Friend Fed Fish - Now Fish Are Dying - Help

[*]HI I am new to having an aquarium. We got a 20 gallon freshwater tank in July. Everything was good until about a week and a half ago. We currently have a balloon molly a dalmation molly and a guppy (orange and yellow). There are also 3 babies in there. We lost a molly last week and our pleco today. I have 5 in 1 test strips and ammonia test strips. The water has been fine this whole time (per the test strips) until about a week and a half ago. We left a friend in charge of the tank for a few days while we were away. Came home to food everywhere so we did a good cleaning... about a 30% water change or so. Since then the water quality has gone bad... ammonia was high and it seems to be ok now but the hardness is low ph is low and the nitrates and nitrites are way too high. The aquarium store gave us something to raise the ph and quick start. She advised to not do a water change for a week or 2. The dalmatian molly is swimming weird now and his eyes look cloudy and swollen. What should we do? This is very upsetting.

 

water changes and more water changes try to get seachem prime. Also I suggest getting the apI test kit with the vials and that there only 40$ and mine have lasted me a year and still going, with all the food dumped in it might have thrown off your bacteria and gave the fish ammonia poisoning. Also just wanna inform you mollys do best in salt water not fresh. Try not to feed until you get your readings proper fish can go a week or more without food.

 

T

water changes and more water changes try to get seachem prime. Also I suggest getting the apI test kit with the vials and that there only 40$ and mine have lasted me a year and still going, with all the food dumped in it might have thrown off your bacteria and gave the fish ammonia poisoning. Also just wanna inform you mollys do best in salt water not fresh. Try not to feed until you get your readings proper fish can go a week or more without food.

Thank you! While I have never had fish before and got the aquarium for my son I am very compassionate and love all creatures and hate to see them suffer. From all the research I did it is in line with doing the water changes. I don't understand why the girl at the aquarium store told me not to do it. How much and how often do you recommend the changes while the levels are off?

 

T

Thank you! While I have never had fish before and got the aquarium for my son I am very compassionate and love all creatures and hate to see them suffer. From all the research I did it is in line with doing the water changes. I don't understand why the girl at the aquarium store told me not to do it. How much and how often do you recommend the changes while the levels are off?

she said that because with quick start you shouldn't do water changes with quick start for 2 weeks can you tell me your readings please?

 

It sounds like the person at the fish store thought the problem was that the tank wasn't cycled, that's what the Quick Start was for. I've never used it but I believe you aren't supposed to do water changes when you use it. I don't think she made a good assessment of what's going on. Whether you're cycled or not you have toxins built up that need to be removed by water changes. I agree with fishgame6, including suggesting the API Master Test Kit.

I'd test and do 50% water changes every day until your ammonia and nitrites are gone. Then do water changes to keep your nitrates below 10 - 20 ppm.

 

General hardness in between 0 and 30.
Carbonate hardness 40.
Ph 6.5.
Nitrite 10.
Nitrate between 160 and 200.
Ammonia .5.

 

It sounds like the person at the fish store thought the problem was that the tank wasn't cycled, that's what the Quick Start was for. I've never used it but I believe you aren't supposed to do water changes when you use it. I don't think she made a good assessment of what's going on. Whether you're cycled or not you have toxins built up that need to be removed by water changes. I agree with fishgame6, including suggesting the API Master Test Kit.

I'd test and do 50% water changes every day until your ammonia and nitrites are gone. Then do water changes to keep your nitrates below 10 - 20 ppm.

exactly what I was going to say 50% water changes sounds good in my opinion the quick start prob won't be needed

General hardness in between 0 and 30.
Carbonate hardness 40.
Ph 6.5.
Nitrite 10.
Nitrate between 160 and 200.
Ammonia .5.

or after you get your readings back to where they should be because 200 nitrate is way to high maybe use the quick start

 

Ok thank you so much! How often should o do the 50% changes?

 

The quick start won’t supply you with DEnitrifying bacteria, which remove nitrates. At this point you need to remove as much water as it takes to get ammonia and nitrite under 1ppm. Do you have a gravel vacuum? What kind of filter do you have, and did you replace the filter cartridge when you got back from vacation?

The good news is, with proper care, eye cloud and pop eye are reversible. Clean water. Make sure the water being added has water conditioner added and is the same temperature.

If your nitrite is 10, that is absolutely lethal and needs addressed ASAP.

 

I hate it when that happens. For future reference, it’s okay to leave your fish without food for a week or more, while you’re away. It’s even beneficial. Also, you won’t have to worry about fish being overfed.

 

sounds like your dalmation molly has cataracts in it eyes. What kind of pleco was it that you lost? Test strips are not recommended because if they ever slightly get exposed to humidity on accident, then the reading will be inaccurate. test strips don't last long, and will only work properly for one or two time but then they are useless. If you switch to API master test kit you will have the correct readings (if you do as the direction says to do) and will last much longer. Water changes, water changes, water changes. Water changes are essential for any fish to thrive or survive in a glass box that is filled with water.

 

Ok thank you so much! How often should o do the 50% changes?

As AquaticJ mentioned above: "if your nitrite is 10, that is absolutely lethal and needs to be addressed ASAP."

As a point of comparison, the nitrite LD50-96hr for cardinal tetra (that is, the concentration of nitrite required to kill 50% of a population of cardinal tetra within 96 hours of exposure) is 1.5 ppm nitrite (de Oliveira et al., 2008).

You need to do at least four 50% water changes (or two 75% water changes) one after the other to dilute this concentration to below 1 ppm. I would not recommend waiting a day between water changes, and would instead recommend doing the water changes immediately and one after the other on the same day.

In addition, I would also recommend adding one teaspoon (~5 grams per 20 gallons) of salt: Noga (2010), in his fish disease diagnosis and treatment manual, suggests it as a treatment for nitrite toxicosis. I would not use common table salt, but would pick up a small satchel of aquarium salt from your LFS.

 

Jtimm Greetings and welcome to Fishlore
I am sorry that your mollies are having trouble.
I keep mollies and have to say they are great fish. Mollies get bigger than the pet stores will tell you. My silver female (I only keep females) is right around 4 1/2"" long.

Also just wanna inform you mollys do best in salt water not fresh.

With respect I have to disagree. Mollies do fine is fresh water. They can be acclimated to salt but their habitat is fresh to brackish water. The thing to watch for is if the supplier has salt in their fresh water system like the Petco stores around here do. Then you need to acclimate them slowly to completely salt free water as mollies are very sensitive to that change. If you want to keep plants or snails most do not tolerate salt.

As AquaticJ mentioned above: "if your nitrite is 10, that is absolutely lethal and needs to be addressed ASAP."

As a point of comparison, the nitrite LD50-96hr for guppies (that is, the concentration of nitrite required to kill 50% of a population of guppies within 96 hours of exposure) is 1.5 ppm nitrite (de Oliveira et al., 2008).

You need to do at least four 50% water changes (or two 75% water changes) one after the other to dilute this concentration to below 1 ppm. I would not recommend waiting a day between water changes, and would instead recommend doing the water changes immediately and one after the other on the same day.

In addition, I would also recommend adding one teaspoon (~5 grams per 20 gallons) of salt: Noga (2010), in his fish disease diagnosis and treatment manual, suggests it as a treatment for nitrite toxicosis. I would not use common table salt, but would pick up a small satchel of aquarium salt from your LFS.

To add to this very good advice from Minnowette if you do use salt as a treatment you can also use kosher salt.

 

Wow thank you so much everyone! I really appreciate it. I will get the new kit and do the water changes today. I wish that I would have followed my gut and did water changes instead of listening to the girl at the store. You all are so knowledgeable and super friendly

Ok one more question for now. I am doing the water changes now... I am going to do 50% one after another. Do I add the water conditioner each time or just on the final change?

 

Jtimm Greetings and welcome to Fishlore
I am sorry that your mollies are having trouble.
I keep mollies and have to say they are great fish. Mollies get bigger than the pet stores will tell you. My silver female (I only keep females) is right around 4 1/2"" long.



With respect I have to disagree. Mollies do fine is fresh water. They can be acclimated to salt but their habitat is fresh to brackish water. The thing to watch for is if the supplier has salt in their fresh water system like the Petco stores around here do. Then you need to acclimate them slowly to completely salt free water as mollies are very sensitive to that change. If you want to keep plants or snails most do not tolerate salt.



To add to this very good advice from Minnowette if you do use salt as a treatment you can also use kosher salt.

ok good point I have just heard everywhere they do much better in salt then fresh my bad!

 

Ok one more question for now. I am doing the water changes now... I am going to do 50% one after another. Do I add the each time or just on the final change?

Most definitely add water conditioner for each separate water change.

 

I figured and did that. So I wanted to say thank you all again for the help! My dalmatian molly boy is looking so much better this morning after the water changes and aquarium salt. His eyes look better and he looks healthier. The water levels are much much closer to normal. Nitrites are a little high but much lower than before. You all halved save some lives

 

You ever get the seachem prime by chance?

 

I ordered the seachem prime. I tested my parameters tonight and everything looked good except for the nitrites. They were still high but not as high. I just did another water change added salt water conditioner and the quick start. I am going to retest the nitrites shortly.

 

I ordered the seachem prime. I tested my parameters tonight and everything looked good except for the nitrites. They were still high but not as high. I just did another water change added salt water conditioner and the quick start. I am going to retest the nitrites shortly.

what is your nitrite at? depending on what its at just leave the tank alone for a little and keep using the quick start. if the nitrites aren't to high, you need to leave enough so the bacteria can change the nitrite into nitrate