fish dying, newbie tropical keeper

[nightlife20]

its gone from 4.0 to 0.4 i think ur doin good...

a water change a day keeps ammonia poisoning away, but adding ammo lock will just relive u for a bit... with out ammonia ur cycle will never be completed and if you dont replenish your ammo lock then it could happen all over again a few weeks down the line when ur feeling all safe..

 

[Jae1525]

If you use ammo lock the tank will not cycle properly as the bacteria that you need to break down the amonia will have no amonia to break down into nitrite then the bacteria that changes the nitrite to nitrate wont have any food either! It will just prelong the problem! Remember its a cycle and a broken cycle wont work! just ask Dave Mira!

 

[lilygardn]

deleted

 

[clutterydrawer]

Surely if all it does is reduce the ammonia to more acceptable levels it would be simpler just to do frequent water changes.

 

[nightlife20]

Surely if all it does is reduce the ammonia to more acceptable levels it would be simpler just to do frequent water changes

and cheeper

She also said that it does not lock all of the ammonia, but will bring it to an acceptable state

there is no acceptable state for ammonia... well apart from 0.0

if it dosnt lock all of it away whats the point of this product apart from gettin ppl to buy it and keep buying it?.


water changes every other day or every day will be just as good if not better for ur fish!

 

[sinistral]

Jamie,

Sorry to hear about your difficulties. It would be helpful if you could post your tank size and what fish you have as Dubby most recently suggested.

In the meantime, have you been feeding the fish? I'd advise you to hold off on that for now, if you have been. Depending on what fish you have, it may be prudent to take some of the more sensitive fish back to the LFS until you've finished cycling. No fish does particularly well when ammonia and nitrite levels are elevated, but some fish are more hardy than others.

Again, please let us know about your tank size and what fish you have so we can be more helpful.

 

[Liliano]

Definately halt on any feeding as this will be counter producing any ammonia you managed to eliminate with water changes.

IMO I would add stress coat as well, It won't lessen the effect of any AM/NO poisoning, but may give your fishy friends a tiny bit of relief.

LFS's when will they learn to give more of a damn about the welfare about fish, than trying to get more sales from beginners (I have been there once before and lost all my fish so I wish you the best of luck)

 

[kaz petts]

I had a similar problem when my 2 year old turned off all my filtration system at the wall the other week.
I contacted Ryan and this is what he told me.
Do a 25% water change daily for 4 days, (after 4 days you have emptied all the water out)
Then after you have done 4 days of 25% then reduce it to daily water changes of 10% until your readings for ammonia and nitrIte are both at 0.
This worked for me but like Ryan said to me, it is harder to cycle your tank with fish in it. Cut down on feeding for a few days, I feed my fish small amounts 3 times a day. With the odd treat of frozen blood worm every other day.
Good luck,
I lost my elephant nose fish because of my ammonia spike, so I know how it feels to loose fish through nasty water conditions.

 

[j@mie]

its a 20g tank, the fish i have left are, 5 neons, 3 guppies, 2 swordfish & 2 corys i think ,

 

[sinistral]

Thanks for supplying the tank info. If I were you, I'd recommend contacting the LFS that sold you these fish and getting them to take back the neons and the cories (at least) for full store credit, or with an agreement that can take them back when the tank has finished cycling. These are both not the best fish to go through a cycle as they are sensitive to elevated ammonia and nitrites.

I am not sure about guppies as good fish for cycling. I have read that they can be used for cycling, but I don't have any direct experience with this. Swordtails on the other hand are fairly hardy and can be used to cycle a tank.

 

[j@mie]

ok guys

last night my ammonia reading was between 0.1 and 0.4! this is cos i couldnt see an exact match with the colour i got!

i did another full water test this morning and the readings are as follows

ammonia: 0.0
nitrite: 0.1
nitrate: 0.0
ph 7.0

once again, these results are to the colour nearest to what i think. For some reason i never get an EXACT colour match.

i had 1 dead guppie this morning that was suffering from last night. As of yet, their is no fish looking poorly today, as usually they would be up top gasping

i havent done a water change at all today following these results so plz will sum1 advise.


cheers

 

[konrad05]

Oh geez, pH= 9.0?! Your ammonia/nitrite readings aren't as critical as this. I would test the pH of your water and compare to your tank. There might be a secondary problem that's being over looked.

 

[j@mie]

Oh geez, pH= 9.0?! Your ammonia/nitrite readings aren't as critical as this. I would test the pH of your water and compare to your tank. There might be a secondary problem that's being over looked.

ph is 7.0!! thats from a test i did this morning

 

[konrad05]

Oh ok, then I guess not, unless it swung from 9-7 overnight. If that's the case, I would expect some fish deaths...

 

[tstenback]

Do your water change again. Seems wierd that you have no nitrates though