Help!

[kellyinman1]

Hiya i recently lost 6 silver dollars and a angel fish so i brought a water tester, it came today and i tested the water,
it read:
NO3 250
NO2 10
GH 16Od (which is apparently ok)
KH 10od (which is apparently ok)
pH 7.2 (which is apparently ok)
Cl2 0

this said i needed to do a big water change and add water safe - i took 3/4 of the water out and added the water safe to the water b4 i put it back into the tank
I done another reading and they all came up with ok.

went out for 2 hours and came home and one of my parrot fish were dead!!! and the other 2 have lost there colours and are swimming around the top of the tank and so are the gar fish.

so done another water reading and it came up with the same as the 1st reading! my husband done another big water change and i just did a reading again and its:
NO3 25
NO2 5
GH 8od
KH 15od
pH 8.4
Cl2 0

I really need some help because i have no idea what to do and dont want to loose anymore fish and it looks like more are going to die very fast!


2nd parrot fish is now on its side on the sand!!! HEEEEEEEEEEEELP

 

[rabbut]

First off, I will cover all the basics in this post, assuming no previous experience keeping fish. Sorry if this seams simple in places, but I'd rather give too much information, rather than leaving out something and things getting worse as a result.

OK, what test kit are you using? Also, do you have stats for ammonia? (NH3/NH4)

NO2 is nitrite. This chemical stops oxygen getting into the blood stream, thus suffocating the fish. A mature and cycled filter would convert this to nitrate "on the fly" and the reading for this should be zero. Nitrite comes about after ammonia (from fish waste) has been processed, again by the filter. Ammonia is slightly more toxic than nitrite, and ammonia burns the fishes gills and skin, removing the slime coat making them vunerable to disease. As a result, ammonia will do premanant damage, hence why you need to know where this reading is.

You need to water change as much as is required to keep both ammonia and nitrite at or below 0.25. Any higher and you risk loosing fish or shortening their life span. With nitrite currently on 5, I'd do as close as possible to a 100% waterchange (leaving just enough water in the bottom of your tank to cover the fish) before refilling with fresh, dechlorinated water. Next, you need to work out why the filter isn't doing it's job.

How long has the tank been running?

When did you last clean the filter?

How did you last clean your filter (if you have yet)?

Have you replaced any media in the filter recently, and if so how much?

Is the flow from the filter normal, or is it slower than normal? A slower flow would indicate that the filter needs a clean.

Next off, you need to maintain regular (possibly twice daily) waterchanges to keep ammonia and nitrite in check. Do you know anyone whom keeps fish? If so, try to get them to swap some filter media with you. Don't take more than 1/3 of their filters media, or you will caurse them problems, but taking even a small piece will cut the time needed to get the filter sorted, and thus reduce the time during which you are loosing fish and/or doing waterchanges.

All the best of luck sorting this
Rabbut