What the h*^$ is going on here

[totalbolshevik]

I originally wrote about this because my water was cloudy. WELL, it's been 3 weeks now and the water isn't cloudy anymore, but the ammonia is about 7.0, ph 6.0 or lower, and still no improvement. What seems really odd is that the Nitrite is 0... Haven't lost any fish yet, but one of them looking really bad. I think that it might be due more to an illness than bad water but he does look really bad. He has some discoloration around the gills, and he is swimming wierd, sometimes he even goes upside down. What to do?

 

[dolphin]

Hi Total

Do a few small water changes. It sounds like ammonia poisoning

 

[Tanked]

Dolphin's probably right here. ammonia poisoning. I went through this with the first tank I ever set up. can you get some Bio-Spira??? it is great stuff!!!

 

[subopposite]

if it has been that long and you have carbon, you might want to change that too. i just recently learned the ropes of carbon. basically it is good fro 4 weeks max and the bad stuff it takes out of your water it can release back into your water when the carbon is full.

 

[wuvmybetta]

ok, I had a similar experience last week in my smaller tanks....mind boggling, cycled tanks were all of a sudden showing outrageous amounts of ammonia and no nitrites.....after some detective work I came up with the conclusion that it was my new dechlorinator, I tested water straight out of the tap...zero ammonia, treated it with the dechlorinator and bada bing bada boom, ammonia readings

try that, but since your fish is sickly it could very well be ammonia poisoning as already suggested

 

[totalbolshevik]

kay, so maybe he does have ammo poisoning... Still, why is my tank in general such a mess and what do I do? (I will try the dechlorinator thing)

 

[totalbolshevik]

Tried the dechlorinator thing, didn't work. could the carbon be the cause of the whole problem? I've been doing regular small water changes (every 3 or 4 days) obviously no results please help the lfs is totally baffled it's just "Well, i don't know what to tell you" now. What's ammonia poisoning? (I can guess from what it sounds like but what does it do is it fatal is there treatment what)

 

[Angel Lady]

ammonia is caused from fish waste and if the level gets to high it will kill your fish I will assume your tank is still cycling or else the water wouldnt be cloudy I would recommend for you to change 10 percent of your water daily this will prevent deaths until your tank gets threw with cycling. I am sure everyone on this forum will agree with me on this one.

 

[totalbolshevik]

No! For the last gd time It cycled in about a week after I got it and had no ammonia no nitrite, ph of 7.0 a month or so later it suddenly got cloudy cloudiness now gone but ammo levels still through the roof three weeks later. I HAVE BEEN DOING SMALL WATER CHANGES EVERY 3-4 DAYS HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT sorry if I sound mad I am but just bear with me here this is really frustrating.

 

[Angel Lady]

you ask for help and get mad when someone tries to tell you what is going on with your tank there is no way you got your tank to cycle in a weeks time this takes 6 weeks or longer not unless you use stuff from a cycled tank. that cloudiness is called a bacterial bloom that happens about three weeks into the cycle. You have a few more weeks to go just change the water out every other day or everyday if you want your fish to live if not then I dont guess no one here can help you out and I am not being rude I am just telling you what I have been threw and I dont see why your tank would be any different.

 

[smb]

No! For the last gd time It cycled in about a week after I got it and had no ammonia no nitrite, ph of 7.0 a month or so later it suddenly got cloudy cloudiness now gone but ammo levels still through the roof three weeks later. I HAVE BEEN DOING SMALL WATER CHANGES EVERY 3-4 DAYS HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT sorry if I sound mad I am but just bear with me here this is really frustrating.

Your tank didn't cycle in a week.

It's still cycling and that's why this all happened.

It wasn't nice to yell at someone that's trying to help you, no matter how stressed you feel about it.

 

[cichlidmaster]

Hey Total.............

We all know that things like this can be frustrating...heck I just lost a whole shipment of plecos to a skin bacteria, but this is NO EXCUSE to be rude!!!!!!

The members here are only trying to help you.

Since you don't seem to want to accept the fact that your tank has not finished cycling yet from the members who have told you this.....

Maybe you'll accept it from someone who has been in the hobby 20+ years, professionally breeding fish for 10 years and now importing and doing resale..........

YOUR TANK HAS NOT FULLY CYCLED YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even using filters/media from an established tank does not mean a tank will sustain an entire bio-load of fish right of the start!!

I keep many aged sponge filters going in tanks so when I set up new tanks I have a jump start on the cycle process, but I still NEVER place an entire load on the filters!!!!!!

Take everyone's word for it and start doing small water changes daily.

The ammonia and nitrite readings will not even start to show up until a week or so and sometimes even longer depending on the load and type/size of fish in the tank.

Hope you take this as it is meant....a helping hand!!!

CM

 

[Angel Lady]

sorry to hear about your plecos cm I know it gets a little rough sometimes in the fishkeeping hoppy but I have learn to deal with my problems and not take it out on other people and I have told every one I have ever snapped at I was sorry but who ever told this person that the cycling was over in a week dont know what they are talking about I had a rough time getting my tanks right but I finally did and all I was trying to do was help if it wasnt for you I would have lost all of my fish changing 10 percent of the water everyday saved all of my fish,and that was all I was doing was trying to help. I guess some people have to learn the hard way. any way I am sorry about your pleco's better luck with the next ones.

 

[totalbolshevik]

Look, I'm really sorry for being so rude you can get mad at me all you want cuz I know I deserve it. You may think I'm crazy, but I'm just telling you what happened. I did add water from a cycled tank to the new one. I'm probably exagerrating, and my memory is probably wrong. But, what I know is that it's been set up since late May, and up until this whole thing started 3 weeks-a month ago, I had zero ammonia and nitrite and a Ph of 7.0. As far as I can tell, that sounds like a cycled tank, but I am relatively new to this so maybe I have got it wrong and there is something I don't know. I know that you are all just trying to help me and I hope that you will forgive me and keep trying. If you don't, though, I respect that as your decision. I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that. I don't want to find out the hard way what's wrong. Thanks for trying to help me, and I very much respect your judgement. I will do small water changes every day or every other day like you said. Once again, I am sincerely sorry for being so rude.


ps. I guess part of why I did that had to do with the fact that I assumed that everyone had already read my other thread about the cloudy water.

 

[cichlidmaster]

Let's go at this from another angle then.............

When you cycled your tank....how many fish did you use??

If you only used a few and then, once the original cycle was over added a full compliment of fish, the tank wopuld have a mini cycle due to the bacteria colonies being insufficient to handle that large a load.

Could this be a possibility??

CM