My Tetra's Are Dying!

[ibasaw08]

Hi there, I need some help as I have just got home and think my tetras are dying. I have a 125l tank with dwarf rainbow fish, clown loaches, a male & 2 female fighters, a school of rummy noses and a school of neons. My tank has been set up for about 8 months and all has been ok but earlier today I had to take out one of my female fighters and mover her to a separate tank. I did a water change 1 day ago and another today because of the move so have basically done 2 water changes in 2 days, my ph is a bit low, amonia is also low but I am assuming this is just from the water change. I have put my stress coat and ammo lock in but all my tetras are swimming at the top and look as if they are gasping for air. One has just died and i'm sure the others are going to as well. Should I take them out of the tank before they die? Why are they dying and are any of my other fish likely to die to?
I'd be very grateful for any help!

 

[minxfishy]

Can you give stats for ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte please? Full list of fish also.

Male and female fighting fish should NEVER be housed in the same tank, only when breeding.

 

[ibasaw08]

ammonia is 2, nitrite is 0, ph is 6. I have 4 x clown loaches, 2 x dwarf rainbow fish, 2 x algae eaters, 1 x female fighter and 1 x male. We had 10 tetras and 5 rummy nose now we have 8 tetras & 3 rummy noses. The remaining ones are turning black and can't stay upright. Any ideas?
I did ask at the fish shop before I brought the female fighter and they told me it would be fine with the male. They actually get along fine, I have had no troubles so far... Thanks

 

[minxfishy]

Your ammonia should be 0, this will be effecting your tetras and every other fish in the tank. You say the tank has been set up for 8 months, so in theory should be fully cycled by now.

How did you cycle the tank? Any new fish recently? What is your water change regime?

You need to do an immediate water change to get the ammonia to 0, this may take a 50% change now and another 50% change in a couple of hours, I would imagine also that as you have an ammonia spike you will also get a nitrIte spike to follow as the nitrifying bacteria will need to catch up with the ammonia load.

Temperature match the water going back into the tank so as not to shock the fish. I also think you should stock using ammo lock as it gives a false ammonia reading, it maybe you dont have ammonia but the ammo lock is causing it. You only need to add dechlorinator to the water, nothing else. What test kit are you using, strip or liquid?

I recommend increasing aeration into the tank, either by the filter outlet to break the surface more or via airstone as the fish are in need of oxygen.

 

[ibasaw08]

No new fish but have done 2 water changes just recently as one of the female fighters got 'pop eye' - so I am told it's called, and I had to treat them with 'furan 2'.
I did a 50% water change today and it wasn't long after that when the fish started acting this way.
Do you think it is safe to do another water change if I have only just done one? Do you know a good dechlorinator I can use and what is the difference between this and the ammo lock? I thought the ammo lock was good, thats what they recommended at the fish shop - I had no idea it could give false readings! The test kit is liquid. I have an airstone so I will turn that up now to get more oxygen through the tank.
Thanks for your help!

 

[minxfishy]

Pop eye is a sympton of bad water quality, cant comment on furan 2 as I havent used it persoanlly. But it could have wiped out some of your bacteria.

Ammo lock will turn any ammonia into ammonium (apparently) which isnt as harmful as ammonia but as I say does then give false readings from a test kit, it also then doesnt leave any ammonia to be consumed by the bacteria, which would again put your tank into a cycle.

Any dechlorinator is good to use, I think stress coat is one, but again never used it, but any dechlor that eliminated chlorine from tap water is what you want to be using. Anyone here, is stress coat a dechlorinator please?

They would recommend it at the LFS because they want to make more money. They probably dont even know what it does, bar what it says onthe bottle!

With your ammonia levels that high, yes I would do another water change, without the ammo-lock and continue to do so until you have 0 ammonia in the tank.

 

[ibasaw08]

Ok great, thanks for all your advice. I will get onto a few of those things now so fingers crossed.