Glo Fish not eating

Question
QUESTION: I just got three fish from a pet store 3 days ago and everything seems fine but the one glo fish just mostly swims at the top and never eats. The other 2 eat but not from the top like goldfish, they wait for it to sink and swim around catching it, this doesn't worry me but the glo fish not eating does, I'm only 16 and i don't have all the stuff to test the water or anything so i was just wondering if theres something simple i could do. thanks.

kat

ANSWER: Hi Kat,

If this is a brand new tank, then it probably hasn't "cycled" yet. This website below offers a comprehensive, plain English explanation:
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php
Make sure you read it if your tank has just been set up.

Glofish are actually zebra danios with a gene taken from jellyfish inserted into their genes. Zebra danios are essentially hardy fish, but they are not immune to illness. It's possible that the fish just wasn't healthy in the dealer's tank. It could also be that the other fish just don't accept it, sometimes this happens with a trio - two fish pair off and the other gets left behind. I've seen it before, and adding more fish sometimes helps.

However, if your tank is in a cycling stage (without test kits, it's difficult to tell, but assume that new = uncycled) then assume it is a water quality issue. This is simple to fix, just change water. 25% is a fine number to start with, but you can change twice this much without a problem. You can even change 25-50% every day, without incident. In fact, if your tank is cycling, water changes every day (or at least every other day) are important to ensure the fish don't become sick. Being in an uncycled tank is stressful and can lead to environmental diseases such as ich, or symptoms of ammonia poisoning such as gasping, clamped fins, red gills, lying on the bottom, etc.

I would change 25-50% of the water for now (always use a dechlorinator that removes chlorine AND chloramine) and see what happens. If this perks the fish up, water quality was probably your problem. If a few days from now the one fish still doesn't eat, you might consider getting some more glofish (or zebra danios) to make the one fish more comfortable. Danios have a schooling instinct, so keeping three is really not enough to make them feel and look their best. Six or more specimens works best for schooling fishes.

If you determine that the problem is probably related to the tank being new, salt helps to keep the fish from getting too hurt by the ammonia or nitrites. 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons is enough, you can safely double this amount but DON'T add more than that. Aquarium salt works fine, but remember that this is just kosher or sea salt which you can also get at the grocery store instead of the pet store. Just don't use table salt. Non-iodized salt is the kind to use.

I hope that helps, take care!
Nicole

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you so much! the water was the problem i guess, Tongue, the glo fish, has been swimming lower in the tank with the other 2 and i saw him eating a little today :) I'm planning on getting him some friends anyway later today, just in case, although i do worry that ill end up getting a sick on that will kill the rest of them, but hopefully it will be ok.

i know this isn't really a question but i just wanted to say thanks for responding so quickly and being so helpful :)

thanks again,
kat

Answer
Hi again Kat,

You're very welcome! Glad I could help. Keep up the water changes whenever you see fish that start acting strangely. This is often all it takes to get them to be their old selves again. Small fish like glofish aren't going to produce much waste on their own, unless you feed them too much - so be really careful about that! Overfeeding fish is so easy to do, the hard thing is feeding them just the right amount. For little fish like yours, I would only feed as much food as the nail on your little finger. If they gobble that up in no time, you can feed that much again, but don't feed more than that amount. What a "pinch" constitutes is anybody's guess, but basically you need to ensure that all the food is getting eaten and none of it is falling to the bottom going to waste. Also, only feed twice a day at the most. Even just once a day is fine.

As far as getting a sick fish, quarantining the fish is the only way to ensure this doesn't happen, but I know your resources are limited so I will just say this - if you see sick or deformed fish in the tank with the fish you are interested in getting, walk away! This seems obvious, but often times we just want a particular fish so much, it is hard to resist. I did this with cherry barbs, they were in a tank with lots of them, and about five or six had bent spines. Another couple had crooked mouths. I'm sorry I got those few fish, because every single one died, although they didn't pass along anything to the rest of the tank, thankfully.

Just go with your instincts. If it looks like the tank is dirty and maintenance hasn't been kept up, don't get any fish. If there are dead fish stuck to the filters in that tank, or you see plecos or whatever nibbling on the corpses of their tankmates, fish from that tank are definitely out...you probably should rule out the entire store, actually. Sometimes (especially with molly tanks) you'll find some fish are just swimming in place, and aren't socializing. They might be pale or seem frightened. This is a bad sign too, avoid this tank.

I hope those little suggestions help! Take care, and best of luck.
Nicole