[JadaNae27]

Hello.

I have somewhat of a problem. And yes yes I know it is partly my fault, but I need to fix it.

I was recently away for about three weeks. The person that I asked to take care of my aquariums while I was gone apparently neglected them.

I have 8 Harlequin Rasboras in a community tank and they refuse to feed. I feed them Nutrafin Max and they would always eat it before the neglect happened.

I'm changing as much of the water as I can, as often as I can, but they still refuse to eat.

What do I do?? I've never had this sort of problem before. I'm also having problems with the Corydoras that share the tank, but I will be posting that in the catfish section.

Is there anything I can buy that will tempt them into eating??

 

[jaysee]

What all have you tried feeding them? Just the nutrafin? Try some frozen food like bloodworms.

 

[JadaNae27]

Jaysee, the only blood worms available near me are the freeze dried kind.

I had some decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. I rehydrated them and they wouldn't touch those either.

 

[jaysee]

Try'em. Can you post a video of them?

 

[JadaNae27]

Ahhhhh. I ran to the walmart nearby and picked up some Tetra Shrimp Gel food. The harlequins are eating now. That still leaves the matter of they corydoras though. I'm so relieved they are eating.

Edit: And now they are back to ignoring the food. . . I'll see if I can get my husband to help me with recording them while I try the brine shrimp eggs again.

 

[jaysee]

I just want to see what they look like - they dont have to be eating (or not eating).

 

[JadaNae27]

Allrighty. Here's the video. At the very end you can see the majority of the gel food they did not eat.

Project1_zpsfa598208.mp4 Video by Jada_Harbison | Photobucket

 

[jaysee]

they look good. What's their poop look like?

are the corys in the same tank?

 

[JadaNae27]

I have yet to see them poop actually. They are sneaky poopers. And yes, the Corydoras are in the same tank. They are very afraid to come out however.

 

[Keleborn]

"P.H. is 6.4
Ammonia is 0.25 ppm
Nitrites are 0
Nitrate is 40 ppm" ---from JadaNae27 Cory post.

 

[Keleborn]

I was hoping jaysee, or someone else with that level of expertise would have gotten back to you by now. Any ammonia at all is cause for concern. Combine that with 40 Nitrates, (50 being the limit in most references I've found, though, personally, I wish they all said 20 for a limit), & your fish may actually be in pain, which would curb their appetites. Corys are especially affected by ammonia, nitrites & nitrates, or any pH swing, that might accompany spikes in those. If it was me, I would do a 50% water change, trying to keep the water you put back in as close to the tank temp as possible, though a degree or 2 higher might be better, making sure to dose well with anti-chlorine before adding your water of course, using Prime especially if you have it; a lot of people seem to like it best from what posts I've seen.

 

[jaysee]

Yeah, ammonia and nitrite will stress fish and stressed animals do not eat, so that makes sense. Nitrates are not something that concerns me. mine are routinely "high" like that. In any event, water changes would be good. you said you have been doing them, but what exactly have you been doing?

 

[JadaNae27]

I performed a 40 % water change the day before I tested the tank. I will be performing another 40 % change as soon as I get home today. As strange as it sounds, I've never had 0 ammonia in any of my tanks. Its always been 0.25 or higher ( When Cycling).

And before that I would do 20 % water changes once a week.

What is prime and where may I aquire it?