More Dead Fish, What Next!?

heavenly_d3vi1 · Oct 13, 2008

For those that dont know, I started out about 3 weeks ago with an uncycled, overstocked tank.. thanks to listening to my LFS.
I've already lost my betta, a balloon molly and a white mollie, I'm assuming just down to the condition of the water coz they had no symptoms taht they were ill.

This morning I've lost another balloon mollie, she's been having meds for septicemia and sticky out scales (dropsy I think?) And also lost another white mollie this morning, she was covered in lil grey dots yesterday.

So atm, I'm left with 1 male and 1 female white mollie. 1 male and 1 female balloon mollie, my pleco and the neons.
What I want to know is, should I go and get more females now to stop the 2 males harrassing the only 2 females, or wait till the water conditions are better?

nitrate is still at 20, nitrite still at 10, I've been doing 40% watr changes daily for 2 weeks and the levels just dont seem to be dropping! How long should it take for the levels to drop to a safe level?

minxfishy · Oct 13, 2008

Definately do not add anymore fish until you are completely cycled.

You will need to do more than daily changes at this point, with nitrIte at 10! you need to do an immediate 50% change (to bring them down to 5 in theory), then an hour later, do another 50% w/c (to in theory get to 2.5), then yes you guessed it, another 50% change and continue to do this until at the very least get your nitrIte to 0.25ppm. This is where you ideally need it stay 0.25ppm or below for the safety of the fish, until eventually without w/c it gets to 0 for both ammonia and nitrIte and stays like this for several weeks which will then mean you are officially cycled.

I would not expect many of the fish you have left to survive so certainly do not add anymore as this will mean almost instant death, the fish you have in are suffering but are used to the levels, any new fish wouldnt last with the sudden shock of those levels.

What is your ammonia reading btw?

Edit to add: Try to temperature match the water you are putting back into the tank with that of the tank water, with large water changes you dont want to shcok the fish.

mwood2 · Oct 13, 2008

I myself just started about the same time ago and am doing a fish in cycle myself but I just used a single Molly and a 5 Gallon tank, Gotta love some LFS.

So using conversion it sounds like you have a 10-13 gallon tank. A Molly is about 3-5in and using the 1in a gallon rule your still way to over stocked. What I could suggest if possible if buy a separate tank so you can make this tank more manageable and so you can finish cycling it. At the very least maybe put a divider in your tank if one can fit, that would solve the bullying issue. Also if you can, try to return 2-3 mollies to the store so the tanks more manable as well. You probably wont get a refund but they should tank them still.

Good luck to ya.

EDIT

arn he beat me to it

heavenly_d3vi1 · Oct 13, 2008

Thanks.. I am trying to source a second tank that I can afford so I can spread them out a bit.
Minx, the sticks I have dont read ammonia.. should I have seperate ammonia ones? And thanks for the water change advice.. I'll get on to that straight away!

minxfishy · Oct 13, 2008

Ah right you are using sticks, this makes things more complicated slightly as they notoriously inaccurate. You really need (and I know this gets expensive) a liquid based test kit, preferably API master test kit as this contains all the tests you will need, but nutrafin do one also.
They are much more accurate and will last a long time but if you cant get any, is it possible to take a sample of the water to the LFS and ask them to test for you, writing down the results (not just Oh your water is ok!!!) it will give us a much clearer picture of where your tank is. Your nitrIte may not be that high or it could be higher, you will also probably have high traces of ammonia, but without accurate tests will dont know.

For now, yes do the water changes, just leave an hour/two between changes and test regularly, temp match the water and dont forget to dechlorinate as you go!

heavenly_d3vi1 · Oct 13, 2008

Ah right, I have the API strips. I'll have a look for the one you've said, altho I cant get to the shops this week as the other half is using my car! (also live in the middle of nowhere 5 miles from the nearest bus stop, anoyingly!)

So I'll have to stick with the strips and lots of water changes for now, and go and look for the kit you mentioned at the weekend, and hope the rest of the fish survive that long

First change complete! Nitrate is still on 20 and nitrite is down to 5

minxfishy · Oct 13, 2008

For now dont worry about the nitrAte, although the fact that you have some is a good sign as ammonia converts to nitrIte then to nitrAte which is the end of the cycle, so nitrAte showing up proves that the filter is establishing.

Concentrate on getting the nitrIte to 0.25ppm and keeping it steady, good luck, let us know how you get on.