im @ a loss and fish arnt doing good :(

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pstrew

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jul 29, 2012
Messages
54
ok my 55g tank with an oscar pleco and jack dempsey with sand as a substraight and more than enouph filtratin... has been cycled and running for a about 2-3 months now...no problems then out of no were tank clouded up a day after a vacume/water change and water quality has been bad ever sence
ph-is ok
ammonia is high
nitrite is ok
nitrate is high
ive been doing water changes and has made little difforence and did a 50% change last night and tested agin tonight and not much better lightend up on feeding and havent fed since the 50% water change (24hours)
fish are looking varry un happy and just bairly moving around mostly on bottem
i dint know what i did and cant make it better heeeeeellllppppp
 
ok its city water
ph-6.0
ammonia-2.0/4.0 back and forth
nitrite close to 0ppm
nitrate 20/40ppm back and forth
 
pstrew said:
ok its city water
ph-6.0
ammonia-2.0/4.0 back and forth
nitrite close to 0ppm
nitrate 20/40ppm back and forth

If this is off the tap I would definitely look into buying to/di water. That ammonia is crazy!
 
ok....but y would that just happen all of a sudden ivbeen using the same waterhe whole time...i just dont understand i just tested agin and ammonia and nitrates are still high what should i do just keep doing water changes tell it gets safe agin?
 
Your city may have treated the water with chloramine for whatever reason. Sometimes chloramine is picked up on tests as ammonia.

Is this indeed off the tap? If it is I wouldn't do a water change until its straightened out, I'd use ro/di instead until your tests show no ammonia or even. 25 or so.
What test kit?
 
its api liqud expires 2017...i just did an ammonia test on my tap water its between 1.0ppm-2.0ppm...ohh no never had this prob what do i do
 
Call your water company and see if they've flushed the lines recently. This can wreak havoc with your typical water quality.
 
For now I'd dose with prime until your biofilter can process it, I wouldn't do any water changes until you can get some purified water. This is what I would do, but its totally up to you how to handle it.

Can you call your city and find out if they recently treated the water? Some of them will notify consumers on their website. I'd look into it for sure.
 
ok is there anything i can do for the tank right now this is crazy...prob killed all of my benificl bactirea tthan im guessing ?
 
pstrew said:
ok is there anything i can do for the tank right now this is crazy...prob killed all of my benificl bactirea tthan im guessing ?

Nah, in theory it will beef them up a little. Prime detoxes up to 2 ppm of ammonia for 24-48 hours, so that will help in the meantime. Have you noticed any black marks/burns on the fish?
 
ok...im just at a loss...i dont want my fish to die they look so sad
 
LyndaB said:
Call your water company and see if they've flushed the lines recently. This can wreak havoc with your typical water quality.

This is a very real thing. My town has been working on the water system for the last 6-8 weeks and I have to use my RO water for my tank at least until they are done. For me it wasn't ammonia but some other thing causing algae to go insane! Even the aerators in the sinks had to be cleaned as some kind of silt was clogging them from the town flushing the lines. It's different in every location, but that can really make water changes worse that actually doing anything. You can stop feeding your fish foe a couple of days to let your bacteria catch up to the ammonia in your tap water.

My only problem with switching to RO water was calcium for my snails and dwarf crawfish. Either add calcium, like a reef additive, or put a part of an egg shell in your tank or filter to get it to your inverts.
 
Do you have access to different water? A family member outside of your county? If not, and if your fish look real bad, I wouldn't hesitate to get distilled or ro/di in an emergency like this! Good luck, keep us posted!
 
this is crazy lol iok so this prime is the way to go iv never had to use it so excuse my ignoranc what exaxtly is it lol
 
i really do thank everyone for the help this one really has thrown me for a loop
 
It is a dechlorinater that also detoxifies ammonia and nitrite. I think about 80% of people on here use it lol, its the miracle water treatment. Its helped me immensely.
 
the best part is iv been cycleing a tank for amy new eel that i pland on getting this weekend:/
 
ok i think iv seen i befor...iv ben using kordon amquel plus ammonia detox conditioner...i take it that not gona cut it right?
 
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