Help! Gasping Sick Ghostknife!

[gh0stknife]

Hi I'm sorry if this is a bit wonky but I really need help with my ghostknife.
 
A week ago he was acting a bit funny, swimming straight up, going after bubbles and bumping into things but then on wednesday he was on the floor gasping.
I panicked, ran to the fish shop to get my water tested and was told my water was acidic, had high levels of nitrites ad ammonia, was given stabaliser to help bring bacteria in to help clean the tank out since I did mess up one of my external filters. I washed the one in tap water and messed up the whole eco system but that was months ago.
 
Did a 50% water change as instructed, shoved in some stabalier like the bottle stated and waited until saturday to get the water checked again. At the time i had been using api stress coat but then ran out on the friday. Got my water tested again, water is still acidic eve though our tap water is a very strong alkaline, still had ammonia in the tank but he never mentioned the nitrites.
 
I was given prime to help with the water so i did a 25% water change when i got home and then later got PH 7.5, mix that in slowly into the tank and the ph dropped down to 6.3.
This morning [sunday] i added more stabliser since it says to keep adding for a week and did the ph again but I'm worrie di added it in too fast because the ghostknife freaked and swam away for a moment.
 
Now he is gasping harder,he hasnt eaten anythgin for 2 weeks nearly. His slime coat is fine now aswell since he had bad webbing before.
 
I have a 50 gallon tank/ 200 litres
With two large silver dollars, an angel fish, two silver sharks, a worm loach thing and 3 widows.
Everyone else is fine, I have no plants in there since the others ate them all, no pebbles because of an accident with some algae and one cave for the loach.
 
I have moved my streamers so that there is as much agitation to the surface as possible.
These fish were dumped on me, i have no clue what I'm doing. I have had to guess as i go and the only test i own is a ph test.
 
 

 

[techen]

Am fairly sure you'll know what am about to say to you. May I suggest rehoming the ghost. I wouldn't put a fish of that size in anything less than a 80gal at least.
 
With the amount of chemicals you've been adding, PH Crashes and ammonia spikes. The life span of most of the fish inside the tank will be halfed if not more. It's a hard spot to be in but I honestly recommend you start with the ghost. They get over 50CM in length and end up just huge, No room in your tank for it. With that out of the way. Keep your ammonia at zero, Same with your nitrite, Even if that means a waterchange of 90% or more to get rid of it. You must keep it out of the tank, Ammonia damage to fish is serious and will nuke your fish tank.

 

[sawickib]

I dont know whats up with your pH thats crazy and dont know what is causing it, is it your tap water? And messing with it, going up and down is VERY stressful for the fish. BGK are scaleless fish and dont do well with any meds, last time i gave him meds he started breathing heavily and acting strange, and my tire track eels as well. So i immediatly did 50% water change and put activated carbon in to remove it. (i put melafix in the tank) I would strongly suggest rehomeing the knife, they grow to big for that tank and with whats already happened, probably wont survive.

 

[gh0stknife]

My ghostknife is around 10-15cm. He was given to me a little smaller and did well for a year and then suddenly the whole tank crashed. I if i could i really would rehome him but a certain someone in my home has a habit of throwing away any of my old tanks.
At the moment said person either wants the ghostknife put down or to sell them as soon as i get them sorted.
The PH or some reaosn always goes acidic ever since we started the tank but how often would you recommend a water change? The guy at the fish shop said not to for a week once i add in the prime and i really an worried about all the chemicals in the tank, the last one seemed to agitate the poor thing.
 
At the rate he i at now no one would take him.

 

[sawickib]

A sickly ghost knife wont go for much if any. you could donate him to a LFS if theyll take him. What do you have for decorations and substrate in the tank? Also prime only really removes chlorine from the water. Do water changes weekly about 25, but with your pH problems id do like 50% a week.

 

[gh0stknife]

Yeah if i could I would rehome to somewhere better but with how he was when I thought about it he was already sick, At the moment none, just two rocks for the loach to not stress out. Tried to see if the ghostknife would move into it but it has no interest in any caves.
The tank was stripped clean due to algea the previous owner coulnt get rid of.
 
Ah this is highly depressing, really love the thing XD
 
The ph has gone up to 6.6 since i added the ph stuff so at the moment it hasnt spiked much.

 

[sawickib]

pH buffer wont do anything but stress the fish further because once the buffer is absorbeb it goes back down adding pH shock/fluctuations for the fish, if your normal tap water pH is 7.5 then id do a 100% water change and then test the water in 24 hours.
Could you upload some photos of your tank and the knife?

 

[tunagirll]

The pH swings are going to kill your fish faster than anything else. Knife fish LIKE slightly acidic water btw and need somewhere to hide. Like sawick said - stop adding chemicals and do a 100% water change. If you don't own a liquid test kit, it's time to go buy one. Ignore your fish store person because all he or she is doing is selling you more and more chemicals! Less is best!
 
What temp is your tank? Have a thermometer?
 
Test your tap water for all parameters.
Test your tank water after the change.
Then test every 12 hours and keep a record.
Do a water change as often as necessary, even if it's 50% twice a day, to keep your parameters stable. Clean water = live fish.
 
Clean your filter in tank water. If you can, get some media from a fellow fisho to boost yours.
Good luck

 

[gh0stknife]

My tap water is dark dark blue alkaline, dude at the shop couldnt understand how my water went acidic. The ph buffer is also a water conditioner so im worried that i may have added way too much.
 
The tank is barren, used to have a few large rocks in there but i took them out so i could scrub algae off but before then i wanted to get either sand or soemthign finner then pebbles since the pebbles got over run with this algea we couldnt get rid of.
 
http/farm3.staticflickr.com/2894/12708439524_3b91fd279a_c.jpg
http/farm8.staticflickr.com/7386/12708434794_2319831bae_c.jpg
 
 
I am actually very ashamed T^T
 
I would buy a full testing kit but i cant afford it, at the moment my dad has bought the stuff and his partner refuses to buy a it for them. Wanted a kit years ago when we started it.

 

[sawickib]

No its ok were just here to help, and i have no clue what to do with your tap water... you could try and use a friends tap water if they have normal levels. The BGK probably doesnt hide because thats not a very good hide, try a pvc pipe or something that will cover him completely. You actually have a very nice tank and filtration so if you can fix the water parameters and add i would suggest sand, and other stuff itd look great. But you need to figure out whats wrong with your water first, thats all i can really say.
Also your BGK looks VERY skinny did you try hand feeding him? i feed my 12" BGK shrimp pellets, earthworms, fish fillet, shrimp you buy at the store, ghost shrimp, and guppies.
Ill get some pics of my BGK

 

[gh0stknife]

Ok I think i'll do a 50% water change to see what happens, might ease the amount of stuff i've put in there.
The ghostknife did have a bigger cave the one in there was just for the loach cause he kept hiding under the ghostknife.
The whole area has a water reading of 7.5 maybe higher.
If he survives the night might be able to get a pvc pipe from dads work that i could try and get him into.
 
Which water conditioner should i use? The PH 7.5 stuff or prime?

 

[sawickib]

Just use prime try and stay away from any pH buffer. And if you water is 7.5 then id do a 100% water change with that

 

[gh0stknife]

Would that not mess with the bacteria though? sorry for all the questions

 

[sawickib]

Its ok, as long as there is no chlorine in the tank it wont kill the bacteria. The bacteria isnt in the water its on the filter media, or any other hard surfaces with no light, but pretty much all on the filter media.




Blurry because he never stops moving but yea thats my healthy 3 year old BGK

 

[gh0stknife]

T^T so cute
I'm doing a water change now, would it be fine to do a 50% in the mornign and then 50% at night?