Common bristlenose isn't acting normal?

hi, i got my common bristlenose about 4 or 5 months ago and according to what i see now, it's a female, she's 5.5 - 6 cms now. about 4 days ago she stopped being herself, she doesn't really eat and just sits close to her cave or in it with her head showing. her belly is neither caved in in or bloated, i don't see any stress spots on her either or anything abnormal, she gets along fine with the swordtails and neon tetras that i have in there with her.

she lives in a 35L aquarium with a couple of other fishes but she is the only bristlenose i have. i do water changes every 2 or 3 days. i feed her zucchini, cucumber, algae wafers, peas, watermelon and an occasional sweet potato.
i don't really have any water tests done but i know the ph is around a 6 - 7 and the tank has been running for 1 yr now.
i would be grateful if someone if could help me out.
Thanks

Hi,a 35 litre aquarium is extremely small for any fish.What are the dimensions of the tank?Have you got any wood in there for her?Have you got any current and water surface agitation? What filtration have you got? and water test results are necessary also.You can go and get a sample tested at the local fish store or buy a kit yourself.If you have gravel do you vac it regularly?Have you got any photo's of the fish?


Bristlenoses

yeah i know its a little small but im just trying to grow her for a little bit since i was going to put her out into my pond for the summer as its been sitting in the sun collecting algae, i do have a piece of wood for her that shes been munching on regularly. i will try and get the water tests a.s.a.p from my local fish store. i do a gravel vac at least 2 times a week.

and here's a pic of her that i took today


this ones a little blurry though...

Hi,from what i can see in the pictures she looks o.k.Get the water tested and post the resuts.Make sure you get the readings and write them down.

Do you have a filter?

ok i guess its a good thing that she looks fine, i will try and get the water tests this week... since i have busy parents its hard to get some time to go down to the pet store, but hopefully it will be sometime this week.
i do have a carbon filter underwater that i use to create some small currents for the fishes.

thanks

Hi,
Having just a carbon filter can cause problems.Carbon really only needs using to remove excess medication after medicating has finished and for the most part carbon is best not used at all.Carbon will remove the good stuff aswell as the bad stuff.It will remove such things like micronutrients and trace elements from the water.It isn't a good media for the bacteria to live on either.This could be causing a lot of water quality problems which could adversely affect your fish.

Has the filter got any sponges in it at all?
Do you have gravel? If so do you vac it regularly?


Bristlenoses

yeah i heard about that but there is sponge in it and i ended up replacing the carbon with sponge fully so its basically a sponge filter, i replaced it with sponges about 3 years ago and had no problems with the filter.
yes i have gravel and i vac it at least twice a week since it is a small tank.

That's good that you have sponge in your filter and that should be fine then.Keep an eye on the bristlenose and other fish for any signs of illness etc.Is she still not eating?


Bristlenoses

all my other fishes seem to be fine but she did eat a little bit of zucchini last night when i put it in so i guess she's slowly recovering. i did think of one possible reason that could have caused her to become like this. cause when i did a water change i cleaned out the filter cause it was filthy and because of that i cleaned it again in 2 days and then again in 3 days, so i think i accidentally kept the filter too clean and may have caused a mini cycle to happen. im not too sure though but i think that is what happened..

Hi,Yes this is quite possibly what caused her to become this way.Do you clean your filter in tank water?

You really should get the water tested and at the very least get some test strips.I don't know if you can get these but a good one to get is King British 6 in 1 strips.These will test everything including ammonia.A lot of brands only test for everything else except for ammonia.If you cant get a 6 in 1 you will need to get a seperate ammonia tester.



Bristlenoses

yes i clean the filter with tank water. we dont have any King British 6 in 1 strips here but i had a look on ebay and they do ship them over to Australia so i think i might have to get one off ebay since the ones they sell in my local pet shop are quite expensive and they aren't the test strips. But i think i might be able to quickly drop by the pet shop tomorrow and buy a test kit if its not too costly, otherwise im going to have to buy the one that u recommended through ebay.

just off topic a bit but birstlenose in ponds can be a bit iffy legally. Does your pond have the ability to overflow to a local waterway? if it does then no bristlenose, if it doesnt then go your hardest!

i live in a suburb and my pond is in my backyard and there are no rivers or other waterways close to where i live, so basically the coast is pretty clear. i do have a few bigger kois in there so im hoping to grow my birstlenose out before putting her in there with them in case they accidentally eat her... happened to a couple of my cory's in the winter by accident since the cory's were too small and when the koi's were grazing the ground and then ate them by accident. i still have some left in the pond but now they have grown large enough to not accidentally get eaten, which is good

cool

hey! i thought i'd do a quick little update on how my little BN is going
She has been eating like normal lately and seems much happier, she still likes to hide in her cave which she didn't have any interest in before, but i guess that's a good thing.
i still haven't got my test strips yet, which i ordered from ebay, but it should be here soon since it has arrived in Australia and is in the process of being mailed to my house.
Thanks to all the people who helped me!!

Hi,that is great news and i am so glad that she is o.k.If you need anymore help don't hesitate to ask.


Bristlenoses

Glad to hear she is soon well!

RMlover wrote:

i live in a suburb and my pond is in my backyard and there are no rivers or other waterways close to where i live, so basically the coast is pretty clear. i do have a few bigger kois in there so im hoping to grow my birstlenose out before putting her in there with them in case they accidentally eat her... happened to a couple of my cory's in the winter by accident since the cory's were too small and when the koi's were grazing the ground and then ate them by accident. i still have some left in the pond but now they have grown large enough to not accidentally get eaten, which is good

Are you able to control the temperature in your pond? One bristlenose won't help you with the algies in the pond, especially that adults don't eat that much algies. Just get the treatment for it.

Good to hear she's recovering.

As always, if you need any help. just ask!

@kaban, i don't really control the temperature at all in my pond but it is usually on the warmer side and i am pretty sure a BN would be able to survive in it.
So far im just gonna start off with 1 bristlenose in the pond but i will slowly expand the population as the pond is large enough to hold several of them. I don't really want to get algae treatment for the pond as the last time i bought a treatment for murky water, my mum accidentally overdosed it and i lost a lot of fish so i don't really want to buy any more treatments. i don't really mind if there would still be algae in the pond, i just kinda want to get rid of a little.