Water Change

[ps88s]

can anyone tell me if im treating my tank for white spot can i do a water change?the water is realy cloudy and my guppys look lathargic,theyr just floating around the top of the tank witch is not theyr normal behaviour.the white spot med bottle says to dose the tank wait 4 days then another dose,if i change the water will it effect the treatment?please help im totaly new to fish keeping.cheers

 

[KittyKat]

Is the water a milky colour? What are your water parameters? What are your tap water parameters? Have you cycled the tank?

Milky water is usually a bacterial bloom, which is partially caused by ammonia.

Normally, I would do a large water change before whitespot treatment, then raise temperature to 30C, then add treatment, then do 90% water change after treatment is complete (usually 2-4 days, depending on medication), and treat again, followed by anther large water change.

In your case, you may need to do it now if ammonia is high. It would also help to know more details about the set-up.. a list of them is at http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/2330-please-read-before-posting-to-emergency-section/

Do temperature match and use dechlorinator for water changes. You probably want to be using one now which deals with ammonia, such as Prime or Stress Coat.

 

[ps88s]

i dont know what the parameters are apart from amonia which is at 2.0ppm,im in the process of trying to get it lower.i didnt know about cycling til i joined this forum,the shop i got the fish from didnt say anything about tank cycling.i got an ammonia drop test kit the other day and tested it.it was sky high at 4.0ppm 2 days ago so it has come down since.i changed 90% of the water yesterday and the treated it with love fish anti whitespot and parasite medication from pets at home.i took the carbon media out aswell like it said but today its really cloudy.do you know what i should do?

 

[fluttermoth]

I think I'd do a big (90%) water change and re-medicate, if I were you.

That ammonia is dangerously high.

 

[KittyKat]

Change 90% again right now, make sure the new water is the same temperature as old water and dechlorinate it before adding it, then re-dose the whitespot treatment. Do not feed today. If ammonia is below 0.25 tomorrow, feed as much as the fish can completely finish in 20 seconds and do another water change the day after tomorrow, re-dose the ich treatment if needed. If ammonia is at 0.25 ppm or over, do another 90% water change tomorrow and re-dose the whitespot treatment.

You should only use carbon to remove medication from the water, not on a regular basis, so keep it out unless you need it (like after you finish treating whitespot.

 

[ps88s]

cheers folks il do that straight away.thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

Good luck

 

[ps88s]

hi again folks just changed 90% of the water and redosed the tank with meds.should i test for amonia again or will the meds affect the reading?

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm sorry, I don't know the answer to that

How are the fish looking?

 

[ps88s]

they seem abit livelier just now il keep you posted.cheers

 

[KittyKat]

Do test again. From what I understand, the medication will not affect the reading because it does not contain ammonia.

 

[ps88s]

i done another test this morning and the ammonia is down to 0.25.my red robin gourami doesnt look good today,he can barley swim straight and he keeps just sitting at the top of the filter doing mothing.dont know if hel last today

 

[KittyKat]

0.25 is still high, what's your pH?

 

[ps88s]

i only have an ammonia test kit,the guy at pets at home told me that its all i needed but since joining tff ive realised its not and he was speaking crap.i am gettin a full test kit tommoro hopefully.should i do another big water change today to get the ammonia down?

 

[Tizer]

ammonia can get up to 0.25 and that is when its borderline toxic, so a good indication to do a water change. your fish will take days to recover, if it does indeed recover. Just keep it below 0.25 and you can happily cycle your filter.