Twitching fish?? help?

Question

I have tetras, bala shark fish, swordtail fish, and underwater frogs. two of my painted tetras, and the bala shark fish is twitching, i had another fish that looked like a small shark i didnt remember the kind, it died this morning, i bought the test kit, and the nitrate was at 1.0. which i know is high, i plan on doin a 50% water change, and my water will not go below 80 degrees, i know these are two issues, will they kill my fish and has this caused them to start twitching?

Answer 1

Nitrate isn't high until it's over 40. Ammonia and nitrite are high over 0.5.

As long as the replacement water used is about the same temperature as what you removed from the tank, and you add conditioner to remove any chlorine/chloramine, this shouldn't cause your fish any harm. Just add the new water slowly so any change in chemistry is gradual.

By "twitching" do you mean the fish looked like it was rubbing against objects? This is usually the symptom of a parasite. Look closely at the fish showing this behavior to see if they have small spots on their fins and/or bodies. You may have fish that have an ich or velvet infection. If so, after your water change you may want to raise the tank temperature over time to 86-90o and add either salt (at a rate of 1 tsp. per gallon) or an ich medication (preferably one containing both formalin and malachite green) at 1 drop for every 2 gallons (tetras will be sensitive to this medication, so what I've recommended is 1/2 the regular dose). Treat for two weeks, or at least 3-5 days after you no longer see any spots. Although ich and velvet have basically the same treatment, you should shine a bright light on the fish (if you see there are spots) to see if the spots have a gold color under the bright light - if so this is velvet - and to treat velvet you should also turn off all lighting directly over the tank. The velvet parasite is photosynthetic, and can use the light to make it's own food, making it harder to treat.

Answer 2

I've had twitchy fish before. Do any of them look like they have anything attached to them? Like, white growths? If so, I would try an ich remedy. They have them just about everywhere. Some drops in the water. Someone once described "ich" to me as "fish fleas" , and I have found that to be true! Good luck!

Answer 3

yes