Not my day

[TetraMon]

I had a 20 us gallon tank with 4 guppies and 3 cory cats. The tank cycled for 3 weeks before I added fish. For the first two weeks the fish have done well in the tank until the past few days. They havent been as active and hang around at the top of my tank. My amonia lvl is near .5, I don't have a nitrite test kit, and my ph is 7.5. I came home today to find two dead guppies! Ive been doing daily 20% water changes since they have been acting like this but that doesn't seem to work... n e sujestions would help greatly.

 

[Angry_Platy]

The fact that you have any ammonia at all (0.5) tells me that your tank isn't completely cycled. If they are hanging around the top of the tank it tells me that they are there due to lack of oxygen. This can happen when there is ammonia present.

Do you have much aeration in the tank? Or I probbaly should ask if your tank has a lot of surface "disturbance" (kinda like current).....this facilitates oxygen dissolving into the water and a result is happy fishies.

I would keep up the water changes...it certainly won't hurt the fish and it will help the ammonia and nitrite levels (if you have any).

I'm sure others here will have other helpful suggestions.

 

[CackD]

Without an ammonia source, the tank was not cycling. So unless you added ammonia directly to the tank for those three weeks before you added the fish, it was just 'filtered tap water' for that time.

My guess would be that either a. You are just starting to get the ammonia spike, or b. Your nitrItes are starting to come up and your ammonia is going down.

Like Chooklet said - Keep up with the daily water changes!! If at all possible, ask your Fish store if they can give you some cultured gravel. Some LFS will give this for free, others charge a small fee.

The gravel will already be infested with the beneficial bacteria that will help the tank speed up the cycle process. Just drop that gravel into the tank and your ammonia should bottom out in a day or two.

What kind of filter are you using for your tank?

 

[TetraMon]

Thanks for the tips so far guys.
I have regent 20-40 gallon. It's like a penguin 125 or 170 but no bio wheel.
I know bio wheel filters are much better and I plan to get one.

 

[Auslander]

Probably NititItes I would have thought. Keep doing large changes (40%) and dont feed them.

 

[Sanj]

0.5 Ammonia killed most of my Emeror tetras when I thought that was pretty low level. So even small concentration of ammonia can be lethal.

 

[TetraMon]

Im not feedin them and I cleaned the gravel good w/ a gravel cleaner. They seem to be hangin in.

 

[TetraMon]

Me again guys... I lost my female guppy and now my male wont eat. I've got him in a seperate tank. It's not looking good for him, any more sujjestions?

 

[sandyd]

I would suggest that while you are doing water canges to not disterb the gravel, as the beneficial bacteria will grow there also. If you have any other tanks, you could take filter medium and add it to the new tank. Or like was said above, you could get some gravel from the lfs to help you speed it along.

The only other options would be to do frequent daily water changes, or take the fish back to the lfs and do a fishless cycle.

Please keep us posted.
Sandy

 

[Angel Lady]

they are a product that is called bio spara i think that is the name of it if not someone help me out with the name that stuff it really works i got a package of it and put it in my 55 gallon tank and added the fish the next day and it has been up and running without any problems at all my fish have grown from about a 1/2 inch long to almost 4 inches in two months if you dont do something your fish are in for a lot of stress until your tank gets threw cycling and that takes almost 6 weeks in your case a little longer where you have to change your water everyday. I wish you luck and I am sorry about your fish dying.

 

[TetraMon]

Hey guys, my male guppy is doing much better now. He is swimming around the tank now and is eating! It might take him a while for him to get used to feeding at the top but I'm so happy hes doing ok.
Thanks guys