a_smith

Hey I'm new to the forum!
So, I just started my first freshwater aquarium on 10/03/09. I added 3 platys a day later. They seemed to do well. Today, 10/09/09, I decided to add a few more fish: 3 Zebra Danios, a molly, and 2 tiny baby snails from my friend's aquarium. A few hours after, one of my platys has stopped moving; and when she does move, she doesn't go far. She swam in front of my filter, and she got pushed around by the moving water, something I had never seen happen. When I fed the fish, she didn't even try to move.

I think I know what is wrong, but I just want some confirmation. I know I got overzealous by putting all those fish in the aquarium at one time; and I probably should have waited several weeks so that the tank could cycle properly. I think the platy has ammonia poisoning. I checked my nitrate and nitrite levels today and the nitrite was present, but not harmful, and there was no nitrate. I am going out today to pick up some ammonia test strips.

If ammonia is the problem, what should I do? Should I do a water change? if so, how much? or should I just wait it out?
Thanks a lot! I know I really messed up....

Lucy

Hi welcome to FishLore.
It sounds like you've got it right. Adding too many fish at once.
Any nitrite is harmful, it'll help a bit more helpful when you get your ammonia reading.
If your tank was cycled, you probably went into a mini cycle with the increased bio-load.
Basically overwhelming the bacteria.

Just so you're aware, the strips can be inaccurate, you might want to pick up a good liquid test kit. I use the API Master Kit. I love it.

My suggestion would be daily water changes until you get the cycle back. Your readings should be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, with some nitrates. I like to keep mine between 5-10.
Pick up some Prime. It's a water conditioner that'll detox the ammonia for 24 hours between water changes. It also gets rid of chlorine.

Best of luck, I hope your platy feels better.

a_smith

thanks a lot! I'll try your suggestions and let you know what happens.

jdhef

In your Aquarium Info it says you are familiar with the nitrogen cycle, but you filled your tank on the 3rd and added fish a day later. Unless you used Tetra SafeStart or used media from an established tank, there is really no way that your tank could have been cycled that quickly.

So I would guess that your fish are suffering the effects of ammonia poisoning, which as you know can be leathal. Your best defense at this point is to do daily 50% water changes using a product called Prime as your water conditioner.

The purpose of the daily water changes is to keep diluting ammonia that is building in the tank. The purpose of using the Prime is that it will detox the ammonia for 24 hours, but still leave it available to feed the benificial bacteria so your tank will cycle.

You are going to need to be patient, since it may take up to six weeks for your tank to fully cycle. You will know you have fully cycled when you have readings of zero for ammonia and nitrites, and some reading for nitrates.

Lucy

Keep us posted and good luck
We'd love to see some pics so post some soon!

Edit:
Thanks John, missed the dates. I don't know why I thought the aquarium was started last month.
Good recomendations.

jdhef

Lucy, I realised after posting that I had basically repeated allot of what you said (I got so focused on the dates that I just skimmed your reply until after posting). I was hoping the timestamp was close so I could claim I was ninja'd but, I think an hour would be pushing that lame excuse!

peacemaker92

Hi Smith and WELCOME TO FISHLORE!

Sorry to hear about your platy. Everyone above has got you covered.
Get well soon, lil' platy.

a_smith

so here's what happened...I check the ammonia levels in the tank, and ammonia was up. I preformed a water change and got the levels down. Sadly the platy died. I really jumped the gun on adding more fish, and I'll not do that again! but the rest of the fish seem to be doing fine.

On a good note: my female platy, who is albino and practically transparent, seems to have a mass of pink with little black dots in her. Could this mean she's pregnant?