Hey Guys Need Help Now!

[buffmaxwell]

hey guys ive never posted here before and im new to aqauria in general. however i have some issues going on in my current tank. i notived about 5 days ago a lot of my fish have been scraping. so ive been doing water changed about 10% every day hoping it would help. on a side note my little johanni is starting to look really bad. he has the shimmies and just kind of acts lethargic, how ever all of the my other fish seem to be doing well still. i fear that the ammonia levels some how made a very steep rise. so i lisaid earlier ive been doing 10% water changes for the last 5 days. also vacuming up the substrate. i figured that overfeeding might have something to do with it. so ive also cut back feeding a lot too, but still no changes with the johanni. one more thing i also took apart and cleaned my filter and added ammo chips and no carbon hoping this would help with my possible ammonia problem along with add some prime straight to the tank. so im not compleely sure if ammonia is the culprit but from what ive read every where it seems like it could be.

my setup
50 gallon tank
marineland 350 magnum filter.
2 airstones

electric blue johanni
elecitric yellow lab
kenyi
peacock
jack dempsey
redbreast sunfish
concivt
red tail botia
jaguar cat.

also all over my fish are arouund the 2 inch mark. so i dont think my tank is over crowded.

 

[phoenixgsd]

what are your ammonia and nitrite readings?
also how exactly did you clean your filter?

 

[Staxx]

what are your water stats? you said ammonia problem but never gave the stats?

 

[ShinySideUp]

so im not compleely sure if ammonia is the culprit but from what ive read every where it seems like it could be.

Then you need to check it and quickly. If you have an ammonia problem you will have to change a lot more than 10%. Opinions will vary but most will say somewhere between 70% and 90%. Ammonia is toxic at very low levels, maybe 0.25 parts per million if your pH is not low, a little higher if it is (low pH prevents ammonium form changing to toxic ammonia). All that aside, you need to check for ammonia and if it's there -- big water changes until it's gone. Ideally a test kit will show no ammonia at all.

There are many on the market but people seem to generally go for the API Master Test Kit; it's not cheap (by any means) but it will last for ages and give the complete picture of your water quality.

 

[buffmaxwell]

honestly guys i am aware that the nessler method doesnt work at detecting ammonia levels. also i heard if you use something like prime to remove ammonia the nessler will still give you a positive reading even if there isnt any ammonia present. on a side note i havent got a test kit yet.(im stupid i know)
thats what i asking yhour guys advice on the diagnosis. shimmying and scraping. i was just wondering why only my johanni and yellow lab are the only ones who seem to be affected? on a side note i reread my first post and it said i had no carbon and only ammo chips in the filter. and that was a typo i have brand new carbon and ammo chips combined. also when i cleaned the filter i cleaned it out with tank water. because i was told that if you rinse it out in tap water it will kill the good bacteria in your sleeve. so to answer that i rinse the sleeve for the filter in tank water.

also does it sound like my tank is overcrowded based on my fish listed. also i forgot to list my green severum its about 4 inches long and by far the biggest in the tank.

one more thing about the time the fish started scraping and the johanni shimmying the water started to get cloudy. dont know if that helps with diagnosis. also how long should water sit for after prime has been added to it, until its sage to put in the tank?

thanks so muhc guys

and i plan to get the seachem master test kit on friday when i get paid!!!!

 

[ShinySideUp]

and i plan to get the seachem master test kit on friday when i get paid!!!!

Until then I wouldn't think there's much anyone can add.

 

[buffmaxwell]

hey guys i actually got a test kit last night. and my ammomia readings were off the charts. i think it was something like 3.0 PPM. so i freaked out and immedietly changed out 15 gallons and vacumed the substrate throughly. oh and i added a full cap of prime. hoepefully this will work.

does anybody have any other ideas?

 

[phoenixgsd]

the only thing you can do is keep doing daily large water changes, prime dosnt get rid of ammonia it only temporerily binds it so it isnt so toxic to your fish, meaning it gives you breathing time to sort out the problem with out too much damage

 

[ShinySideUp]

hey guys i actually got a test kit last night. and my ammomia readings were off the charts. i think it was something like 3.0 PPM. so i freaked out and immedietly changed out 15 gallons and vacumed the substrate throughly. oh and i added a full cap of prime. hoepefully this will work.

does anybody have any other ideas?

Change more water. A 15 gallon change in a 55 gallon tank isn't enough. You should be looking at an 80% water change (some would say more) which is about 44 gallons. A 15 gallon change will take your ammonia down to about 2.3 ppm (from 3 ppm), which is still way, way over the top.

 

[buffmaxwell]

i just got done changing out another 15 gallons. so now ive changed out 30 gallons. im gonna do another test tonight. and then probably change out the remaining 15 20 gallons tomorrow.

does anybody have a clue why the only fish that seem to be affected in tank? i have a kenyi the same size as those two and its doing great.

also what else can i do to prevent steep ammonia spikes aside from regular water changes and not feeding as much?

and should buy some kind of special bacteria to help the filter cycle more efficiently and people to breakdown the ammonia and nitrates better?


ran some test(also keep in mind im using the jungle test kits so i have to match colors on a chart)

Tank size:50
pH:8.0
ammonia:6.0(super high)
nitrite:10.0(super high)
nitrate:20
kH:120
gH:150

anybody know why my nitrites and ammonia are so high
tank temp:

 

[phoenixgsd]

i just got done changing out another 15 gallons. so now ive changed out 30 gallons. im gonna do another test tonight. and then probably change out the remaining 15 20 gallons tomorrow.

does anybody have a clue why the only fish that seem to be affected in tank? i have a kenyi the same size as those two and its doing great.

also what else can i do to prevent steep ammonia spikes aside from regular water changes and not feeding as much?

and should buy some kind of special bacteria to help the filter cycle more efficiently and people to breakdown the ammonia and nitrates better?


ran some test(also keep in mind im using the jungle test kits so i have to match colors on a chart)

Tank size:50
pH:8.0
ammonia:6.0(super high)
nitrite:10.0(super high)
nitrate:20
kH:120
gH:150

anybody know why my nitrites and ammonia are so high
tank temp:

keep at it, you'll get there eventually, fish in cycleing is hard work, your readings are high because your cycling, ammonia turns into nitrite then dissapear when your tank is cycled leaving some nitrates, its a long hard work process
dont buy any bacteria in a bottle they arnt prooven to work, save your money

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Hi there, I just thought I would clarify about water changes. Doing 3, 15 gallon changes to get to a total of a 45 gallon change doesn't really work. All you've done is dilute the ammonia very slightly each time. Whereas if you do a very large 70-80% change you can then add enough clean water back in to dilute the ammonia to an acceptable level, does that make sense? So, doing it with small changes is actually a lot more work for you and also stretching out your fishes' discomfort.

I hope this helps

 

[buffmaxwell]

AlmostAwesome i tried explaining that to my father but he thinks he know everything about aqauriums. Will there be enough room for the fish to swim if i do that? i mean taking out 40 to 45 gallons of water at once seems like there wouldnt be but a couple of inches left in the tank for them to swim.

 

[fluttermoth]

You leave just enough water for the fish to swim upright.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Yup, what she said