I Need Help Bad

[meagheavz]

so its long one, sit back... i had 6 fish die off in 2 days...i thinks it cuz of ammo...<ammo 1.0 nitrite .50 nitrate is 10> im pretty sure its the ammo. i did about a 30-40% water change ysterday, then i went to LFS and the guy gave me bio-spira. i havent seen much of change in any of my water test. i have a 20g High... its been running since aug 9th, i know its going through the cycle.. i think my 2 female cherry barbs are getting sick, they havent eaten all day..i really dont know wut to do anymore, do i just try to finish my cycle with the fish i have left, wut happens if they all die off, should i clean out the whole tank and try again????
i also use ammo rocks( could u use to much?) and i use ammo lock

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If you just put in the bio-spira that should help. Since you're using ammo-lock, it can actually screw up the test kit reading of the ammonia in your tank... it might be lower than your kit is saying.

Don't clean out the tank if they die... that would defeat the purpose of the bio-spira. You can use too much ammo rocks. If they're using up the ammonia before the bio-spira bacteria can "eat" it, then they can starve the bacteria and make the tank appear cycled when it really isn't. Ditto with the ammo lock, too. I would stop using the ammo lock immediately, and take the ammo rocks out over the course of two or three days (let the bacteria catch up to the extra ammonia from the rocks not "removing" it).

 

[Avalon]

Yeah, your tank is still cycling. Ammonia and nitrites will kill fish. The best thing to do would be to lower the temp as low as you can get it, or down to 74F (turn off heaters unless temps can dip lower than 72-74F on their own, it's not necessary to get the temp this low; if it happens natually then great, if not, that's fine too), and do small water changes daily, say 20-30%. Obviously, don't add more fish, and remove those that are dead asap. I would NOT go out and buy a bunch of stuff that says it will 'help', because it won't, and you will waste money and prolong the suffering. You can't hurry nature. You will need to let the cycle take it's course. After your ammonia and nitrites hit zero, you may add fish slowly with 2 weeks in between each small addition.

 

[MissFishy]

Well, my suggestions are a bit different, but here they are. I suggest you keep the temperature around 78. STOP using the ammo lock, ammo rocks, or any of that other crap you're using. You need to do probably 3 BIG 50-75% water changes TODAY. This will help your fish survive by clearing out the ammonia. Make sure that as you add the new water, you are treating it in a bucket with water conditioner BEFORE adding it to the fish tank, otherwise that will also mess with your cycle. Just start siphoning the water out into a bucket, dump it, and add new water. 3 TIMES. No skimping. After that, start doing 50% water changes everyday, if you notice the ammonia levels going near 1.0 again, do some more huge water changes.

Another thing you can do is try to get some established media from someone with a cycled tank. You can ask your fish store for a handful of gravel from one of their stock tanks and then add that to your tank. That may help your tank along immensely.

 

[meagheavz]

im out right now i will do a water change when i get in..i have a 5 gallon bucket, how many should i fill. wouldnt chaging so much water mess with the cycle...i will also take care of the ammo rocks tak them out...so i shoudlnt add anything to the water, but water condish...(name some brands you guys have)..i cat think of anything else right now.. thank you very much guys

 

[Avalon]

im out right now i will do a water change when i get in..i have a 5 gallon bucket, how many should i fill. wouldnt chaging so much water mess with the cycle...i will also take care of the ammo rocks tak them out...so i shoudlnt add anything to the water, but water condish...(name some brands you guys have)..i cat think of anything else right now.. thank you very much guys

That's why I gave a percentage, 20-30% as to the amount of water that should be changed, and a consistent schedule. You should use a water conditioner if you're using tap water. I use Tetra's Aqua-safe and it works well. A reduced water temperature also decreases the toxicity of the toxic form of ammonia and increases dissolved oxygen levels.

 

[meagheavz]

lol, im not to good with numbers im not sure wut 20/30% would look like..ill just fill one 5 gall bucket.. i tihnk i hav aqua-safe. ill put the temp down

 

[CAPSLOCK]

One 5g bucket out of 20g is 25%

 

[meagheavz]

thanks..my plan is to cahnge water 25% clean gravel..maybe...tomorrow do another 25 change in the after noon..i havent used ammo lock since atleast sat.. i will take some of the amoo rock out tonight more tomorrow night and the rest wed night..i want to take out my fake plants and rinse them?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Taking the plants out and rinsing them won't hurt anything and it also isn't going to help anything as far as the ammonia/cycle is concerned. I would leave your gravel alone during the water change while your still cycling, a lot of the bacteria live there. I mean, you can vacuum it but just don't take it out and really scrub it or anything.

 

[meagheavz]

oh nono, my fish havent eaten and my sister fed last night and i think it was a bit much, theres alot of food sitting in the gravel thats why, just use a gravel vac

 

[Mermaid20]

I dont know what exactly to say about your problem, but i wouldnt have put cherry barbs as your starter fish. I just bought some cheap goldfish to start my cycle just incase any of them popped off. i wouldnt go out spending anything more then 50 cents on a fish to start a tank. poor barbs.

 

[meagheavz]

aww ur making me feel like really bad person now.. i know i really liked my barbs.. they told me to go with a harty fish,danios and cherrys.. i also think they didnt think this was gonna happen in my tank neither did i ..i have a feeling how it happened.. my cleaning lady wipe the outside of the glass with window cleaner wit ammo, sprayed the cloth then wiped i think the ammo somehow got though the glass and messed it all up..im gonna do the water change in the morning its 2am now i live on the 2nd floor so i think it be rude to go up and down steps with gallons of water..

 

[meagheavz]

silly question, why wouldnt u want to use ammo chips/rocks while cycling a tank?

 

[Big Vine]

IMO if you do a fish-in cycle properly, cherry barbs should do just fine.
The only reason I would choose zebra danios over cherry barbs to begin with is because of the fact that they're so much cheaper (and thus easier from a $$$ standpoint to replace in case of losses). Sure, the danios might be a little bit hardier than cherry barbs, but so what? It certainly doesn't mean that the cherries are a poor choice for cycling a tank. They are a very hardy fish, IME. It's not like you put GBRs or discus in there or something, so please don't feel bad.

As for the theory about the glass-cleaner leeching through the glass and into your tank; resulting in the death of your fish---no way, Jose! I have cleaned the fronts of my tanks with glass-cleaner products numerous times, and I have never had problems. I simply make sure the lids are shut, and I am careful not to allow the mist to go anywhere near the top of the tank. I then wipe the glass clean and then wash/rinse my hands under the sink right away (in case I happen to be tempted to do some in-tank maintenance right after cleaning the glass). It is possible that some of the spray got into your tank, in which case it could very well have been responsible for the deaths of some of your fish. But it would have had to enter through the top of the tank (either through penetrating the water's surface directly by leaking down over top of the sides of the tank, or by somehow entering into the filters). It cannot pass through the glass. Period.

As for your question about using ammo-chips while cycling a tank...
You wouldn't generally want to use it because the very nature of the cycling process requires ammonia in order to take place. The beneficial bacteria can only start colonizing and converting ammonia into nitrIte once there is actually ammonia present in the tank. And of course this same reasoning applies with regards to the colonization of the beneficial bacteria responsible for converting nitrItes into less-toxic nitrAte. Your best course of action when it comes to ammonia 'removal' (reduction, really) in a cycling tank is to perform water-changes.

Hope that makes sense.
BV

 

[MissFishy]

To help with how much water you should be changing in your 20 gallon, you should be changing 10 gallons of water out everytime in order to do a 50% water change. So that means two 5 gallon buckets of water should come out of the tank, and two new 5 gallon buckets of TREATED water should go into the tank.

I personally think every life is worth exactly the same. Just because you're a feeder goldfish doesn't mean your life is worthless, people that think like that make me sad. His and your first priority should be to make absolutely sure that those fish have a fighting chance at a real life. YOU are all they have to depend on for their very lives, that is nothing to take lightly, even if it is "only" a fish.