Frontosa issue in new tank

[Cruelladeville0459]

Hello!
I have a 20 gallon temporary tank (working on a 75 gallon to be ready next week) and i have a three small black Calvus, a couple small shell dwellers and i just added two very young Frontosa. (About 2”)
Again- this is only until my big tank is ready next week.

My one Frontosa is breathing so heavy - open mouth breathing - with a lot of intense gill movement. He’s been like that for the last day. He is eating and swims pretty normal.

I thought my 20g tank was cycled, but I’ve been testing water perimeters at least once a day for a week- only in the last few days has it shown consistently: AMMONIA: 0.5 ppm, NITRITE: 0 ppm and NITRATE: 0-5 ppm. Water changes drop the ammonia to 0.25ppm for about a day and then they go back up.

I’ve done almost daily water changes (25-40%) for the last few days just to help with water quality, and i always use prime to dechlorinate before adding new water. Temperature is at 78. (I had it at 80 but bumped it down since my Frontosa is struggling). I always check my water temperature before adding the new water. I’ve added melafix for the last two days since adding the Frontosas and a little Quick Start and extra Prime To see if that’ll help with my ammonia levels.

I understand the tank stocking levels are too high now for what my bacteria can handle-
But like i said, my big tank will be ready next week so this is all i have to work with for the next few days.

Any advice on how to help the Frontosa? All other fish doing great.

 

[Colin_T]

Bigger daily water changes (75% each day is fine as long as the new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank).

Check the tap water for ammonia

If the pH is above 7.0, and it should be because frontosa come from Lake Tanganyika with a pH around 8.5, then any ammonia will be poisoning the fish and damaging its gills. You need to get the ammonia down to 0ppm and keep it there.

Reduce feeding to reduce the ammonia produced by the fish until they are in a better tank.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello C. Add a bacteria starter to your treated water change water. Just dose according to the instructions. I swear by this stuff. API has a good product. I've used it for years to immediately get the water ready for fish. Stop feeding the fish if you haven't already. You don't need added food fouling the tank water any further. Keep up on your water changes. 50 percent is a good amount. It will remove half the dissolved nitrogen and dilute what's left in the tank to a safer level.

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