Help With 5 Week Old Tank - Cloudy Water!

[markyd1963]

I really need some help. I have had a 125L tank for 5 weeks and up until 4 days ago all has been well.
The water became cloudy and all my levels went beserk!! Ammonia 8, Nitrite 5 - big problem.

I have done 2 20% water changes added Ammolock, stress zyme (for filter). I have also added a nitra zorb bag to my filter (fluval3plus).

I really don't kbow what else to do. The fish are dying and are all gasping at the surface of the tank.

HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mark Davis (England)

 

[Tolak]

Do not feed for the next 24 hours, and feed 1/3 normal for at least a week, less food in means less waste out. Increase aeration, this will help with the effects of nitrites, which is causing the fish to go to the surface for O2. Nitrites inhibit a fish's blood from processing O2 properly.

Continue with daily water changes of at least 25%, until ammonia & nitrite are at zero.

How many of what species of fish do you have in there? If it is stocked too heavily you may want to consider bringing some of them back, in a best case scenario you could bring them all back & do a fishless cycle.

 

[markyd1963]

Do not feed for the next 24 hours, and feed 1/3 normal for at least a week, less food in means less waste out. Increase aeration, this will help with the effects of nitrites, which is causing the fish to go to the surface for O2. Nitrites inhibit a fish's blood from processing O2 properly.

Continue with daily water changes of at least 25%, until ammonia & nitrite are at zero.

How many of what species of fish do you have in there? If it is stocked too heavily you may want to consider bringing some of them back, in a best case scenario you could bring them all back & do a fishless cycle.

I have 2 x loach, 4 x neon's, 6 x tiger barbs, 8 x cherry barbs, 2 x mollies, 6 x gourami's and 1 x shark.
Will continue with water changes as suggested (ammonia levels have dropped slightly).
There appears to be a lot of fish waste at the bottom of the tank; should I extensively hoover the gravel?
I have added nita-zorb, bio start and ammo chips to the filter; is this a good idea?
I really do appreciate your help.

Thanks - Mark

 

[tibby25731]

You just need to water change, water change, water change. When I fish-in cycled I was doing a 50% water change every day, sometimes twice a day just to try to bring the ammo and nitrite down to less than 1. it took a long time to cycle the tank. if you can take the fish back then i would strongly suggest you do, it is so horrible to watch fish dying and knowing that you caused it, even if only through ignorance and bad advice . Otherwise, make sure you are in for the long haul. Do you know anyone nearby with an established tank who you could get some mature filter media from? This will speed things up

 

[markyd1963]

You just need to water change, water change, water change. When I fish-in cycled I was doing a 50% water change every day, sometimes twice a day just to try to bring the ammo and nitrite down to less than 1. it took a long time to cycle the tank. if you can take the fish back then i would strongly suggest you do, it is so horrible to watch fish dying and knowing that you caused it, even if only through ignorance and bad advice . Otherwise, make sure you are in for the long haul. Do you know anyone nearby with an established tank who you could get some mature filter media from? This will speed things up

Have been changing water again and again and again; have added bio start, nitro-zorb and ammo chips and progress is being made.

Ammonia now 0.25, Nitrite now 1.0 and nitrate 10. Good progress I think?

I have also raised the outlet of my filter to the water level in the tank creating more bubbles within the tank. Would this have made any difference??

Thanks for your help - Mark Davis

 

[Cory_Dad]

There appears to be a lot of fish waste at the bottom of the tank; should I extensively hoover the gravel?

Well markyd1963, there's your problem. Ammonia comes from un-eaten food and fish waste.

Not only do you need to do regular water changes but also vacuum (hoover) the gravel surface AND under the surface, all the way down to the glass in order to get all the crap (literally). If there is a lot of waste you have to be real careful to not not stir it up too much as the released waste soup is harmful to the fish.

Good luck and cheers.

 

[rabbut]

What a mess!!!!

I feel sorry for you and your fish having been here myself before

Ammonia and nitrite are going to be killers realy quickly, so waterchanges are a must. Hopefuly this is just a mini-cycle, and not a full on fish-in cycle with a full bio-load .

Ammo chips, nitrazorb and biostart won't help, and the first two will actualy make things worse Remove the nita-zorb pack and the ammo chips, as they will be removing ammonia from the water. ####? you are probibly thinking but they are stopping the filter bacteria from doing their job. This means that the cycle cannot complete with them in there, and continuing their use will make you dependant upon them. This is ok short-term, but if you ever needed to treat with any meds, they would need to be removed, leaving you with a tank in which ammonia and nitrite will shoot up very quickly, as it is doing now

Do a 50-75% waterchange, thourly cleaning the gravel, to remove all that c£$p from the bottom, as it will not be helping. Ammolock has been known to give false highs on test kits, so I surgest you stop using it. Raising the filter outlet as you have done will help greatly

Try to find someone local who can donate you some media to help [topic="150631"]here[/topic] Posting at the end of the tread will often get member to come to you, so is worth a try IMO.

Take a look here for information about fish-in cycling to help clear up what you need to do, [topic="224306"]here[/topic]

HTH
Rabbut