sick swords + ammonia problem

[trungie]

Greetings, i now have two tanks (1 breeder: 10 gallon fairly mature, and my main tank: 70 litres, unmatured). my main tank is only a week old. It has an undergravel filter which covers 50% of the bed, and a corner filter with no activated carbon in it at the moment. i originally had 3 swordtails in the breeder tank and one had about 20 fry so i moved the 3 swords into the main tank after 3 days of running the water. i purchased and added the other swords in a short time (i know bad ) only a few days ago. the main tank is only 7 days old. the ammonia levels have been quite high which ive expected ranging from 1-2ppm. ive been changing 25% of the water every few days to try to control that. im currently treating my tank for white spot too. ive been feeding the fish live black worms and tetraflakes daily once only for about 5 minutes.

im worried about the ammonia levels. my tap water has about 0.5-1ppm of ammonia in it too, so when i perform a water change im worried about the effectiveness of it.

Here are the parameters of my tank...

1. water composition of main tank
ammonia: 2ppm, nitrite: nil, nitrate: unknown, pH: 7.5, temp: 27 degrees, hardness: unknown

2. fish symptons description
sick sword1: been attacked by larger female, has mouth open constantly, rear tail been damaged, stays at the bottom all the time, doesnt swim around much, moved to a breeder container in a fry tank which has fairly good water. got this girl 3 days ago.

sick sword2: lethargic, stays at the bottom, gasps, doesnt socialise. this guy is in the breeder tank too with the other sick girl. got this guy 3 days ago.

3. water changes
i have been performing water changes every 2-3 days of 25% tank water due to the ammonia concentration

4. chemicals added
i am on the 2nd day of white spot treatment of white spot with methylene blue at the recommended dosage for my tank.

5. tank mates
i have 10 sword tails and 1 mussle in the main tank, plus two two sick ones in the breeder tank.

6. tank size
main tank is 70 litres (10 swords in there), gravel substrate

the breeder tank is about 10 gallons (30 fry and 2 sick swords in there), no substrate, 4 large plants

7. recent additions
the tank is one week old, i added the fish about 3 days after running the water.


my questions of help:
1. what can i do about the ammonia levels?
2. how can i help my sick swords more? (as detailed below)


worried,
trungie

 

[Tanked]

having 10 swords in your main tank with out it being cycled could be leading toward the problems. the ammonia spike is normal and should subside within another week or so, then your nitrites will climb, peak nad the subside as nitrates build. being that the fish you have in there are swordtails they can handle a bit of salt. I would add 1 tbsp per 5 US gallon (sorry don't know the conversion). I am not sure how this would effect the mussel though. that is one recomendation. the way I would do it would be to have someone hold about 7 of those fish for you until the cycle period is complete. usually avbout 6 weeks from the tank being new.


hth


Richard

 

[Pufferpack]

I'm not positive, but I think if you add carbon to the filter that should help reduce the ammonia level as well.

 

[Tanked]

carbon will not help so much with ammonia, Zeolite will though, but it will also prolong the cycle period.

 

[impur]

adding carbon will also take out the medicine he is using.

 

[reg2k2]

Those levels are much too high. My first thought is to step up the water changes to daily.
The gill irritation could be caused by the ich, but I think it's also a good bet it's from the ammonia.
This article also points to laying at the bottom as a possible symptom.
Ammonia Poisoning

I would suggest adding a liquid ammonia remover.
Do not use Amquel at this time!! It will affect the meth. blue you are using.
Ammo-Lock sh. be ok...actually, I don't know what products u have in your area?
A liquid could be added to the replacement water beforehand.
Zeolites would be added to the filter; not sure how well they would take care of the water you're adding.

Keep an eye on the two removed for signs of ich.

The mussel...do you know it's alive? They need to be removed right away if not (sry to be morbid).

You might also cut back on feeding or at least be sure to only put in what they will eat.

 

[dolphin]

Hi trungie

As the water you are adding to your tank, at the water changes, has ammonia in it, you need to remove this. You could filter the water with zeolite or Nirto-zorb, which will remove all the ammonia, before adding it to the tank. If you have carbon iin the filter as well, this will remove the chlorine and other chemicals, and you will not need to use any chemicals to condition the water and remove the chlorine.

This will need to be done, even after the cycle, because your pH if over 7. If it was less than 7 then ammonia is not as much of a problem, as it is less toxic due to the chemistry of the water, ratio of hydrogen to hydroxide ions, and TDS content.