Martin Rose

Hi all, just joined Fish Lore today!

My aquarium - Juwel Rio 300 litre with

1 x Bio JUMBO filter
1 x Large fizz block
3 x Large Bog Wood
20 full live plants

Stock -

2 Dwarf Neon Gourami
3 Dwarf Honey Gourami
4 Glass Cat Fish
8 Glowlight Tetra
6 Rummy Nose Tetra
5 Southern Platy
2 Gold Fish - Strange I know but they get on with all the fish and are thriving
2 Plant Cleaning Shrimp

A few days ago I bought soem guppies from my local aquatic centre. I hadn't noticed but one of them had quite badly nipped fins, and soon after being aclimatised to the tank began swimming oddly and eventually after I came home from work was dead at the bottom. I removed him and kept an eye on the other guppies. The next day I returned home and 2 more had died.

I removed them and the remaining live ones. Took them back to the shop and got a refund.

My female betta had been spending a lot of (friendly) time with the guppies, she hung around them, they swam pleasantly around eachother after the initial first hour when she chased a couple away. I observed them for a long time thinking she might nip them but never saw it.

Anyway - she has since succumbed to the same problem! Very sad.

I treated my entire tank for fin rot. Removed the carbon filter and nitrate filter as instructed in the directions for use on the treatment bottle.

2 days later - fish all seem fine but the water is awfully cloudy. I have put the filters back.

Is the cloudy water a result of taking the 2 filters away or is it the fin rot treatment. I calculated it correctly and dissolved it in warm water, spreading evenly accross surface as instructed.

All my fish except the Gouramis ( i'm thinking because of their breathing) are now sticking to the surface of the tank.

I have put oxygenating tablets in but am wondering shoukd I do a 25% water change - I did one only last weekend.

Help please!

Regards,

Martin.

Sharkitty

Hi Martin,

Your tank readings say "fine". What kind of test kit are you using?

CHoffman

Hi and Welcome to fishlore,
Sounds like to me your tank is in a mini cycle do to the medication. What did you medicate with?? It sounds like your fish are suffering the effects of ammonia poisioning. The best thing you can do right now is a 50% waterchange. Stress Coat + and Prime are great in situations like these. They are both a waterconditioner that detoxifies ammonia but still allows the bacteria to use it for the cycle. Do you have a test kit to check for ammonia , nitrite and nitrate??.

Martin Rose

My local pet store only had the all in 1 strips left. I know strips arent great but the readings were ok.

I have done a 25% water change which helped initially, the fish dropped back down and were happier. I was up till 4am this morning. I'm back up 3 hours later and it looks as bad as before with 1 Tetra on its way out.

2 Tetra died last night. I'm starting to think they might be affected by neon tetra disease. They are swimming wierdly, sort of looping upside down then settling on the bottom.

I have nowhere else to put them for quarantine though.

Even the shrimp look ill!

This is awful

I'l try your advice!

Thanks

Mart

Martin Rose

OK, retested this morning.

Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0
GH = 8
KH = 3
pH = 6.5
Cl2 = 0

Water is very murky , after a 25% change, would another of the same be beneficial or not?

It was all perfect, even after a holiday things were great. 3 weeks later .... Disaster...

Mart

CHoffman

Hey Martin,
I'm 98% percent sure your fish are dying from ammonia poising. just keep up the daily waterchanges of 50%. Stress coat plus and prime are literally life savers right now. I know Daily WC stink but it will help save your fish.. Ammonia and nitrite can kill fast so it's very common for them to do ok after a WC and then get ill again. 25% isn't big enough. Do 50% everyday and I bet they pull through. Good luck and keep us posted.

Martin Rose

Will do, thanks

aquarist48

Welcome to Fish Lore. Hate to hear you're having problems with your fish and tanks. Follow the good advice you've been given above and hopefully things will get better before you have any other losses. Hang in there!

Martin Rose

Just finishing the 50%. They look a bit cheerier :-)

Luckily its a long weekend in uk, we get Monday off so plenty of time over weekend to work on this!

Mart

agabr123

were you able to find stress coat or prime in the UK? i believe a few members here use amquel + because they weren't able to find one of those two.

CHoffman

Awesome!!!..Sounds like you'll be busy..Hope they stay cheery.

Martin Rose

Well, all still going well. Finished 2nd 50% change, my syphon is working overtime and I'm getting a good idea of how long the batteries last at least!

I found one of my plants rotting underneath - I guess that was helping the ammonia level sky rocket!

I used Ammo Lock (not sure if you have it in the US but I'm sure something similar if not) which is also helping.

I've got the liquid test kid for Ammonia. I'm only 1 notch up from 0 now at 0.25 - I know it's not perfect but a big improvement. The tank is far clearer - almost normal now.

Another change tomorrow and another dose of ammo lock and I'm confident that it will be pretty much normal.

1 more thing - I have a manual gravel cleaner - which seems quite poor at doing it's job or maybe it's just I'm bad at using it! Are electric ones better?

Cheers,

Mart

GouramiGirl1221

I'm not positive, but I believe that ammo lock does just as it says...it lock the ammonia so that it completely kills the cycle because there is nothing for the bacteria to use. You'd be much better off using prime, stress coat +, or amquel + in order to save your cycle.

agabr123

there was actually a thread on this a while back, but i think that ammolock actually changed their formula about a year or so ago to be almost identical to prime/stresscoat+/amquel+. before that change, you're absolutely correct, it "locked" the ammonia, making it unusable by the beneficial bacteria.

Martin Rose

Hmmm ok well, if things start looking bad again I'l go that way but I dont want to ruin my progress now!

Mart

Martin Rose

Hi,

To be on the safe side I bought stress coat + and stress zyme+. Both added now and honestly things are looking better by the minute!

I really appreciate all the advice. I guess a lot of people have learned from past experience which is why I like forums.

Hope I can pass on some good advice to some fishlore noobs one day!

Mart