Ammonia poisening

[belphil]

please HELP... my angelfish have ammonia poisening.
They are gasping at the top of the tank & have red streaks in fins.
The ammonia is high - we have been doing daily water changes for 1 week, have added Amm-Guard with no effect. I'm now using prime, but they don't seem to be getting any relief. I have changed to filter also.
I have about 10 guppies, 5 black widows and 4 angels in the tank. Its a 4ft tank + a few live plants.
2 guppies have died, not sure if its related.
Had some dwarf gouramis in there too, but removed them as I thought they were causing the angels stress?
The tank has been established for approx 1 month
Any advice appreciated.

 

[dkpate]

The only thing you can really do is water changes. Do not vacuum the gravel, and do not change out your filter media. The Prime will help, but the fish might be too burned to be helped. If you have to do 2-3 water changes a day, do it. How big of water changes are you doing now?

 

[tyspot1000]

+1

Keep doing the PWC's with prime (detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for 24 hours everyday until the ammonia is below .25 . When saying you changed your filter, are you meaning you changed the whole cartridge for a new one?

 

[belphil]

Thanks guys. Did a large water change the other day & it seems to be finally going down. Just cleaned the filter to remove any build up.
Now one of my angels has a cottony growth coming out its bottom? So using Pimafix for that also. But think we're getting there - hopefully.

 

[glassbird]

If you "cleaned the filter" by rinsing any part of it (and especially the filter pads) with water out of your tap, you may have killed off a significant portion of your beneficial bacteria...the very stuff that is working to get your ammonia problem under control. The chlorine in your tap water will kill the bacteria.

Just rinse your filter pads (and squeeze them if needed) in water removed from your tank during a PWC. And do not replace your filter material until it is falling apart, despite recommendations from the filter maker...they just want you to buy more filter material. (And throwing out a filter pad also throws out all that good bacteria...)

 

[belphil]

Thank you

Thank you for the advice,

My angel died today - RIP.

Still one fighting, so doing everything I can to save her.
Hope its not too late,
she is bloated and not eating and gasping, so don't hold much hope - but have saved fish worse than this so hears hoping.

 

[dkpate]

Try feeding her some peas. Are you still using the Melafix? If you are, you might want to lower the water level or add an airstone, since when you use Melafix there is less oxygen in the water.

 

[belphil]

thanks, i'll try that. Although she hasn't been eating at all. but I'll drop some in the bottom incase she grazes later.
plenty of air, but will add an airstone just incase.
thanks,

 

[dkpate]

You can try soaking the peas in garlic too, fish love garlic. Make sure the peas are boiled and you take the outer shell off. Maybe you could try boiling the peas in garlic cloves?