Diggly

I think we can get ammolock here. Daily water changes will do just as well until she can get some. I really try and steer clear of all chemicals, adding chemicals cost me 2 tiger barbs when I first started but then I tried the method on here of adding aquarium salt and upping the temperature and it worked much better with no further fishy losses .

One small tip that I have learned on here is garlic juice! It helps protect the fish against parasites and can help them eat if they arent eating.

Shawnie

ammo lock wont do anything for the nitrites tho only detox the ammonia..which is great!!!! until you get to the nitrite phase...

ive seen that in the UK , amquel+ is easier to get...or as others mentioned, prime off ebay...one or the other is needed and any substitute, wont do what those will...yet!! (give the other companies time , im sure they will make their products better to compete!)

Diggly

Yeah we get it pretty tough here in the uk I feel neglected fish product wise .

Welsh Dragon

hi all. tested my water today and the ammonia is 0-25 (i couldn't quite decide on what colour it was), nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 40. i guess that is quite bad..... what causes that? i asked my LFS about amquel and they had never heard of it, so i will get it off ebay.

mommybaby295

make sure you get amelquel plus, not just amelquel.

Diggly

I dont think you need amquel, as I dont think it is an ammonia problem, if you couldnt decide on the water test being 0 or 0.25 it was probably 0 but you were being overly cautious (I am the same!!) if it had a slight green tinge to it when held up to the white card it is probably 0.25.

How long has the tank been set up? Sorry if you have already said.

I would also recommend testing your tap water for nitrates (note nitrAtes) as 40 seems quite high, especially as you have been doing the water changes.

Welsh Dragon

it did have a green tinge to it so that's why i couldn't quite decide. the tank has been set up since june. i will check the tap water as you say. how can i get the nitrate reading down?

Diggly

As you as showing small amounts of ammonia and a higher level of nitrates, I would feed your fish every other day as overfeeding can show ammonia and higher nitrate readings.

Do a water change now and test the water for nitrates and dont feed the fish until Monday, fish can go up to 7 days without food in the wild so skipping a day wont effect them while your tank is settling down .

How often do you do water changes normally?

Shawnie

were you able to get the liquid kit? ANY ammonia is bad..but having nitrates is good..unless you have them in your tap water...nitrates should be under 20..id do a 30-40% water change with your water conditioner....when you get the amquel +, which is great for water changes even if you dont have ammonia, that will help detox the ammonia/nitrites in case they happen to sneak up on you...high nitrates are caused from either overfeeding, overstocked, or lack of water changes......

Diggly

Thats why I suggested feeding a day and fasting a day though that can be hard when fish beg all the time lol!

The only reason I said not to worry about amquel+ for now is that we have post strikes over here and by the time the ebay seller posts it out she wont get it until at least thursday, maybe even longer.

Welsh Dragon

yes i got the liquid test (it was so expensive!). we normally do a water change every week, but a few weeks ago we we didn't do it and the water got quite murky, so i would think that is why we are having these problems. i will still order amquel+ from ebay and at least i will have it if i have this problem again. but for now, i will do another water change (the last one was on saturday and that's when i took those readings). will the other fish get ill do you think? why would only one get ill and the others not? i've also bought some new media for my filter as the man in the fish shop said i should change it now as i have had it since june.

mommybaby295

In my opinion, changing the filter now would disturb the bacteria, and since you are already having problems, I think that wouldn't be a good thing. But since I'm a newbie, too, please wait for someone with more experience to respond.

edit: My understanding is that you shouldn't really change the filters. If there is carbon, you just cut it out and throw it away, but the beneficial bacteria colony lives in the filter, and at most you should give it a rinse in tankwater or dechlorinated tap water. When the filter is falling apart, you can change it by putting in the new one and sticking the old one in the tank for about a month.

Diggly

I would recommend addind the new media but also keeping the old media so you have the new media building up for when you take the old media up.

Different fish react differently to different situations kinda like humans , my office is probably a good example, 2 people out of 20 caught the flu and the remaining 18 didnt even get a sniffle. Some people are just more tolerant and the same goes for fish.

The liquid test kit is expensive but worth it and it is a good tool to use when things dont look good in your tank to eliminate water (just check other threads the first thing people always ask for is ammonia and nitrite levels when fish are acting funny).

Welsh Dragon

don't worry, i'm not going to change the filter all at once. i will change the media bit by bit. thanks for your help everyone. i've learnt a lot over the last few days.

Diggly

We all start somewhere . feel free to ask if you need anything else