Oh, sh*t!

[totalbolshevik]

I went up to feed the fish this morning and the water was cloudy. I tested the water: Ph: 6.0 or lower Nitrite: 5.0 or higher Ammonia: 7.0 or higher. Fish were breathing heavy. Went to lfs was told to add cycle and feed only once every two days. Added cycle tested again a couple hours later Ph was up a bit but other stuff still the same. It is now 9 at night the water is even worse the fish are not looking any better. I'm kind of a newbie to all this. When the tank was set up (I hired someone at the lfs to do it) I was told to clean the gravel once every two weeks but I'm now told that this is way too often. Apparently I killed off all my bacteria and they are trying to grow back. Its been a couple months since it has been set up up until now everything looked great after it was cycled. Is this a logical story cuz if its not the lfs will have some explaing to do also is there anything else I can do to help the water? I know what y'all say to the cloudy water thing which is to be patient but as you can see I am freaking out here sombody please help

 

[Ace Rimmer]

I'd start with 15-20% water changes every day, maybe a little bit more even

edit: because I'm a noob myself, does anyone wanna back me up here

 

[Fishsmurf]

TB,

No worries, people are here to help.....

Ok firstly. You tank has not completed the cycle, when the tank is cycled your test will show 0 Ammonia 0 NitrIte and then a figure for NitrAte (ideally zero, but realistically this is not going to happen in the real world, so we try to keep this keep at 40ppm or lower with water changes).

The major problem you have at the moment in those levels of Ammonia & NitrIte both of which are extremely toxic to fish (thus the gasping etc). Ace has got it spot on with the water changes. Use small (20 - 25%) regular water changes (twice daily if needed) to get the Ammonia & Nitrite figures down to at least 2 or less if possible.

Personally I would stop adding anything other than fresh (decholrinated obviously) water. The more stuff you put in the tank the more the fish and bacteria cultures have to try and deal with (a friend of mine has a sig line that reads "Fish like water best", that kinda sums up my way of thinking)

People may have a different view on this claiming this will pro-long the cycle. However only a small percentage of the bacteria you are trying to cultivate for the cycle are actually present in the water, the rest as you seem to be aware are in the substrate, filter media and attached to other solid surfaces with-in the tank.

I cases such as yours I feel it's more important to get those levels down to ease the suffering of the fish, even if it was to pro-long the cycle slightly.

The cloudiness is just a bacteria bloom, basically your tank has a lot going on in it at the moment, as the tank balances itself out the cloudiness will disapate (this could take a couple of weeks so be patient)

Soooo:

1) Small regular water changes.

2) Cut back on feeding (every other day) as this lower the ammount of waste (therefore Ammonia) your fish are generating.

3) Keep up the gravel vacs but whilst you are cycling just skim the surafce lightly to pick up any detritus on the top 100%. But then deep vac 50% of the tank one week and then the other half the following week (the bacteria for the cycle are fairly hardy & can live with a light vacuming)

4) Remember if you do rinse the filter sponges to do it in water you have removed from the tank, not under the tap)

TB,

Thing could get a little worse before they get better but keep up the water changes, relax and we will get sorted......

If you've got any more questions shout....

HTH.....

Anything I've missed any-one?.....

 

[Elisabeth]

Also you could ask your LF for a cup of gravel from one of their tanks, or get one from a friend with an established tank. This would add some beneficial bacteria to your tank and speed up the cycling process.

 

[EddieW]

Another option if you can find them is a product called Bactinetts - these are the three types of benifical bacteria encapsulated to keep them alive. If you add the appropriate amount of these to your filter media then you can reduce ammonia and nitrite in a matter of hours.

I have used these in all of my new tanks and never had any ammonia problems - my LFS swear by them and have use them on new setups that they do for customers.

I am not sure if the product if available in the States.....

Eddie

 

[impur]

I am with Fishsmurf here. Great regime for you to go by and it will help in the long run. I have read that the product your lfs sold you contains some of the wrong bacteria and of the bacteria you need, they are all dead. The only product i have seen work and have read raves about is bio spira. Its kind of expensive. If you live in Eugene (hippietown) they sell it at Pet Time on W 11th in that strip mall on the right before Fred Meyer as you head out of town.

But if you follow Fishsmurf's directions you should come out ok. Good luck.

 

[totalbolshevik]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Fishsmurf, up until now, I had zero ammonia in my water... Impur, you guessed right about where I live.

 

[totalbolshevik]

How much longer will I have to endure this suffering?

 

[Ace Rimmer]

is it getting any better???

 

[kevin007]

u would probably have to endure this suffering for another month

Kev B)

 

[totalbolshevik]

no its not gettting any better I'm afraid that all the liddle fishies are gonna die before it gets better but like I said, i'm a newbie I dunno thats not funny kevin

 

[kevin007]

totalbolshevik( man that's a long name) i have had this problem before and i fixed it, the wrong way................... but none of my fish died after i'v done it the wrong way............... i might get yelled aat for telling u what i did when i had ur problem because i can't gaurentee that it would work for u or not.......... btw: this will only fork if u don't have live plants........ and u r taking a risk so do this if u dare but it worked for me tho.......hint: do it as fast as u can ithin an hour........... just to tell u that my rts jumped out of the plastic bag when he was in it but he is okay now. and fill a bucket of water, as much as u need to fill ur whole tank with it wait 24 hour then:

okay, here goes:

1. take a plastic bag and get all ur fish in there
2. take all the water from ur tank (100%)
3. wash ur tank scrape algae and all the other stuff and try to make it like a new tank................
4. change filter cartiage(sp),take all gravel, fake plants and ornaments
5. put all the ornaments gravel and fake plants back in the tank then fill it with the water u saved the day before. B)
6. put cycle, aqua plus, etc. 8)
7. put ur fish back in the tank, like it was new fish.............
8. put ur fish in the tank and do not feed for 24 hours

i said that ppl would disagree to what i said because i know that then it means that u did not do a cycle. but totalbolshevik i know how it feels, if u r gonna play by the rules then u would probably have to wait for another year or 2. but do this at ur own risk, it worked for me and none of my fish died after that process and i even had a pregnant platty at that time and she did not aborted it, in fact, i saw my frys but i only managed to save 1 but she would still give birth next month because i still see the gravid spot ) and i also bought a albino cory after a month and he is healthy too..... i didn't want to tell ppl this because i didn't want to get yelled at

hope this helps

Kev

 

[kevin007]

oh and totalbolshevik sorry if i have made u upset or have offended u
forgive me!?

Kev

 

[totalbolshevik]

That's okay, kev. I don't mind people giving me advice, no matter how stupid it may seem... I can't do that tho, cuz I have live plants. Thanks anyways.