what is wrong with my fish

[totalbolshevik]

What is wrong with my fish he is swimming really weird i'm sure its cuz the tank is so screwed up cuz it had to re-cycle itself for some reason ammo 7.0 or so hes a red wag platy today I found him lying on the bottom of the tank thought he was dead but then he moved and somehow managed to get up to the top the other one i have in there is not lookin good either he has a big chunk out of his tail and is gasping at the surface really bad neither one is eating i'm pretty sure they're both gonna die oh, and the first one can barely control where he swims wtf is wrong with them I feel so sorry for them and I feel like it's my fault

 

[Angel Lady]

you have to get that ammonia down or else they will die off change out about 30 percent of your water today then only change small amounts everyday until your tank finishes the rest of its cycle out I just hope it is not to late for the poor fish.

 

[totalbolshevik]

FKS&M,
I know that I have to get the ammonia down and I have to complete the cycle, but will that actually make the fish recover at this point, or do you think it's too late? It looks pretty irreversible.

 

[revengeishere]

try adding aquarium salt to make the ammonia less toxic. also, i agree witht he water changes, and use those chlromaine neutralizer, it neutralizes ammonia(chloramine is made up of ammonia and chlorine.)

 

[totalbolshevik]

I have heard that the so-called "ammo neutralizers" do nothing. Am I wrong? Also, will my fish be okay with the salt:

Congo tetras
Zebra Danios
Red wag platies (the sick ones)
bronze corys
Panda cory
suckermouth cat
black skirt tetra
albino black skirt
several other unknown tetras

 

[Angel Lady]

no salt it will kill the corys and all scaless fish the water changes is all I know that will help mabey someone else can tell you something else to do I always used a product called amquel it seem to take down the ammonia you might want to get some ammolock it is supposed to lock the ammonia or something like that so it wont kill your fish I hope someone can help you out if they are still acting crazy I would up the percent in your water changing mabey to 20 percent instead of the 10. salt is supposed to keep the nitrites from being so toxic but you sure cant use with your fish the salt is good for a lot of things but it will kill the scaless fish like all catfish tetras,corys, plecos the salt would be good for the platy most livebearers thrive on salt. but I wouldnt advise you to use it your tank with all of your fish type.

 

[impur]

Well after reading a different thread where somebody recommended a product called Prime, i looked into it and it seems like a product that would work in your case. It converts the ammonia to ammonium, which is less toxic to fish. The ammonium will still be consumed by the bacteria so it will not slow your cycle. It will however still show up on your tests. Go to Pet Time and see if they have it. If those 2 fish are on their way our, you can bet some others will follow. If you can't save those 2 you can try for the rest. Here is what it looks like

http/www.seachem.com/en_products/product.../043_prime.html

 

[bigfish]

Have you added any new fish recently?

 

[Angel Lady]

impur is rite that stuff is great i forgot about it but that is what I used after I found out that it helps with the nitrites to and it did speed up the cycling process and with no dead fish to I might add I hope your fish gets ok mabey you can dip the platys in a salt solution to see if that helps them out a little but the salt will kill the other fish that you have times like this is hard when it comes to keeping fish but it is all well worth the trouble once you get your tank lined out I love keeping fish I would have all kinds of tanks if I had the room and money for them.

 

[totalbolshevik]

Thanks everyone for all the help I got good news and bad news bad news is the one with the chunk out of his tail died this morning poor guy good news is yesterday I changed more water than usual I would say 25% this morning the one that was crashing on the bottom, etc. looked a little better he was not looking good by any means but he seemed to be able to keep upright better so I tested the water:
Ph: 6.4
Nitrite: 0
Ammo: 3.0
Still not good but a pretty big improvement I will change about 20% every other day now and also I will try that stuff impur reccomended it sounds really good thanks once again.

 

[Angel Lady]

hey total glad to hear that your fish are starting to improve that stuff that impur told you about is great I had forgotten about it until I saw the name mentioned again I know that the cycling of a new tank gets hard and most of the time you do lose a lot of fish in the process but we learn from our mistakes and know better the next time.If you continue changing out your water everyday you should be alright until your tank gets threw with its cycle. I am glad to hear about your fish again.

 

[totalbolshevik]

Thanks for the advice and encourgement everyone been a big help