Rescued Fish from high ammonia

[juliehodson]

I have just taken a spiny boxfish and 2 clowns out of my boyfriends tank because we suspect that they have got ammonia poisoning. I have put them in my tank until we can fix his. Do they have any diseases that could infect my fish or should they be ok for a couple of weeks??

Please give me any advise you have. Thanks.

 

[Navarre]

the ammonia will burn their gills and this will of course cause them stress. I would say the clowns will be ok (providing they get over the ammonia burns and poisoning) but i would watch the boxfish very carefully. If they get stressed or die they can relese a toxin that will kill the entire tank.

If this does hapen than I would do a series of Large water changes every day for a week. What size tank are these fish now in as the toxin can react faster in small volumes.


Edit: ook scrap tha tlast question as i ee the dimensions in your sginature.

The tank si very small and if the boxfish dies it will kill everything very fast!

If this happens then do large water changes (100%) over a week

 

[juliehodson]

ok thanks. I know the tank is really small for them but it is only a temporary measure. Unfortunately one of the clowns died but the boxfish looks fine apart from some white colouring on his fins which should be transparent. Is this ich?? Should I put anything in to treat it?

 

[RamJet]

It is common for something like this to weaken the immune system and causing the fish not to beable to fight off ich and other common problems. I would do a massive water change in your boy friends tank and get them out of yours. The extra fish load can deminish your water quailty and cause your fish to get ill as well. If you dont have a hospital tank, you may want to look at getting one now. This way you can start treating the fish with copper along with pemafix and melafix. I would also start adding garlic to the diet. You may also want to get a cleaner gobie, and a cleaner shrimp. Oh, a hospital tank does not have to be a fish tank, I have used cheap rubber made tubs in a pinch or a five gallon salt bucket.

 

[juliehodson]

The two clowns and the boxfish died. Now one of my clowns has died too. It looks like it had fin rot and my other clown seems to have it as well. I have tried medicating them with some stuff that my LFS gave that was supposed to treat a variety of problems including fin rot and ich but it doesn't seem to have worked. Is there any way to save the 3 fish that I have left or is it only a matter of time until they die as well??

 

[fraservet]

As Navarre has said, do fairly large water changes daily.
Also try adding some carbon if you don't already have any.

 

[juliehodson]

The medicine said that I had to take out the carbon so I have taken it out but I'll put it back in and see if it helps. Thanks for your advice.

Poor fishies

 

[Navarre]

Carbon will reduce the effectiveness of the treatment. either run the medicine or water change with added carbon.

 

[mibssy]

Everything died What a hard lesson to learn. I want to start up my tank again but haven't any clue what to do now. I was thinking that I would do a 90% water change and change all my filter pads. Then I would leave my tank to cycle for at least a month until my levels have settled. MY anemone, snails and crabs seem unaffected by whatever disease infiltrated my tank. I just want to make sure that the disease is gone by the time I put in any more fish. Do you have any ideas to help me?

 

[juliehodson]

Just to say that the last post was by me under my boyfriend's log in.