# New tank and white clouds.



## thefishes (Mar 12, 2011)

Hello, my girlfriend and i went halves on a 27 gallon hex that we had up and running for a week. All the equipment was running fine and the water was treated with aquasafe when we filled it up a week ago. We adventured to the pet store to get our 1st batch of 6 white cloud mountain minnows to begin the cycling process.
One of the 6 was very very shy last night and a little discolored, also seemingly younger then the other 5 and he has a little bend near his tail. I was a little worried about the bendy tail as soon as i acclimated him into the tank because i have read numerous articles about staying away from deformed bendy fish. I didn't select the fish myself because it was freezing outside and went to start the car while my girlfriend picked them out. She thought he was cute and loved him the most lol.
The other 5 kept going and swimming with him last night when he was hiding and he would come out for a sec then go right back to hiding. Today i had to move stuff around just to find him as he did not come out for food. He comes out to swim with the school still today but then goes right back into hiding. I'd hate to have to see if i can exchange him because my girlfriend likes him but i dont want the other fish to get sick if he is sick. What should i do?. I took a picture with my cell phone so it is not the clearest but you

can at least get an idea.







http://img861.imageshack.us/i/photo0088.jpg/


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## leogtr (Jan 19, 2011)

thefishes said:


> Hello, my girlfriend and i went halves on a 27 gallon hex that we had up and running for a week. All the equipment was running fine and the water was treated with aquasafe when we filled it up a week ago. We adventured to the pet store to get our 1st batch of 6 white cloud mountain minnows to begin the cycling process.
> One of the 6 was very very shy last night and a little discolored, also seemingly younger then the other 5 and he has a little bend near his tail. I was a little worried about the bendy tail as soon as i acclimated him into the tank because i have read numerous articles about staying away from deformed bendy fish. I didn't select the fish myself because it was freezing outside and went to start the car while my girlfriend picked them out. She thought he was cute and loved him the most lol.
> The other 5 kept going and swimming with him last night when he was hiding and he would come out for a sec then go right back to hiding. Today i had to move stuff around just to find him as he did not come out for food. He comes out to swim with the school still today but then goes right back into hiding. I'd hate to have to see if i can exchange him because my girlfriend likes him but i dont want the other fish to get sick if he is sick. What should i do?. I took a picture with my cell phone so it is not the clearest but you
> 
> ...


hi there! welcome to the forums!!!

I would return the fish before the ammonia levels and the nitrite levels get too high and kill your fish! Even the hardiest fish have a hard time during the cycling proccess so I really recommend you for the sake of the fish to do a fishless cycle. What test kit are you using?

The easiest way to do a fishless cycle is with frozen shrimp. just and a couple medium-size frozen shrimpos to your tank and measure your parameters over time until everything is OK. heres a little article about cycling its a good one just take some time to read it and ask any questions that you might have in mind.

A Beginner's Guide to the Freshwater Aquarium Cycle

your going to get all the help you need there are many people here with years of experience so if your wondering about anything at all just ask! ask anything that you might have in mind it can make a big difference to the health and well-being of your little fishie friends!!

Im glad that you joined our community and again welcome to the tropical fish keeping forums!!!!:wave:


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## thefishes (Mar 12, 2011)

Thank's for the welcome and advice. I am using a Jungle quickdip ammonia test kit (strips) and the Jungle 5 tests in one strip quick dip kits from walmart. They are extremely accurate so far compared to the pet stores test. I took in a water sample last night before purchasing fish along with a test strip i used in a baggie. It was exactly the same as the pet store's test results.
The reason i am cycling with fish rather then live food is because i plan
on doing whichever % water change is needed even if it's daily to bring down the toxins. So far i dont have a problem with the water the ammonia and nitrite are 0. I am just trying to figure out if i should take back the bendy tail white cloud that is acting funny?.


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## leogtr (Jan 19, 2011)

thefishes said:


> Thank's for the welcome and advice. I am using a Jungle quickdip ammonia test kit (strips) and the Jungle 5 tests in one strip quick dip kits from walmart. They are extremely accurate so far compared to the pet stores test. I took in a water sample last night before purchasing fish along with a test strip i used in a baggie. It was exactly the same as the pet store's test results.
> The reason i am cycling with fish rather then live food is because i plan
> on doing whichever % water change is needed even if it's daily to bring down the toxins. So far i dont have a problem with the water the ammonia and nitrite are 0. I am just trying to figure out if i should take back the bendy tail white cloud that is acting funny?.


no problem my friend! yeah those are the strips I started with too but they are really inaccurate try to get your hands on a liquid master test kit its what we all use here. Its about 30 dollars but they are best in the long run! do not, I repeat do not follow the petstore's advice! start to rely on the people from this site for they have years of experience and care very much about the fish and are not in it for business and money. 

yeah if you do not want to take the fish back to the store I would recommend doing a 50% water change in the morning and another one at night! I care very much about my fish so even when my tank is cycled I do 50% water changes daily because I like to take precaution; remember the only things that happen fast in aquariums are bad things!! I overfeed the fish too because like you, one of my fish is very shy and does not eat with the rest because the others are very hyper and he is just a little baby. 

and about the little guy thats acting funny just keep giving him his TLC and see what happens I had my little Mojito acting like that in the beginning and he is doing just fine now

good luck!!


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## leogtr (Jan 19, 2011)

Hey let me tell you something else.

I had a very very bad experience this week with one of my fish.

Rosie was my favorite fish she was energetic and playful and she was pregnant. I loved Rosie dearly but I had something gone horribly wrong and she died because she got stuck in a little hole in a decoration. Looking at your picture from the castle I started to wonder about your fish and the size of them and I began to worry. 

What I would do is see what kind of fish your going to get and their maximum size and see if you have any small openings in your decor that your fish might get stuck in. The worst part about my situation was that I knew about the hole but I never covered it up because I though it was too small for the fish to even think about going in it..but oh was I mistaken...

Rosie was one of the larger fish in my tank and she got stuck in it..I dont know for how long but Im sure it was a while because when I broke the decoration she pealed her skin badly and her body was disformed...she fough for her life for about 20 hours after I got her out but unfortunately the wounds were too great... It was very painful for me because I love my animals like my children and yeah it sucked BIG TIME. 


just make sure you take the neccessary precautions you know? I really dont want that to happen to you or anybody..


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## thefishes (Mar 12, 2011)

Oh yeah i did wonder if they would even try to go into the front door of the castle but i put 2 bubble wands underneath the castle not only to hide them but to keep the fish from going inside. So far its working nicely and it looks nice as well, The picture doesnt show the bubbles rising fast in the front door though and it should scare them out. I've been monitoring them and the water constantly, just got finished with the 1st 50% water change as ammonia tested .25, I'm down to 0 once again and 5 of them are having a blast darting around in the water. The other one with the bendy tail is still sadly hiding .


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## leogtr (Jan 19, 2011)

thefishes said:


> Oh yeah i did wonder if they would even try to go into the front door of the castle but i put 2 bubble wands underneath the castle not only to hide them but to keep the fish from going inside. So far its working nicely and it looks nice as well, The picture doesnt show the bubbles rising fast in the front door though and it should scare them out. I've been monitoring them and the water constantly, just got finished with the 1st 50% water change as ammonia tested .25, I'm down to 0 once again and 5 of them are having a blast darting around in the water. The other one with the bendy tail is still sadly hiding .


Oh okay. I really hope that keeps them out to avoid any possible heartaches..

Dont let the ammonia and nitrites rise about 0 and the nitrates dont let them go above 20ppm. Get that master test kit friend it will make a diffrence in the readings. 

Dont worry about the little guy like I said I had one of my fish like that in the beginning for a while and he would sit in thesame spot for a while then he finally loosened up and is now more layed back relaxed.


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## thefishes (Mar 12, 2011)

Yeah i definately dont want any heartaches. I would have gotten a master test kit from walmart and i was actually looking for it but they didn't have it in store, just online and the pet store doesn't sell the master kit either, just the strip's. I will probably end up ordering online sometime this week, any suggestions to what brand of kit or what kit to use?. I hope he is just shy and scared instead of sick, It worried me because he is the only defmormed looking one and he's the only one with that behavior. He really does look like a baby still so the deformed tail might be genetic i hope!!!!.


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## leogtr (Jan 19, 2011)

thefishes said:


> Yeah i definately dont want any heartaches. I would have gotten a master test kit from walmart and i was actually looking for it but they didn't have it in store, just online and the pet store doesn't sell the master kit either, just the strip's. I will probably end up ordering online sometime this week, any suggestions to what brand of kit or what kit to use?. I hope he is just shy and scared instead of sick, It worried me because he is the only defmormed looking one and he's the only one with that behavior. He really does look like a baby still so the deformed tail might be genetic i hope!!!!.


Buy the Liquid Master Testkit made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals.

I hope he's okay too..what kind of food do you give them?


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## thefishes (Mar 12, 2011)

Just a very small pinch once a day of TetraColor tropical flakes for now, I will eventually feed them some brine shrimp or something when the tank can handle the ammonia a little better. Will do i will look that test kit up and probably buy it this week, thanks .


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