Help As Fast As You Can

[klunn]

I set up my fish tank in December 05 and let it cycle for 3 weeks before introducing some fish. All was going really well until my catfish got white spot. I treated him (Brian) and he survived.

Unfortunately the treatment seems to have totally destroy all my bacteria and I am stuck in a terrible situation where I have massively high Ammonia levels and no Nitrite or nitrate. This has been going on for 4 weeks now and I have lost all my tetras, and one dwarf gourami. All I have left is 2 catfish and a dwarf gourami.

Just tonight I went into the kitchen and noticed that both catfish were very distressed and doing a mad spiral roll thing that just didn't stop they were bumping into everything in the tank just spinning over and over.

In a panic I changed over half the water and they seem to have come around and look almost normal again.

I am sure it is because of the Ammonia but what can I do. It is an hour since I changed the water and I have just tested the ammonia again and it is still high.

I don't want to go to bed in case it happens again.

Why do they do this mad roll thing and what can I do to help them

Please help

Kirsty

 

[WILDER]

Because they can hardly breath down at the bottom of the tank, as water quality is even worse down there for them. Increase aeration fast, the only option now is to see if the lfs will take them all back.

 

[Bloo]

I'm not a fan of products like Ammo Lock (which renders ammonia harmless) but in this case it might be worth considering if water changes is not helping.

Good luck !

 

[black angel]

What reading do you get for ammonia and what filter are you using and size of tank. Keep doing lots of water changes to get the ammonia down .

 

[klunn]

What reading do you get for ammonia and what filter are you using and size of tank. Keep doing lots of water changes to get the ammonia down .

I have a 25 litre tank and a sponge filter that came with the tank recommend by the fish shop. The Ammonia reading is currently 8.0ppm.

I did have the tank cycling brillaintly but I just don't know what has gone so wrong, I can only assume it was the white spot treatment.

The fish are still settled but Ammonia is still at 8.0ppm and I have changed over half the water. I do have Ammolock but last time I used it the tetras which were all fine died in about 3 hours. I am reluctant to use it again. Should I?

Thanks for your help. I don't have the option to take them back to the shop, they are shut and I have had the fish since december

Kirsty

 

[WILDER]

Can you also increase aeration so they can breath abit better down the bottom of the tank.
Can't comment on the ammo lock never used it.

 

[klunn]

Can you also increase aeration so they can breath abit better down the bottom of the tank.
Can't comment on the ammo lock never used it.

Is there a fast way I can do that?

I have hoovered the gravel and removed as much tank waste as possible, will this help?

thanks

Kirsty

 

[WILDER]

Can you turn the filter up, or air pump with an airstone attached.

 

[klunn]

Can you turn the filter up, or air pump with an airstone attached.

I can't do that with my filter but I have cleaned the sponge in the filter in removed tank water and the water flow is stronger than it was.

The fish are still okay and active

fingers crossed for tonight

thanks

Kirsty

 

[FBF]

whoa ok lets calm down. theres no need for ammo lock that stuff will lead to worse problems later on.

firstly its clear to me that you dont fully understand the tank cycle and this is your first major problem. how can i tell? you say you had the tank running for three weeks before adding fish. (you may have done a fishless cycle but seeing as how you are from the Uk i doubt you managed to get any ammonia to do this)

firstly you need to re-cycle your tank and to do this you must remove some of the ammonia, for the short term id suggest 15% water changes daily this will stop the fish suffering (i would certainly put the rolling down to ammonia poisoning rather than lack of oxygen) carry this out for a week then re test the water see how things are doing. its quite unlikely that you've added any chemical for a tank thats removed all the bacteria so not sure of the story behind that but its unheard of as far as my experience goes.

if you do have an air problem its key that you know this: the air bubbles dont add air to the water but rather agitate the surface allowing air in to the water that way. so all you need to do is make sure that your filter is moving the top of the water even a small amount and this will be plenty enough to cover that problem.

hope this helps
Dan

 

[WILDER]

Never siad the rolling was due to 02, but it will help down there if she could increase 02 as it's bad at the bottom of a tank when the tank is cycling.

 

[black angel]

For a 5.5 gallon tank its way overstocked and the filter sponge cant cope now with the amount of ammonia the fish are producing.
I suggest doing 100% water changes every two days but leave the filter alone. I know you arent supposed to do 100% water changes but if you dont then the fish could all die from the toxicity.
You need to get a 15 gallon tank for your fish and maybe a fluval 1+ in the long run as you will always have water quality problems with so many fish in a small tank.

 

[klunn]

For a 5.5 gallon tank its way overstocked and the filter sponge cant cope now with the amount of ammonia the fish are producing.
I suggest doing 100% water changes every two days but leave the filter alone. I know you arent supposed to do 100% water changes but if you dont then the fish could all die from the toxicity.
You need to get a 15 gallon tank for your fish and maybe a fluval 1+ in the long run as you will always have water quality problems with so many fish in a small tank.

 

[klunn]

For a 5.5 gallon tank its way overstocked and the filter sponge cant cope now with the amount of ammonia the fish are producing.
I suggest doing 100% water changes every two days but leave the filter alone. I know you arent supposed to do 100% water changes but if you dont then the fish could all die from the toxicity.
You need to get a 15 gallon tank for your fish and maybe a fluval 1+ in the long run as you will always have water quality problems with so many fish in a small tank.

Thanks for you help all. This morning I still have 3 happy fish (I think) however I am a little confused with some of your comments. Please help me to understand.

I have a 25 litre tank and was advised once cycled to stock it with

2 dwarf gouramis
5 small tetra
2 catfish

I suspect from what you are saying this is too much. I added them one at a time over a couple of weeks.

Is the tank too small for my 3 remaining fish?

The tank cycled in the 3 weeks I had it before I added fish, I did this my adding in stress zyme and fish food which because the food was not being eaten by anything rocketed the ammonia which turned to nitrite and then nitrate. This all settled back to 0 and I added 5 tetra's.

Changed the watre again this morning and looking okay,

Is there anything else I can do?

thanks

Kirsty