Help

[Mrscmurray]

could i be normal that all my fish have been living in the water for 4 month's without any side effects

Thanks, that does help. From the test it does show that your ratings are quite high as you said.
It is entirely possible that they have lived in the tank for 4 months without showing any signs. I unfortunately had a similar experience when I got my first goldfish and thought they were easy to keep and then one day I woke up and there were scales missing, she was lethargic and then died suddenly. If the individual fish is quite hardy they can last a while but they suffer internally
From this point onwards I would keep up daily water changes until those levels come down, aim for 60% and keep retesting your water to check that it is making a difference. Also make sure you do thorough gravel cleans every few days while it is balancing out - I had been overfeeding mine and found all sorts of waste hiding in the bottom just adding to the problem!
Fingers crossed that works for you and your fish is OK!

 

[the_lock_man]

I would immediately recommend a massive water change.
Your nitrite needs to be at 0 and nitrate around 20ppm or lower otherwise it is toxic to the fish.
Test the water parameters everyday and make water changes until those levels are under control. It looks like the tank hadn't cycled properly before adding fish so it is now struggling with the bioload

One caveat to that, if I may.

You're quite right, nitrite needs to be at 0, and nitrate really at no higher than 20ppm above tap water level, certainly 160ppm is way too high.

With a single, massive water change, you risk shocking the fish, and potentially killing them, if you reduce from 160ppm to tapwater level in one go. It would be better to do a series of 20% changes, with an hour or so in between to get the nitrate (and indeed, nitrite) down.

In the very short term, nitrite can be controlled using the salt method in the "Rescuing a Fish-In Cycle Gone Wild part II" thread.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The lock man nailed it. Please follow his instructions, this tank appears to be squarely in the "Old Tank Syndrome".

 

[Mrscmurray]

One caveat to that, if I may.

You're quite right, nitrite needs to be at 0, and nitrate really at no higher than 20ppm above tap water level, certainly 160ppm is way too high.

With a single, massive water change, you risk shocking the fish, and potentially killing them, if you reduce from 160ppm to tapwater level in one go. It would be better to do a series of 20% changes, with an hour or so in between to get the nitrate (and indeed, nitrite) down.

In the very short term, nitrite can be controlled using the salt method in the "Rescuing a Fish-In Cycle Gone Wild part II" thread.

Good point about the shock actually, I didn't think of that. I think I was overrun by the 160ppm!

 

[dogfight102]

i can only do 2 water changes every week because i use a well and its hard to trans port water long distances sadly. any other things i could try to lower nitrates and nitrites

 

[dogfight102]

One caveat to that, if I may.

You're quite right, nitrite needs to be at 0, and nitrate really at no higher than 20ppm above tap water level, certainly 160ppm is way too high.

With a single, massive water change, you risk shocking the fish, and potentially killing them, if you reduce from 160ppm to tapwater level in one go. It would be better to do a series of 20% changes, with an hour or so in between to get the nitrate (and indeed, nitrite) down.

In the very short term, nitrite can be controlled using the salt method in the "Rescuing a Fish-In Cycle Gone Wild part II" thread.

should i move the fish into a quarentine tank and drain the otherone completely?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No. The issue with the Old Tank Syndrome is that the water chemistry will change too much too quickly for them to handle it.


Do the two water changes a week... It will take longer but it's the only way to get the nitrates down for now. The salt treatment TLM was suggesting will help the fish deal with the nitrite.

Once your nitrates are down in the range of 20 ppm, which should take a few weeks doing only two changes a week, adding floating plants like duckweed would help to use some of the nitrates. Duckweed grows quickly and as it does you can just remove the excess duckweed from the tank.

This alone won't fix your issue, as nitrate isn't the only thing that is too high in your tank right now, but serves as an indicator of the other problems.


For the schedule of water changes... Start with 20% for both water changes this week, and try to increase that by 10% each week after that. Once you get to 50% water changes, you can just keep it there until the nitrates come down if moving too much water is an issue.

20%
160ppm will drop to about 130... Then rise a bit in between changes.
~140 ppm will drop to ~110. Then rise a bit.

30%
120ppm will drop to about ~85ppm, then rise.
95 will drop to ~70, and rise.

40%
75 will drop to ~45, then rise.
55 will drop to about 35, then rise.

50%
45 will drop to about 25%, then rise.
30 will drop to 15, then rise.

50%
25 will drop to ~12, then rise.
22 will drop to about, 11 then rise.


This is a rough estimate for how the nitrates will drop as you do these water changes. It will take patience and perseverance. Water changes are the single most important thing to do to keep your fish healthy.

And if your actual starting value is higher than 160 (which is actually fairly possible) it will just take longer. Don't change anything about the schedule, but continue twice weekly water changes until the nitrates are consistently down around 20.

 

[Mrscmurray]

i can only do 2 water changes every week because i use a well and its hard to trans port water long distances sadly. any other things i could try to lower nitrates and nitrites

As a side note, have you tested the well water at all to see what that reads?

 

[dogfight102]

As a side note, have you tested the well water at all to see what that reads?

i was going to get plants but the people said that cichlids eat plants

 

[dogfight102]

As a side note, have you tested the well water at all to see what that reads?

and my well water is like normal tap water

 

[dogfight102]

does he look healthy the things are still on his dorsal fin

 

[dogfight102]

see

 

[Mrscmurray]

There are a lot of fish that will nibble on plants but depending on the plant, it can actually be good for them. it makes up for fresh vegetation in their diet.

Unfortunately there's no such thing as normal tap water, everybody's comes out different. Did you manage to test a sample before it goes into the tank?

If he still has the problem I think it would suggest that there is still something leaving him open to infection. I'm not too well read up on medication so maybe someone else could help with that