I feel so bad for my fish right now

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Drd77

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 20, 2011
Messages
25
Location
Georgia
I recently moved and even more recently moved my fish tank. It started out ok(The levels) and I even(Stupidly) got 2 more fish(I had three). One of those fish has passed already because of illness. Long story short, I didn't take any of the old water and put in all new water. I also replaced my filter in the process. It has now been 3 or 4 weeks. My tank is now going through the biggest bloom that I've ever seen. I've already had one fish die(My Electric Yellow Lab) and the ammonia levels are through the roof. There is three fish in there right now and I can only hope that they pull through. I feel like a cruel, cruel owner right now because I know the kind of stress that I'm putting them through.

I have been doing partial water changes every other day right now and also adding some ammonia lock, but is there anything else I can do besides sit and wait? You can barely see anything in my tank anymore, I'm not kidding. This is depressing. How long will this last? Of course I had to go through this cycle process before when I originally got my tank, but all fish turned out just fine then and the tank did get cloudy but nowhere near this cloudy.
 
I would recommend against the ammo-lock simply because it becomes a competing source for the beneficial bacteria, and removes the food source they need to colonize. Using a product like Seachem Prime will temporarily detoxify the ammonia while still leaving it available for the bacteria to consume. By adding the fish and replacing filters, I'm sure it did a significant amount of damage to the bio-filter...but just stary on top of your wager parameters and do pwc's as needed to keep the toxin levels as low as possible. I personally recommend keeping ammo and no2 at or below .25 at all times.

Here's a great guide to help you out :) -
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html
 
Believe me, I know about keeping the Ammo low. I've always managed to do that. I've never dreamed of ever having an Ammo level as high as it is right now. The highest level listed on my test is 6.0ppm I think and mine was past that. I would thought everything would have died by now. Poor guys...
 
I'll take your advice though on the Ammo Lock considering you are the second person who has told me that.
 
I use amquel and it says right on the bottle that it will not damage the biological filter where amo lock says no such thing , I have zero clue on the science but from what I understand amquel detoxifies it where amolock removes it
 
xwesx1978 said:
I use amquel and it says right on the bottle that it will not damage the biological filter where amo lock says no such thing , I have zero clue on the science but from what I understand amquel detoxifies it where amolock removes it

Click the link I posted.
 
I just went and got AmQuel Plus to use instead of Ammo Lock that I already have. I also bought Seachem Stability to help speed up the biological process. Anyone have any experience with the latter product? It says that you are suppose to use it when you first establish an aquarium, but it has been almost a month since I moved. I feel that this will help speed up and clear the water.
 
Some of those bio adding chems. Actually put a different bacteria in your tank, that will kill ammonia and trites, but they die off soon as its not the bb that you actually need going.. id stay clear of stability, super clear, and all those things
 
I don't really have a good opinion of stability. I've tested it a little bit last year and between the results and the science behind the product it is not one I would recommend. That said, I don't think it'll hurt anything, just keep a close eye on your water parameters for a while even if things look like they are leveled out.
 
If you know someone that has an establish fully cycled tank see if you can borrow a colonized filter from them. That will speed up the process of removing ammonia from your tank. You run the risk of introducing disease to your tank, but you may loose your fish to ammonia poisoning if you don't do something to speed up the process. I have to wonder about the accuracy of the test kit you are using, a reading of over 6ppm should have killed all the fish by now.
 
This is what I'm dealing with here...

The one on the right is when I moved about a month ago.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2016.jpg
    IMG_2016.jpg
    172.7 KB · Views: 137
  • IMG_1988.jpg
    IMG_1988.jpg
    223 KB · Views: 130
From the pics the tank on the top looks like it has a greenish cast to it. Is it actually green or is that just the way the pic came out? If the water is just milky(white color) you are in the middle of a bacterial bloom. That will clear when the tank cycles. Keep the ammonia neutralized with amquel, or prime and you should be in good shape in a few weeks.
 
Foster, it's not green at all actually. It is in fact milky which makes me almost 100% sure it's a bacterial bloom. I've been using the Stability and AmQuel since yesterday with no noticable results. I guess I'll just have to be patient. How often should I be doing water changes and how much should I take out?
 
PWC at 50% or more daily. Twice a day if need be to bring amonia level to .25 or less.

You basically can't hardly change the water enough while cycling with fish.
 
This won't affect the cycle? That seems like an awful lot.
 
This won't affect the cycle? That seems like an awful lot.

PWC will not effect your cycle because the BB does not live in the water column, it lives on surfaces and in the filter and its media.

Your fish do live in the water column and so does ammonia and nitrite, which is poison to your fish. Clean water is your best weapon to keep them alive and in the least amount of distress.

Dechlorinate with Prime to detoxify whatever ammonia is there.

Don't fear frequent PWC, it is fishes best friend :)
 
Back
Top Bottom