Help Please!

[Miss Wiggle]

you get a dechlorinator from your lfs, something like API Tap Water Conditioner, there's loads on the market you shoudl just check the bottles and make sure it says it removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals from yuor water. then you add it to the tap water before putting it in your tank.

not dechlorinating your water is probably contributing to the problem, you are trying to grow nitrifying bacteria in your filter to get rid of the ammonia and nitrite, chlorine kills the nitrifying bacteria. so not adding dechlor will be causing your problems to wrosen as well.

I'm not too sure on meds, an awful lot of them will also kill your bacteria colony, definately don't use anything that say's antibiotic or antibacterial. perhaps someone else can advise on medications that won't harm your tank while cycling?

 

[G_Thing]

you get a dechlorinator from your lfs, something like API Tap Water Conditioner, there's loads on the market you shoudl just check the bottles and make sure it says it removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals from yuor water. then you add it to the tap water before putting it in your tank.

not dechlorinating your water is probably contributing to the problem, you are trying to grow nitrifying bacteria in your filter to get rid of the ammonia and nitrite, chlorine kills the nitrifying bacteria. so not adding dechlor will be causing your problems to wrosen as well.

I'm not too sure on meds, an awful lot of them will also kill your bacteria colony, definately don't use anything that say's antibiotic or antibacterial. perhaps someone else can advise on medications that won't harm your tank while cycling?

im goin down the pet store soon so il get a big bottle of water conditioner then, just done a water check for ammonia its now gone down to about 2.5-3 from 4. Il keep you updated thanks for the help

 

[G_Thing]

i have the water conditioner (removes chlorine and chloromide) now, im about to do a water change is it safe to put the conditioner into the tank water after the water change or should i put it straight into th tap water??

 

[WILDER]

Put it in the tap water.
Good luck.

 

[G_Thing]

Put it in the tap water.
Good luck.

Well ive been doin regular water check s now and the ammonia is droppin, its around 1-2 ppm now, the sword tail is acting normal, happily swimming around the tanks, but he is gettin bullied a lot by the female sword tail. she's always chasing him and biting him, is this normal??
Thanks

 

[WILDER]

The water stats won't be helping it will be making the fish moody.
How much of there fins have gone.

 

[G_Thing]

The water stats won't be helping it will be making the fish moody.
How much of there fins have gone.

the fins r not to bad now, only the neon has a white spot around hers, the white spot is still on the female swordtails head but it looks to be gettin smaller. the white mark has totally gone from the male sword tails fin, im doin daily water changes around 25%, hooverin the gravel and only feedin the fish once a day now(fish flakes) the amonia readin is still between 1-2 hopefully it will drop soon as the daily watyer changes r annoyin! Im usin water condition er which i add to the tap water then im lettin it settle for about half an hour b4 adding to my tank, is this long enough??
Thanks

 

[Miss Wiggle]

water conditioner acts pretty much instantly, you can add it to a bucket of tap water, give it a quick stir the add it straight to the tank

glad the symptoms seem to be clearing up, hopefully the improved water quality will be enough to heal them.

iof the male swordie is a bit poorly still it's normal for the female to chase him, fish can tell when others are sick and they do tend to pick on them. that's part of the reason why it's good to have a spare tank for hosiptal so you can isolate the fish