Help! Fish dying!!!!!

[Mrduna01]

I recently had a mini cycle due to removing all my gravel and replacing with sand. This is a 30 gallon with five tiger barbs and two clown loaches awaiting a bigger tank. I did twice daily water changes once I noticed signs of ammonia and nitrite spikes which I confirmed with API liquid test. Well yesterday the nitrites were barely showing and nitrates were very low at a safe level.

Tonight I noticed all the fish were very pale and they all had very red blood shot gills. I tested water again and had safe nitrites and nitrates but .25 to .5 ammonia. I did a quick 50 % water change and doubled up on the Prime which I use with all water changes.

Now the fish are on the bottom of the tank breathing rapidly and vibrating very quickly. They seem to be in shock or something. Please help!! How do I proceed?!

Also, why the sudden ammo spike when it was 0 a day ago with next to 0 nitrite and healthy nitrate?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Red gills are a sure sign of ammo poisoning and laying at the bottom is too, but can't find any info on the shudders. I'd suggest another PWC, also when doing a PWC dose for the total volume of the tank, not just what you're putting in.

Here's a link that might help:

Fish Disease - Ammonia Poisoning

Good luck!

 

[Mrduna01]

Thanks for the help. I did a huge wc and dosed with extra prime and they seem fine today. My only question now is why the ammonia spike after the cycle seemed complete.

 

[rich311k]

Hard to say. Maybe something was rotting in there, maybe the earlier test was inaccurate. Maybe there was not enough bb grown so all the ammonia could not be processed.