that they won't eat with me by the tank, as opposed to my main tank where the neons eat as I feed them.

Thank you. The instructions say to start with 1 tbsp per 3 gallons, I'll start with that and see how things are when I get back.

I wanted to give an update on this. My plan was to move the quarantine fish into the main tank on Thursday. But in the morning I noticed a dead fish, which I removed. I tested the water using ACO test strips. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 6.5 ph, temp = 76'. When I got home from work I saw another dead fish and rechecked. The test results were the same except that maybe I detected a slight pink for nitrate. I am leaving them in QT tank. They've been fed every day, tested every day too. I'll do a 30% water change tomorrow morning and feed once tomorrow. I leave Sunday morning. The dead fish did not look bloated and I saw no white spots. They are small fish and I don't have the experience to detect much, but I looked for that. Hopefully I just had fish that died. But I don't want to harm my other fish. Since I'm away I can't really do treatment, unless someone can suggest a medicine I can leave in the tank for a week. I do have Maracyn, ParaCleanse and Ich-X as well as Aquarium salt.

Are you doing this with a QT? My concern is them being 5 days in water with no food will be tough. On the other hand fish survive pretty long in shipment and they'll be well fed next week. Plus I don't risk my main tank with unexpected diseases. I guess as long as they can go without food, including food waste in the QT, then they'll be okay.

Thanks to both of you. Yeah, I had typos and bad grammar. I meant I have no vacation planned after this one on the 24th. So when I get back from vacation I could buy some neon tetras, put them in the QT, and observe them for as long as is needed. It sounds like my best plan, assuming the galaxy raspboras continue to look healthy, is to add them to the main tank early next week.

The main tank is a 20 long. It's got a good amount of plants, 5 neon tetras and 4 albino corys. My intention when I went to the LFS was to get more neon, but they were out. In a month or so I'll add more neon tetras when they get them in. I feel like 5 is not enough. But I'll no vacation planned and hopefully the QT will be more established.

I have 1 main planted tank that has been up for 1 1/2 years. At the beginning of this month I set up a 10 gallon quarantine tank. It has a sponge filter, some PVC pipes in case they want to hide. It is heated to 76', same as the main tank. I added beneficial bacteria when I set it up, I used a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only. On March 5th I added 12 Galaxy Raspboras, they are very tiny. I've been testing daily for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate using ACO test strips. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate have been at 0 until Tuesday night. On Tuesday night I could see a very slight change in color for ammonia. If I gave it a number it was <.25 ppm, certainly less than the .5 ppm color. I also tested with API liquid test kit and detected less than .5 ppm. I know it's not 100% accurate, but it was definitely less .5 ppm. I didn't feed them that night. It was late, so last night, the 13th, I tested again and had the same results and did a 25% water change. This morning I tested with the strips and there was a slight color change for ammonia, meaning slightly more than 0 ppm. I fed them a little this morning. My plan is to feed daily, continue testing and do water changes if needed. In a perfect world I would quarantine for a month assuming they seem healthy. The fish are active, they are shy fish but move well, and they eat. Now to my question. I am going away next Sunday, March 24th, for 5 nights. Assuming the fish continue to look healthy. Should I leave them in the QT with an auto feeder set for once a day? Leave them in the QT with no auto feeder? Move them to the main tank where there are plenty of plants and it is lightly stocked? I expect to get the ACO auto feeder on the 18th, so I'll have a chance to make sure it is not feeding too much. I leave early on the 24th and get back late on 29th. So I couldn't do a WC until the 30th. My main tank has 5 neon tetras and 4 albino corys.

A LFS here in NYC told me that they don't dechlorinate because the levels are so low. I did test my tap water once and I saw no indication on the test strip of chlorine or chloramine. That being said, I use Dr. Tim's First Defense just to be careful with the added benefits similar to Stress Coat. Plus it detoxifies heavy metals and there are old pipes in our building.

I am pretty sure it wasn’t columnaris based on pictures I looked up.

The fish that was sick had an injury on its side and started bloating and pineconing. I moved it to the hospital/quarantine tank and tried treating him with Maracyn. I honestly think I should have euthanized him sooner based on what I’ve read about his condition. The tank has had water in it but no fish since then. My plan for the quarantine tank, once cleaned, is to put glass marbles, sponge filter, heater and a couple of pvc pipe/caves. I will dechlorinate the water and had a fresh bottle of One and Only nitrifying bacteria. I will test every day for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, and do a water change if needed. Otherwise I’ll do weekly water changes. I’m leaving them in there for a month. I am going away for 5 days on the 24th. So I’ll have 3 weeks to feed/observe them before going away. Then move them to the main tank after I get back. If more experienced people think that is chancy to leave them unattended after 3 weeks then I could do a fishless cycle and get the fish when I get back.

I'm lazy at times, so let me get that out of the way. About 6 months ago I had a sick fish in a 10 gallon tank and was treating with maracyn. I ended up euthanizing the fish. The lazy part is the tank has been just sitting there and I want to set it up as a quarantine tank. The tank has glass marbles and 2 PVC pipes for hiding spots. I also have a sponge filter. Do I need to bleach this tank or rinse it with hot water and scrub it down? The tank does not smell at all so maybe a good rinse and scrub is enough. But if I need to bleach, then I'll bleach. My goal was to clean tonight and set up tomorrow so that I can get fish on Sunday. Any advice is welcome.