Red Gills On Platys - Water Levels

[DreS]

hi all, please help as very worried at the mo. weve had our juwel rekord 800 (110Litre) set up for about 12 days now (heres a link to the aquarium in case u need to see what it has - http/www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk/gift-ideas/juwel-complete-starter-aquariums/juwel-rekord-800-aquarium-p-2524.html). didnt know about fishless cycling so put 5 platys in the day after setting up as advised by the LFS. the platys have all been fine and 1 had about 40 fry which seem to be doing well. this morning i noticed red around the gills of the platys and after reading about the forums a bit looks like its to do with the water nitite/ammonia and red blood cell damage to the fish. i had ben using the test strips but today got a api frshwater master test kit. here are the readings for my tap water and also the tank water:

TAP WATER - PH 7.8 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 40

TANK WATER - PH 7.6 Ammonia 0.25 Nitrite 5 Nitrate 80

Ive been reading a lot of previous posts but still a bit unclear as to what I need to do to try and help my fish and get the water better for them. Ive done a big water change the last 2 days and syphoned the gravel which got a lot of stuff up (about 40% water change). Now think it was unwise to do so.

Should I do a water change now? If so how much? Do I need to treat the tap water with something 1st or just make sure its the same temp as the tank water?
Should I clean the filter in the tank water I take out in case its blocked?

Please help as im so confused and dont want my fish to die or suffer due to my mistakes.

 

[K_Hedin]

The water changes are good. That will keep the ammonia and nitrites down. You need to add a dechlorinator to your water. If you don't then the chlorine or chloramines will kill your beneficial bacteria and put you back to stage one and you will be cycling the tank all over again.

 

[DreS]

The water changes are good. That will keep the ammonia and nitrites down. You need to add a dechlorinator to your water. If you don't then the chlorine or chloramines will kill your beneficial bacteria and put you back to stage one and you will be cycling the tank all over again.

thanks for responding so quickly. is there a certain type of dechlorinator i need or just any will do? where is best to get it from?

also do you mean i shoudlnt do any more water changes until I get some dechlorinator stuff? or should i do another change now? and if so how much and should i clean the filter as looks to have lots of stuff in the white bit at the top?

sorry im such a noob at this and really worried ive hurt the fish.

 

[K_Hedin]

You LFS will sell them. I use the API Tap Conditioner. Do not do a water change until you can get the chlorine out of the water in my opinion. Someone else might say something else but I don't think you are doing yourself a favor if you do. If you want to clean your filter you need to clean it in the tank so that the good bacteria stay there and don't die. However I personally don't know how much is left after the chlorinated water was put into the tank. This has happened to me. My wife did a water change and didn't add any of the chemicals. You will be able to bounce back. If you can get the dechlorinator and find someone with an established tank to give you some used filter media to stick in your tank you may be able to speed up the process of putting the good bacteria in.

 

[DreS]

You LFS will sell them. I use the API Tap Conditioner. Do not do a water change until you can get the chlorine out of the water in my opinion. Someone else might say something else but I don't think you are doing yourself a favor if you do. If you want to clean your filter you need to clean it in the tank so that the good bacteria stay there and don't die. However I personally don't know how much is left after the chlorinated water was put into the tank. This has happened to me. My wife did a water change and didn't add any of the chemicals. You will be able to bounce back. If you can get the dechlorinator and find someone with an established tank to give you some used filter media to stick in your tank you may be able to speed up the process of putting the good bacteria in.

thanks again. i will send the wife out tomorrow when im at work to get some.

 

[Skins]

Hello,
Your first step is to get some dechlorinator seachem prime or tetra aquasafe, BUT seachem prime should be your first choice. Your first water change(75%)/gravel vac really needs doing asap, remember to dechlorinate matching temp water. This may have to be repeated if ammonia/nitrite levels are still high, your aim is to get levels at no higher than 0.25ppm(preferly 0ppm) which will still mean smaller water changes(40%)to prevent toxins building up again. A good pratice to get into is log all your water chemistry results and how much water(volume%)was changed, over a small period of time you will see a trend which will make life that little easier when knowing what actions to take. When your ammonia and nitrite readings stay at 0ppm that is when you are cycled, but this will be few weeks away yet.
As for your filter if there is no loss in its flow i would leave alone for now, if there is loss of flow then a quick swish of the media in tank water should be sufficent.

Keep us all posted, Keith.

 

[DreS]

Hello,
Your first step is to get some dechlorinator seachem prime or tetra aquasafe, BUT seachem prime should be your first choice. Your first water change(75%)/gravel vac really needs doing asap, remember to dechlorinate matching temp water. This may have to be repeated if ammonia/nitrite levels are still high, your aim is to get levels at no higher than 0.25ppm(preferly 0ppm) which will still mean smaller water changes(40%)to prevent toxins building up again. A good pratice to get into is log all your water chemistry results and how much water(volume%)was changed, over a small period of time you will see a trend which will make life that little easier when knowing what actions to take. When your ammonia and nitrite readings stay at 0ppm that is when you are cycled, but this will be few weeks away yet.
As for your filter if there is no loss in its flow i would leave alone for now, if there is loss of flow then a quick swish of the media in tank water should be sufficent.

Keep us all posted, Keith.

thanks keith. will do the 75% water change with gravel vac tomorrow nite as soon as i get home from work as the wife will be buying the decholorinator tomorrow for me. i will definately keep logs of everything i do and the water readings.

 

[Skins]

K_Hedin made a very good point with mature media, if you can get some from a friend or LFS to put in your filter this will help speed up your fish-in-cycle.

Keith.

 

[K_Hedin]

If you tell us where you are at there may be someone near you willing to donate some media.

 

[DreS]

1 of my wifes friends has a tropical tank and think she has had it for a good while now. i will give her a call tomorrow nite and see if i can have some of her media.

could you just explain what i would need to do with the media? wouldnt taking her media out and putting new in mean her bacteria would go? i think ive seen it somewhere on the forums but cant remember in which section.

 

[Skins]

1 of my wifes friends has a tropical tank and think she has had it for a good while now. i will give her a call tomorrow nite and see if i can have some of her media.

could you just explain what i would need to do with the media? wouldnt taking her media out and putting new in mean her bacteria would go? i think ive seen it somewhere on the forums but cant remember in which section.

See if your friend can spare a bit of the mechanical(sponge)media.
If they can, simply place it in your filter and don't worry if you have to cut it to make it fit.

Keith.

 

[DreS]

thanks again all. will do

 

[DreS]

did a 75% water change with treated water (LFS only had tetra aquasafe). also stuck some api aquarium salt in there as my friend gave me some and said it could help the fish recover. anyways results are a lot better:

PH 7.8 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 10

Will do a test tomorrow morning before work and see what they say. Just hoping I havent already done too much damage to our fish.