Tank in trouble!!!!! D:

[Queenie11]

I have only had my fish for a couple weeks but they are all dieing. I think it is ammonia poisoning because my levels were very very high. I had started with 3 glofish and 2 Cory catfish in a 20 gallon tank and they were fine so I decided to add some more (I spent 3 months cycling the tank before I put in any fish) I had added 3 cherry barbs a blue Micky mouse platy and panda platy a sunset platy a neon Molly and a silver Molly. The panda died immediately, I think I bought it sick. But when I tested the water the ammonia was very high so I did a 50% water change and added in some detoxifier. The next day water was doing better but was still high so I did a 1/3 water change. I added some more detoxifier the day after ( I was concerned about too much because it warned that it can deplete oxygen levels and to be careful) I then saw that my neon Molly was very disoriented and couldn't swim correctly (which it wasn't a few minutes before) so I took it to the pet shop I bought it at and they placed it In a mild salt solution to help it. It worked and I took it home 10 minutes later. I was worried about putting it back in the tank so I left it in the bowl I had it in. After some more water changes and detoxifier for a few days my water was fine. I put the Molly back in. A few days later both mollies were dead and ammonia was up again but not as bad as the first time. I replaced some more water and it went down, a few days later the Micky mouse platy died and ammonia was up a bit. I have been replacing water again, but if I don't do it every day it goes bad. This can't be right? There has to be something else, my city tap water has a little too much ammonia so I have to buy gallons from the store every time I do this. Please help?

 

[MissPufferfish]

I have had my little tank for 2 months now so I'm still a newbie. I don't know for sure but I know mollies are messy fish and along with all the other fish maybe you're just overstocked for a newish tank.
Did you notice any bullying when you put the new fish in?

 

[MissPufferfish]

Actually mollies and platys are both fairly messy.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Yeah I would get rid of the mollies as they really do better in brackish conditions and they can get up to 5 inches and are extremely messy you can start a fish in cycle by leaving your original fish and checking your parameters daily. Do a 50% water change if any ammonia is present up to 0.25 ppm. There are some good articles on this here. Hope this helps.

 

[Delapool]

Sounds like you are still cycling ammonia to nitrite? What readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate do you have for tank and tap water - are you seeing any nitrite come in?

 

[Fishfur]

You say you cycled for 3 months.. but in what way did you cycle ? Did you add pure Ammonia or something else to the water and then do regular testing for nitrite, nitrate and ammonia ?

And even if your city water has a lot of ammonia in it, you don't need to buy bottled water. You can use Prime by Seachem, it will neutralize ammonia as well as chlorine, and chloramines.

Chloramines are what you get when the water plant adds chlorine & ammonia to city water.. it combines in the system to make chloramines, which last about a week, where chlorine may gas off within a day or so. Prime neutralizes them completely. So do many other water conditioners.. if the label says it treats chloramines, it will do the job.

Prime just happens to be pretty concentrated, so little is needed and it is thus economical to use.

 

[Queenie11]

There was no bullying that I could tell. I used pure ammonia to cycle the tank. It's been fully cycled since August. When I put the fish in ammonia and nitrite were 0 nitrate was 25ish? The mollies are dead and I only have one platy left. I think one of the catfish are dead now and my last platy looks sick maybe? He's hanging on the bottom of the tank and barely moves (I thought he was dead till he fluttered his fins a bit)

 

[Delapool]

You say you cycled for 3 months.. but in what way did you cycle ? Did you add pure Ammonia or something else to the water and then do regular testing for nitrite, nitrate and ammonia ?

And even if your city water has a lot of ammonia in it, you don't need to buy bottled water. You can use Prime by Seachem, it will neutralize ammonia as well as chlorine, and chloramines.

Chloramines are what you get when the water plant adds chlorine & ammonia to city water.. it combines in the system to make chloramines, which last about a week, where chlorine may gas off within a day or so. Prime neutralizes them completely. So do many other water conditioners.. if the label says it treats chloramines, it will do the job.

Prime just happens to be pretty concentrated, so little is needed and it is thus economical to use.

General question - can these products upset the bb at all? I thought not, that the bb could use ammonia and ammonium?

 

[Delapool]

There was no bullying that I could tell. I used pure ammonia to cycle the tank. It's been fully cycled since August. When I put the fish in ammonia and nitrite were 0 nitrate was 25ish? The mollies are dead and I only have one platy left. I think one of the catfish are dead now and my last platy looks sick maybe? He's hanging on the bottom of the tank and barely moves (I thought he was dead till he fluttered his fins a bit)

Yikes, sounds bad. Ok so what are your specs now - is it still 0 for ammonia and nitrite as the 0 and 25 above sound fine to me. And what is tap water. Did your fish shop have any ideas? I'm just kind of throwing out suggestions.

 

[Fishfur]

Yes, BB can utilize ammonia and nitrite. Ammonium is chemically bound, so it's not an issue unless there is a major change in pH, which can release the bound ammonium and convert it to free ammonia, which is the one that harms fish.

Prime and other water conditioner products do not do anything to BB. All they do is neutralize or bind the harmful things in water, such as chlorine, chloramines, some heavy metals and some of them ammonia too.

But there is a limit to how much ammonia Prime can bind, it's not a substitute for a cycled filter. A cycled filter is essential, and then the BB use up any source of ammonia, be it from tap water or fish waste.

Did you continue to feed the filter with ammonia after the cycle was done, up to the time you added fish ? Or did you allow it to go without feeding for any length of time after the cycle finished, before fish were added ?