Urgent Help Please

[Trueblue]

Hi,
Can you please give me some help and advice. I keep guppies and yesterday I had to empty my tank by nearly 2/3 as we were getting a new carpet and tank was to heavy to move.So I kept a few buckets of water to add back to tank along with fresh water and all seemed well until tonight when 2 of my big and colorful female guppies were dead. Their was a lot of redness round their Gilles and it looked like they might have been bleeding slightly.

Can anybody please advise what to do. I also should add that the water might have got a bit cold with heater being off. Don't know if that might have been the cause.

Many Thanks.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Do you have any water stats? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?

-FHM

 

[plecostomus-mad]

sounds like high levels of ammonia, give fatheadminnow what he needs and he will help you as best he can. your in good hands

 

[Trueblue]

Hi,

Not got them since done the change. Will do them all in the morning and will post to let you know.

Thanks for replies.

 

[fatheadminnow]

lol, I totally agree with plecostomus-mad. Sounds like you have an ammonia issue. Any ammonia level above .25 ppm will cause permanent gill damage. What happens when a fish is exposed to higher levels of ammonia, say above .25 ppm, their gills will start to turn red because the ammonia is actually causing the gill to burn. This not only makes the gill turn red, cause permanent gill damage, but it will also shorten the fishes life and can kill off the fish fairly fast.

So, we need to know your water stats, as listed above, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH. You can get a test, it you don't have one already, at any LFS that will test for these parameters. One thing to keep in mind, however, when buying a test kit, the test kit MUST be a LIQUID test kit. Strip test kits are no good an inaccurate. I would recommend the API fresh water master test kit, or the Salifert test kit. Both are good test kits and continue to prove to be pretty accurate, with the Salifert test kit to be a little more accurate than the API one.

-FHM

 

[Trueblue]

lol, I totally agree with plecostomus-mad. Sounds like you have an ammonia issue. Any ammonia level above .25 ppm will cause permanent gill damage. What happens when a fish is exposed to higher levels of ammonia, say above .25 ppm, their gills will start to turn red because the ammonia is actually causing the gill to burn. This not only makes the gill turn red, cause permanent gill damage, but it will also shorten the fishes life and can kill off the fish fairly fast.

So, we need to know your water stats, as listed above, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH. You can get a test, it you don't have one already, at any LFS that will test for these parameters. One thing to keep in mind, however, when buying a test kit, the test kit MUST be a LIQUID test kit. Strip test kits are no good an inaccurate. I would recommend the API fresh water master test kit, or the Salifert test kit. Both are good test kits and continue to prove to be pretty accurate, with the Salifert test kit to be a little more accurate than the API one.

-FHM

Hi fatheadminnow ,

It is a liquid test kit I have. Just not had a chance to do it with house being upside down with carpet and new suite tomorrow(sittin on deck chairs lol) as thought all was well.Done check last week and all was OK but with me taking so much water out and letting it get cool would not have helped. It's a 128 ltr tank and was to heavy to move.As I said kept most of the water but probably got to cold for them also. Will let you know when done test's and Thanks.

 

[fatheadminnow]

The water being cold, may have done something, but unlikely. However, now it is too late to check the temp of the water you took out, so if all other options fail, then I guess that may be the only logical explanation.

-FHM

 

[Trueblue]

Hi,
Just done the water test and YES it is the Ammonia that's high. So how do I bring it down.

Just away to do a 25% water change.

PH 7.2
Ammon 1.0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0 to 5

Done with a freshwater testing kit.

 

[plecostomus-mad]

i would do a minimum of 50% water changes twice today, that should bring it down alot. then check water stats again,make sure you leave the test for atleast 2 hours to let the fresh water mix. if still above 0.25ppm another water change is needed. do you use a dechlore?

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yup, you need to keep doing water changes to bring the ammonia level down as close to 0 ppm as possible. Anything over .25 ppm is going to harm the fish, as you have already seen.

I would check in the morning, then do a water change accordingly, then check again a later throughout the day, do another water change if needed and so forth. Since your tank was cycled, this slight ammonia spike should not last for long.

-FHM

 

[Trueblue]

Am I correct in saying to also cut back on feeding the fish as it will do no harm to miss a couple of feeds and give the water a chance to settle down a bit more..

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yeah, reduce feeding, as more feeding will result in more fish waste, and ultimately more ammonia.

-FHM

 

[Trueblue]

Hi folks,

Been doing a couple of 40/50% water changes and it looks as if it's starting to come down a bit so will persevere with the changes.

Thanks for the Help ALL.