Timothy E. Raborn wrote:
> I'm having problems adding new fish to my 30 gallon freshwater tank. (I
> typically keep guppies and neon tetras in my tank with a pleco or two).
Guppies need hard, tetras soft water, so this combination is not very
good. Depending on your water params, you should decide on a matching
set of fishes.
> I can introduce a couple of fish to the tank (from either of two pet
stores
> in my area -- one a very large national chain -- the other a local mom &
pop
> outfit). I always end up with a diseased tank with many fish dying off
in
> the process.
That is not untypical, each tank has its on bacteria population to which
the inhabitants are accustomed. New fish are often stressed from
trans****t, resulting in a weakend immune system. When exposed to new
conditions, they may easily get op****tunistic infections, rising the
bacteria concentration to levels that also infect the residents.
Additionally they introduce foreign bacteria, that can affect the
residents.
In my experience feeding medicated food like TetraMedica (with
tetracyclin) during the first 10 days after introduction of new fishes
can significantly reduce losses.
In addition, the tank should be in good condition to start with. In a
situation like yours, where at least one of the resident species is kept
under suboptimal conditions, problems are likely to be worse.
If you have not already done so, add life (not plastic!) plants to your
tank, this will not only look good, but provide a healthier environment
for your critters.
Of course any new fishes need to be slowly adapted to the water
conditions in your tank: Let the closed bag swim in your tank for 15 min
to equilibrate the temperature, than open it and slowly add tank water
to the bag over a periode of an hour or so, until 2/3 of the water in
the bag is from your tank. Then discard most of the water in the bag (to
prevent contammination of your tank) and introduce the fishes to your
tank.
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