Help worried fish mom!!!

[serussell]

Ten days ago I up graded my fish two a 55 gallon tank. All fish seemed fine for a week. Saturday my husband bought daughter a turtle. Total different tank. BUT he put feeder gold fish in 55 tank and bought some fan tailed fish. OK so tonight I come home and my white tipped shark is acting strange. Swimming in bubble filter, isn't fighting for his cave like usual. Just seems strange! Help help! Ph is fine. That's all I've ever tested before. I LOVE my shark and I am so worried. I can't search anymore just making me more worried!
One WT shark
Two albino sharks
Two angels
One neon striped something
One highlighter enjected fish ( I know plz don't start)
An algae eater
Saturday added:
Four little fan fish
Those effing goldfish
I know I should know everything about every fish, judge later, just help me not loose my Shark or anything else! Please! Is that a sign of anything his appearance is fine no difference at all.


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[lilme]

is there red by there gills or are the other 2 sharks picking on him

 

[serussell]

No red. And he is usually the bully of the tank, and the biggest thing in there. I did notice the larger angel seem to be picking on him but I think that's because he sees he's weak and taking the opportunity.


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[lilme]

You might seperate the shark and se if it gets better it mite be hurt from getting picked on


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[serussell]

So I went and literally got every single test and cure I could find. It was ammonia from the cycle new tank and the darn goldfish. So all but two goldfish have been sent to the turtle tank, and Water changing my heart out also using Prime dosage for emergencies. New question: if Prime throws off the water test. How can you tell if it worked? Everyone seems to think that's the best stuff, so do I just have faith? Thanks for the help!



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[serussell]

By the way shark is back to being his A-hole self it seems. But now I think every strange move any fish makes is a sign of stress.


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[Noviceafter2yea]

So I went and literally got every single test and cure I could find. It was ammonia from the cycle new tank and the darn goldfish. So all but two goldfish have been sent to the turtle tank, and Water changing my heart out also using Prime dosage for emergencies. New question: if Prime throws off the water test. How can you tell if it worked? Everyone seems to think that's the best stuff, so do I just have faith? Thanks for the help!



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Prime doesn't throw off the water test. It detoxifies the free/bad ammonia. You should be able to get a yellow reading from your ammonia. I recommend getting a seachem ammonia alert which is a thing you hang on the inside of the tank that tells you if the free ammonia is at a dangerous level because your ammonia test can show a false because it doesn't distinguish between the bad ammonia and the safe. You should google it because I do not think I am doing a good job explaining it. It's less than $10 us.

Also, it is best to use prime for all water changes and pretreat the replacement water. It stinks, but is worth.

 

[irdajoh]

I'm sure gold fish shouldn't be in a tropical tank, they can throw off the balence. I would move them asap, and water changes never hurt.

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[amyb_70]

I agree, goldfish are cold water, you have freshwater tropical. Goldfish can handle different waters and angels IMO are delicate. Makes sense your husband probably figured to save trips, but maybe a small 2.5 gal for his feeders.


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[Delapool]

So I went and literally got every single test and cure I could find. It was ammonia from the cycle new tank and the darn goldfish. So all but two goldfish have been sent to the turtle tank, and Water changing my heart out also using Prime dosage for emergencies. New question: if Prime throws off the water test. How can you tell if it worked? Everyone seems to think that's the best stuff, so do I just have faith? Thanks for the help!



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Out of interest would you have the high ammonia with ph and temp readings that were a problem? I'm always interested in comparing to the ammonia/ammonium charts and see if theory matches practice.

 

[serussell]

Hey guys thank you all so much for all your posts! So came home to shark acting so weird again face in bubbles. So I did a 40% water change then I dosed Prime at 4x then readings still crazing did test just before post
Nitrate 20
Nitrite 5.0
Very hard water
Chlorine 0
Alkalinity 80
Ph 7.5
Ph test #2 7.2
Ammonia #2 3.0
Pics



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[serussell]

More pics



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[serussell]

The fan tailed guys are new. Everything else is was in the last tank fine and not causing me sleepless nights


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[keegster803]

Goldfish produce a lot of waste, that might be why your ammonia is 3.0


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[Autumnsky]

If those are the readings after the 40% pwc that is a HUGE problem. The NitrIte is emergency level. Ammonia is bad too.

I recommend 2 50% back to back pwc then test again, dose extra with Prime, then again tomorrow morning 2 more 50% pwc test again, if it is still high more pwc.

Stop feeding for the day.

 

[serussell]

Wait what do you mean back to back? Like take 50% out put it back then immediately take 50% again? I put ammonia clear in it again. I'm going to leave that over night say little prayer for us then get up and go with the 50% back to back. I hope I have that right on how to do it


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[Autumnsky]

Yes that is to keep the water in a similar state with the pH and my understanding is it is easier on the fish. If you know if they have the same pH as your tap water you could do a somewhat larger pwc. If it isn't very close then it could also cause additional stress.

Doing the 50/50 back to back gives the fish some time to get used to the new, different parameter, "cleaner" water.

You pretty much need to do this until the NitrIte is pale blue/0. If you don't have a water changer hose, now might be a great time for the investment. Fish that do survive will have a greater chance of developing other illness and problems due to the damage nitrite poisoning (and ammonia poisoning) can cause. Just be aware of that.

Prime by Seachem can be used at 5x the normal level to detoxify the NitrIte for an emergency. If you look up Seachem Prime, if you read the page about it you can see what it could do for you, and how it could help to some degree.

 

[serussell]

I did look up Prime, and that were I read that the results of the test will be thrown off. I'm just going to change the water 50/50 and do that prime thing and get a water changer hose sounds easier than the back and forth. What about aquarium salt? I have that algae eater guy I can't use salt with him right?


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[serussell]

p


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[Delapool]

Why do you want to use salt? Were you thinking for keeping the fish safe with the high nitrites?

The ammonia test is technically reading both ammonia and ammonium but anything above 0 means there is a problem imo. How much of a problem depends on ph and temp. Looking at the link below it did look like you were getting into unsafe ammonia levels (and of course the link is an average so I assume some fish will be lessor/greater effected).

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html