I Need Some Help With Results....my Fish Are Dying

[WILDER]

To be honest i agree.

 

[mandy82]

I wanted to add that I used Bio Spira when I added my guppies, I never had a problem ammonia, just with the nitrites. The nitrites only went up to the point where your's are and I did 25% water changes daily until they went back down. It'll only took a few days. If you want you can do it twice daily until they go back down, that's fine.

 

[Wanda hornsey]

Well did water change last night and hubby at home doing another one this morning...will test when I get home and see how its going...god its costing a fortune in water treatment (clorine remover) at 30-40 gallons a change its a fair bit of water to treat but if it saves the fish there you go its worth it

 

[Squid]

Sorry to hear you are having problems wanda.. I have just a few questions, which are for you and for everyone looking at this thread. I am nearing the end of my fishless cycle, and so i am quite interested as to what has happened here.

I am inexperienced in doing this, but from what i have seen and read, personally, i dont think it is in connection with the amount of fish you have added, but my first thought is that perhaps you added the fish with too bigger gap. I think the bacteria dies off pretty quickly. You added some fish the first 24 hours, then added 3 plecs 24 hours later. I would have thought that in between the guppies and the plecs, the bacteria may have died off a fair bit.. Then, when you added 3 plecs, which i have been told provide a fair amount of waste, then this may have caused a mini-cycle to take place. I beleive this, because on friday evening i tested my tank and the ammonia was at 0 and the nitrites about 0.25, but then forgot to add more ammonia. so on saturday morning, performed the test, and they were both at 0, realised what i had done, then added the ammonia again. This has casued my nitrites to rise again (not ammonia) slightly when testing it on saturday evening, and they are still working their way back down to where they were.

This shows how a short period of time without the bacteria being fed the same amount can affect the nitrite reducing bacteria levels.


i would like some feedback on this comment to see if others would agree.

Also, what filter do you have. I will have to be careful that when i do my big water change, that i can do this as quickly as possible to ensure that i do not affect the bacteria. I shall probably remove the sponge holders and put them in tank water whilst i do this. You have a huge tank, and so this would be a bigger task for you.

I would follow the others advice and treat this as a mini-cycle.

 

[Wanda hornsey]

Am at work at the moment so only quick reply...

Yes the only thing I can do is treat it as mini cycle and hope its going to be ok...I am supried tho as I would have thought the Bioload I added would have been fine the plecs aree all tiny 1 only 1" long 1 at 2.5" long and 1 at about 3.5" long so there addition to they bioload was not a lot in a tankl that size. Also I am not sure it would have caused a problem with the tank in under an hour...or maybe it would any ideas??

The filters are an external Ehime (at work and cant remember which one but its from the Priofessional range) and 2 big built in filters

best get on ) boss heading my way

 

[chishnfips]

How long was your tank cycling for? As said before you didn't add that many fish considering it is a large tank. it should have been fine

I reckon, it may have not cycled properly in the first place and adding the fish has started it off again.

 

[Wanda hornsey]

here is a Link to my thread from last week about cycling and my results...could you have a read if you have time ) and let me know what you think given the info there and the info here.....

If indeed it is mini-cycling whats my best bet for the safety of my fish, given that I only have this tank...got a 2nd tank to make into a hospital tank at the weekend but have nothing to go in it lights heater etc its just a glass shell so to speak. I have done a 2nd water change this monrning and can keep doing them 2x a day if that will help.

Any other suggestions? )

 

[Ami]

Wanda - I've been reading through your thread today when my boss isn't around (snap) and I think that it could well be a mini-cycle because of the delays in adding the fish. If there was nothing wrong with the fish in the first place that is!

I'm saying this because at the weekend on chat, I had a long discussion with Ooh Feeshy, Adam_Gayne and Fella and the conclusion we came to was that you should add your fish all in one go after cycling to prevent the risk of bacteria die off and mini-cycles.

They can die off within 24 hours and in the past I've always gone with the slow adding approach too. Fortunately, I've never had problems but after reading about your poor fish I don't think I'll take the risk in future.

Hope you don't lose anymore - keep up the daily changes of 10% (no need to do it twice) until you see the drop and they should be okay.

 

[Wanda hornsey]

Hope you don't lose anymore - keep up the daily changes of 10% (no need to do it twice) until you see the drop and they should be okay.

Thanks Ami, I am really upset by it all and feel really really guilty...I lost a molly today and the other female molly doesnt look to happy...its just so so hard thinking they must be suffering and I am trying my hardest to help them

I will never make the same mistake again if I can possibly help it

 

[Wanda hornsey]

anyone any idea how long I will have to keep doing these water changes everyday?? its a lot of water 40 gallons out and then fresh back...takes a while and worry about freaking the already freaked fish out more

thanks for all the help everyone has given me its been great

 

[Wanda hornsey]

Ok so yet another 30 gallon water change underway downstairs and things are starting to improve

The Nitrites are slowly comming down

and my fish are looking a lot less stressed.....just wonder how many days I need to keep doing this? and is it bad to keep doing it after more than a few days?

Any ideas?

Thanks so so much for all the help and kind words its made it easier to deal with

 

[WILDER]

What are your present stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.

 

[Wanda hornsey]

Ammonia 0
Nitrites .5 (was about 8 )
Nitrates 30
PH 7

 

[WILDER]

Maybe one more water change tomorrow should do it.

 

[Wanda hornsey]

husband can do that one before he goes on duty

and then I can test at lunchtime and see what my stats say, I dont mind doing the water changes (its a huge amount of water to bugger about with mind you ) I will do what it takes to get it all sorted.

At least the fish are looking happier