introducing a new fish

[Tabeguache]

My mom has given me a rosy barb with post-traumatic stress disorder.  It was one of the first fish she purchased and has survived many beginner mistakes.  It's been treated three times in a hospital tank for shredded fins/fin rot.  No cause noted the first time, attacks by rainbowfish the second time, and relentlessly chased by another rosy barb the third time.  She doesn't have the room to set up another tank, so I've adopted it.

What is the best way to introduce it into my 20 gallon?  Is it ok to just net and move it?  Should I float it in a bag, like with fish from the store? The fish in that tank are fairly peaceful, but will nip/chase each other during feeding.  Is it possible that it should just stay separated from other fish in a tank of its own (seems lonely)?

I do have another option.  The 10 gallon had a mysterious mass fish death (whole other story, something caused the chemistry to crash and it started cycling again).  I am in the process of cleaning it out and will start over soon.  Maybe it should go in this tank with more rosy barbs once it is cycled?

[fishlady]

Re: introducing a new fish

if your going to introduce it to an established tank...put it in a container of the water it's already in....then slowly add water to the container from the tank your moving it too....then when you have 1/2 and 1/2 in the container let it acclimate for about 30 minutes to the water then you can safely put it in the new tank your moving it too.....

don't forget to mix up the surroundings in the tank so that they all have to start over to estabish territories....then they should get along better...you might want to keep the light off for a bit too after you put him in there.....

[Tabeguache]

Re: introducing a new fish

ah-ha!  Didn't think to move the stuff around in the tank.

Thanks for the info!!

[fishlady]

Re: introducing a new fish

your welcome....good luck and let us know how he weathers the new environment.....

[PhishPhreek]

Re: introducing a new fish

Also helps to feed everyone after you introduce a new fish...
Gives them all something else to think about.
I prefer to put all new fish & plants in isolation.  They may not have been sick when they left
but the stress of being netted and bagged leaves them succeptable to any and all problems. new arrivals

[eklikewhoa]

Re: introducing a new fish

Navarro told me that the feeding of the tank helps cause the fish release some sort of hormone or something that eases the newbie fish.

FL nailed this one!

[fishlady]

Re: introducing a new fish

:bsty: ....i have learned a little since being on here.....i pay attention... :lupe:

[Tabeguache]

Re: introducing a new fish

Yeah! More stuff I didn't know.   :emtidea:

He's been in his hospital tank for about 3 weeks (2 at mom's house and 1 at mine) regrowing fins.  He's just about fully healed.

Thanks again for your thoughts!  Hopefully he will be happy and stay healthy.

[Tabeguache]

Re: introducing a new fish

Update:

I moved him today after re-arranging the decorations.  Everyone seems to be ok, although the other fish in the tank seem to be very confused.

:confused:

Thank you for all the advice.  Hopefully this will be a more relaxing home for him.

[fishlady]

Re: introducing a new fish

glad to hear of the sucess....
now get a picture when you can so we can see the happy little fellow....

[Tabeguache]

Re: introducing a new fish

Bad news...when I went to bed at 1:15, he was fine...swimming, eating and no one was bothering him.

When I got up at 5:45, he was flashing, wedging himself under plants upside down...all the signs of ammonia.  Except when I tested the water, no ammonia.

He's now back in his hospital tank, but it doesn't look good.  He went inside his little house and has not come out.

[PhishPhreek]

Re: introducing a new fish

Houston water has chlorimines, if you use zip drops or some other "dechlorinators" they breake down the chlorimines into chlorine and amonia and neutrilize the chlorine.  Bad thing is if you use too much "zip" it will cause your amonia test kit to read false.
Also you should avoid using chemicals that have been on the shelf more than 6 months.

Hope he recovers.

[Tabeguache]

Re: introducing a new fish

Thanks Phish Phreek.  He died sometime while I was at work.

I didn't allow him enough time to acclimate...just a few minutes...and I knew better. grrr.

This is the second case of mysterious fish death I've had in the last month.  A few weeks ago all 8 cherry barbs died within 36 hours.  There was an ammonia spike in that tank, but I didn't notice that until after the first fish had died.  I also added 4 without quarantine a week before they started dying.  Could be that I over loaded the tank too fast or that a disease was introduced, causing one to die, causing the ammonia to go up, causing the rest to die.  No way to tell.

From now on, I'm testing the water in all tanks each week and keeping a spreadsheet.  The biggest problem with determining what has happened is that I have assumed that tank conditions were optimal prior to introducing new fish.  This may not have been the case.

Lessons learned, I guess.  For now, I am concentrating on sustaining what I have and maintaining good records.

Thanks for everyone's help!!!  Especially for such a little guy.

[fishlady]

Re: introducing a new fish

Tabeguache i'm saddened to hear of his passing....you did work so hard to save him....and for that i commend you....
what kind of filtration do you have on your tank?...i had an amonia spike that killed some of my fishies last year....i found that by adding filtration and making sure i had just the right chemical additives when changing the water that i solved that problem....if you have sand substrate be aware that gases build up in the sand and you should give it a good turn once a week....if it's a thick layer then more than once a week...to release the gas out of the sand....put a small power head with a prefilter in there....i so believe in these i have them in every tank i own....

and again i'm so sorry for your loss...... :(

[Tabeguache]

Re: introducing a new fish

Thanks fishlady...

There is an AquaClear 30 and TopFin 20 on the tank (20 gal).  Just before moving him, I re-arranged the decorations which really stirred up a bunch of nastiness that had been under the rocks and fake plants.  I gravel-vac once a week with the water change, but apparently needed to move some things around...YUK!

I also changed the filter cartridge in the TopFin.  Perhaps stirring up the gravel and changing the cartridge caused a short-term ammonia spike and he was already stressed out from the move.  By the time I woke up the ammonia was gone, but the damage was already done.

I've learned a lot from this experience!