Fish are sick, Please Help!

[Zach443]

So my tank is at my moms house and she went out of town for 5 days. She hired a friend to come by an feed the fish (4 green Chromis) while she was gone. Well when she got back she called me and there is all this orange stuff on the sand

. We feed them frozen brine and we have seen some if that before, but in much, much smaller amounts. I am assuming this happened because the lady extremely over fed the fish. Now thy won't come out from their hiding places in the rock and are slightly dis-colored. What should I do? Please help!

 

[pickupman66]

If they were over fed, there may be a ammonia and nitrites in the water. Have you done a water test? if you see ammonia and nitrite, add some prime immediately and then do a large water change. From the looks, there isnt a whole lot of rock and that sand looks really new to me.

 

[patrickreef]

Do a water change. When the fish were observed as not coming out and being slightly off color was this first thing after the lights came on? If so this is common as I have these fish also and the hide when it is dark and take a while to wake up and come out once the light is on. Their colors change during this process. You could also replace your carbon or chemical filtration if you are worried about them being overfeed and having bad water parameters.

 

[Zach443]

If they were over fed, there may be a ammonia and nitrites in the water. Have you done a water test? if you see ammonia and nitrite, add some prime immediately and then do a large water change. From the looks, there isnt a whole lot of rock and that sand looks really new to me.

The tank has only had fish in it for a month, so yes the sand is very new. I will get the water tested ASAP.

 

[Zach443]

Do a water change. When the fish were observed as not coming out and being slightly off color was this first thing after the lights came on? If so this is common as I have these fish also and the hide when it is dark and take a while to wake up and come out once the light is on. Their colors change during this process. You could also replace your carbon or chemical filtration if you are worried about them being overfeed and having bad water parameters.

They usually are discolored when I turn the lights on, although within 5 minutes or so they are all swimming around and look fine. I will change water and filter and see how it goes.

 

[rworegon]

Looks like diatoms to me. Pretty normal for a newly established tank. Keep up on water changes. What do you have for a clean up crew?