Blood parrot problems

[Laura22]

I'm having major issues with my tank and need some advice. I'm battling ammonia very high levels I don't know why this keeps happening. Iv got a 75gallon tank with 3 blood parrots and 2 pletcos I used to have 5 blood parrots but I lost 2 of them. I got a canister filter system for up to 100gallons it's brand new have had it for 2 weeks I just did a complete new set up on my tank and started fresh and all my levels were good until today and now my fish are white and barely moving so I took them out of the tank and put them in fresh water with bubbler and heater for the night so I can do something with my tank I need help bad someone please help me

 

[Steli89]

Your tank has to cycle again since you have a new filter and setup. You need at least a month to build up enough bacteria to handle the ammonia and nitrite that will be produced by the fish. Since you have fish in there already that makes this a tricky situation. The best thing you can do is perform daily water changes to keep the ammonia down until your biological filter builds up. Also keep the temp up because it will speed the growth of bacteria. And maybe buy something that will add bacteria to the tank. They also sell those bio balls that you can put in your canister filter. They already have bacteria built up on them.

 

[Steli89]

You should have left the old filter running until the new one had a chance to establish a bacterial colony.

 

[Laura22]

I have been having this problem for the last couple months before I even redid my tank I've moved from city water to well water and still have problem. When I moved I kept my old filter in tank and then bought the canister filter. I'm just going nuts here my fish were doing so well and now they look bad. There doing better since I took them out of the tank tonight and put then in a 18 gallon tote bin there getting color back just don't know what to do with my tank.

 

[Steli89]

What decorations did you add? Any strange rocks that might be leaching chemicals?

 

[Laura22]

I didn't changes anything in the tank. My levels where so bad my fish lost there scales an had this white stuff peeling off them

 

[Candi1990]

Did the problem start when you got the new filter?

 

[Candi1990]

Oh sorry I see it was already there. It has to be something in the tank that's new/different. New rocks or shells or anything!

 

[Laura22]

I didn't do anything when the problem first started battling very high ammonia levels for couple months lost two fish because of it. So I switched to well water because I moved and got new rock and I still have problem

 

[Candi1990]

Sorry I can't suggest anything. I lost fish to high ammonia... Water changes is the only thing that helped it. Sounds like your cycling.

 

[Cichlid.Keeper]

Sounds like a cycling problem. Water changes is your best bet. And a ton of beneficial bacteria. I'm not home right now but when I get home I'll put up a picture of the one I used. I was lucky enough to use it and had perfect levels for 2 months already. So everything worked. The thing is I added 50% of water from my other tank and the same filter media. But new filter. Everything worked great for my parrots.

 

[Laura22]

Ok thank you so much for all the help

 

[Cichlid.Keeper]

Do you still want to know which bacteria it was.

 

[Brookster123]

Have you been doing big water changes to keep your amm levels tolerable?

 

[Supergummy]

Others seem to be right on the spot.

 

[squirrilah fish]

SEACHEMS STABILITY STAT! Also they have ammonia removing media you can throw in the filter. Until then, water change water change water change. I know it's pretty common for people to say don't change more than 50% of the water at a time, but in this case I would get the ammonia out of there, drain the tank to just enough for them to swim in. (Like 10 gallons) then add 10, remove 10, add 10, remove 10, add ten remove ten. Do the math, (basically doubling the amount of water, cut it in half, double cut in half, each time you do that your cutting the ammonia in half. When it's close to zero, refill the tank (which will distill it even more, down to trace amounts.) Add a big dose, maybe more than recommended of Seachems Stability, and follow the instructions, I.e. Turning off UV filter. I'm sure others will condemn this, because it will stress the fish, but let's be honest, the fish are already stressed. Get the ammonia out of there, check it often, use stability, and be ready to go through a similar battle with Nitrites. Good luck, but seriously: Stability.

 

[squirrilah fish]

Also I forgot to mention, if you do this, make sure the water your putting in is treated with Seachems Prime, and matches the temperature of the water in the tank.

 

[Laura22]

I will have to give that a shot. Yes been doing lots of water changes

 

[squirrilah fish]

Once the ammonia is under control, keep your eye out for Nitrites, if you use stability, you might be ok, but there is still a chance of Nitrites popping up, which are just as, if not more dangerous as ammonia. After 5-6 weeks you should be in the clear. Just monitor the NitrATES. I try to keep mine between 0-20ppm. The only way to remove Nitrates is doing a water change (or some plants)

 

[Laura22]

Well I lost all three of my fish ammonia came down but had nitrites to and they all died last night