African butterfly help

[Csheets]

hello, i had my butterfly for about a year now. Hes in freshwater, but im having trouble getting my tank back to normal since we moved. So im not sure if the water, if hes sick, or if its just normal for him to act this way. I dont think its the water because he was fine for about a month. than he just stopped eating (live crickets). he goes like 10 days without eating than will eat one. he used to come up to the glass when i was feeding the fish to get fed but not anymore. he also lately has been swimming low sometimes will just sit on the gravel. hes been acting like this for about 2 weeks now. and than every once n awhile where his bottom fins connect with the body turns bight red, last a few days than back to normal color. any help thanks!!

 

[SeverumGuy]

My girlfriend has an African BFF. What are your water parameters? How often do you do a water change and what percent of the water do you change? Also, what size tank is it and what other fish are in there?

 

[Csheets]

lol your helping me with my other forum about the water not cycling.

 

[SeverumGuy]

Haha, is the BFF in the 55g?

 

[Csheets]

yes

 

[SeverumGuy]

That's your problem since the ammonia and nitrate levels are so high. He's definitely not feeling well.

 

[maxima423]

you are cycling with a ABF? that def is the problem =[

 

[Csheets]

yes unfortunately when i moved it messed it up and it still has yet to cycle and go back to normal...

 

[adeebm]

Maybe lots of water changes and add some Prime, it claims to neutralize ammonia/nitrites. Do you have a test kit? What are the water conditions?

--Adeeb

 

[Csheets]

nitrate - was high
nitrite- was 0
hardness- is very hard
alkalinity- very low
pH- is very very low my my test lowest one is 6.4 but i think its lower than that
ammonia- VERY high

 

[Csheets]

its been that way for like a month now... maybe longer.. i cannot get it to cycle... in my other forum they told me to do a 50% change to help with ammonia bcc 10% doesnt do anything...

 

[adeebm]

yeah, I would do like a 50% water change and dump some Prime if you have any. What filter do you have? Maybe you could try seeding it with stuff from a cycled aquarium? Probably large daily water changes should be best. Ammonia should really be kept under .25ppm

--Adeeb

 

[logansmomma1228]

yes i agree stay on top of the water changes. try and keep the ammonia below .25 and nitrites as low as you can as well. I would say 50% water changes a day. And yes prime will help since it detoxifies ammonia and nitrites for up to 48 hrs.

 

[Csheets]

im using a bio wheel 350. wont doing 50% water changes slow down cycling tho? my pet store always told me just to leave it alone that it wont cycle if i keep changing the water.

 

[SeverumGuy]

Just do like I told you in the other post you had

 

[adeebm]

Water changes won't slow down the cycle process. They will however save your fish. As long as ammonia is being made by the fish, your tank will cycle. The water changes will keep the ammonia from getting too high and killing your fish. Most of the bacteria are in the gravel and filter, and not in the water, so it won't cut down your bacteria population either. Don't believe what petstores say, most of the employees are just working there and don't know much about fish. Hope your fish makes it, butterfly fish are awesome Also, I would try to use Seachem Stability or a similar product to speed up the cycle. It probably doesn't work, but if it does, that will really help.

--Adeeb

 

[SeverumGuy]

Without doing big water changes to keep the levels down you put your fish at risk. Also, it will take longer for your tank to cycle that way because the beneficial bacteria can't grow fast enough to nutralize the ammonia. Keeping it down gives the bacteria a lot better chance of growing and cycling your tank.

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

i used stability by seachem in one of my tanks and it worked within a couple of days, i've never had a problem with any of the parameters! you could also try nutrifin cycle, ive used it aswell and it works pretty good for keeping everything stable! good luck with your tank, ABF are amazing fish!

 

[SeverumGuy]

i used stability by seachem in one of my tanks and it worked within a couple of days, i've never had a problem with any of the parameters! you could also try nutrifin cycle, ive used it aswell and it works pretty good for keeping everything stable! good luck with your tank, ABF are amazing fish!

I've used both stability and cycle. They are both good products to use. I'm using stability right now in my 10g.