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Threadfin sick?

651 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  fusiongt
I have 4 threadfins in my 29 gallon tank, 2 males and 2 females. I bought the male about a week ago. When i first brought him home, he was pale compared to the other threadfins. I thought he would color up as he got used to the tank, but he still hasnt! I feed them once a day and he doesnt eat or seem interested in the food. There also seem to be white spots developing on his claudal fin (tail fin)

I cant tell if the male that was already in the tank before is bullying this new male, or something else. The male that was already in the tank is very active and chases the other two female and flares his fins very frequently. While the newer male stays near the top and swims in front of my filter output having the flow push him down. The other male and females tend to school together as well, and this new male seems to just stay by himself.

My tank paramaters are: Ammonia: 0, Nitrate: 0, Nitrite: ~10ppm, pH: 7.4
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I think it's at least partly bullying; they need larger numbers and more females than males. I started with 8 spotted blue eye rainbows, 3 males and the rest female; the 3 males harrassed the females to death and now with just 3 males left two of them have bullied the third so much his fins are torn and he's very thin; I've had to try to separate him out for a while. I suspect something similar is going on with yours.

The white spots are a bit of a concern though; does it loook like ich or like his fins have been nipped? If it's ich you'll have to treat the whole tank (slowly raising the temp to 86 over the course of a day or two should treat it, leave it at that temp for about two weeks and increase water changes with substrate vacuum to every couple of days). You could also buy a breeder net and put the sick one in it to separate him out a bit from the others so he gets a rest . Also try increasing the numbers of males and females if you have the room. You could try to rearrange decor a bit as well to mess up territories. It's likely the first male has territory in the tank and he feels the new one is threatening him.
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I thought it was bullying as well. The other two females seem to be okay for now, although when I first got them the male harrassed them.

The newer male does have a bit of his tail fin nipped at and im not really sure what the white spots are, all I know is the other male doesnt have these white spots on his tail fin. Would the high temperature make the other fish uncomfortable and kill my plants?

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What other tank mates do you have? You need more Threadfins, 4 is not enough. Your tank is large enough to house more assuming you don't have that many more in your tank.
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