This is my second scare of my fish breathing extremely hard. The two times this happened i stirred up their gravel. Could this be the cause? Im also going through a little mini cycle from taking to much water out when my friend over fed. I have two air stones and added some prime, They are still breathing hard. What should I do?
Having a fish scare! Please help!
- Thread starter tiffany89
- Start date
You've done about all you can do. You're only other option is to remove them to a QT that might have better water parameters than your display tank.
Oh yeah...you are WAY off. pH needs to be at 8.0 and nitrites and ammonia need to be at zero. You've not finished cycling yet. This is what is distressing your fish. You need to get all resolved and quickly but unfortunately, you can't raise pH to quickly or you will stress them even more.
Oh ok...you didn't say that. I'm not certain on that but you still need to get ammonia and nitrites to zero.
Yes your ph is fine where it is now , a neutral 7.0 is going to be your best bet with the fish that we have discussed previously. Also if you just raised the ph a swing of over .2 per day can be hard for some fish to adjust to try bumping is slower in the future , or better use a ph buffer its cheap n easy .
ammonia burns there gills , thus the gasping .
Nitrates are important , but its just veriftcation of your cycle in fw really I can't remember the last time I even looked at n02 or n03 in my fw tanks. I'm not saying it won't hurt the fish , prolonged exposure is bad but the presence of ammonia is the fw fish killer.
I would do bi daily wc if it was me.
Also although it says prime is for ammonia it also will remove nitrates .
The prime is safe to use 5x the dose for your water volume in an emergency detox situation , so use it excess won't hurt.
Also maybe try running ammonia chips instead of carbon.
I run a 50/50 mix in my planned tank because plants make the water tea and the carbon polishes the water , but non planted tanks only get ammo chips.
I use API chips in the cartons 8-10 $ for 5 months worth .
I know from our previous conversations that the tank is mildly fresh but stirring your substrate should not set a mini cycle , if that were the case doing a gravel vac every 3 weeks would do this also.
In fw the beneficial bacteria lives in the water , the filter/bio filter and the sub strate , so IMO , IME unless its just a building up of detrites in the gravel getting back in the water you may need to do more frequent gravel vacs.
If that isn't the case look at other options like your water source.
The fw at my mothers has .25 ammonia out tha tap .
I think the cichlids Will be ok , but wc , wc , wc is all that will detox the water.
Prime bonds on a molecular lvl making it less harmful and easily extracted by plants and filtration but does not make it disappear.
Just because the test can't see it because you changed the molecule .
Is the tank planted ? If not you may consider some fast growing plants such as java moss , its a natural nitrate sponge .
I hope they all make it , let me know if there is anything you need that I can help with.
ammonia burns there gills , thus the gasping .
Nitrates are important , but its just veriftcation of your cycle in fw really I can't remember the last time I even looked at n02 or n03 in my fw tanks. I'm not saying it won't hurt the fish , prolonged exposure is bad but the presence of ammonia is the fw fish killer.
I would do bi daily wc if it was me.
Also although it says prime is for ammonia it also will remove nitrates .
The prime is safe to use 5x the dose for your water volume in an emergency detox situation , so use it excess won't hurt.
Also maybe try running ammonia chips instead of carbon.
I run a 50/50 mix in my planned tank because plants make the water tea and the carbon polishes the water , but non planted tanks only get ammo chips.
I use API chips in the cartons 8-10 $ for 5 months worth .
I know from our previous conversations that the tank is mildly fresh but stirring your substrate should not set a mini cycle , if that were the case doing a gravel vac every 3 weeks would do this also.
In fw the beneficial bacteria lives in the water , the filter/bio filter and the sub strate , so IMO , IME unless its just a building up of detrites in the gravel getting back in the water you may need to do more frequent gravel vacs.
If that isn't the case look at other options like your water source.
The fw at my mothers has .25 ammonia out tha tap .
I think the cichlids Will be ok , but wc , wc , wc is all that will detox the water.
Prime bonds on a molecular lvl making it less harmful and easily extracted by plants and filtration but does not make it disappear.
Just because the test can't see it because you changed the molecule .
Is the tank planted ? If not you may consider some fast growing plants such as java moss , its a natural nitrate sponge .
I hope they all make it , let me know if there is anything you need that I can help with.
If you're using an API test kit and getting 0.25 on ammonia, get it double-checked with a decent brand of kit. Those are notorious for a false positive.
You may indeed have ammonia but I'd get that verified.
Ammonia is usually not *as* toxic in a lower pH. It's still a concern, but the higher the pH above neutral, the more dangerous it is.
What kind of fish are they? 6.9 isn't awful, it's close to 7, which is neutral, which may not be ideal for the types of fish you have, but most fish can deal with it. (This *is* a freshwater tank, yes?)
Jenn
You may indeed have ammonia but I'd get that verified.
Ammonia is usually not *as* toxic in a lower pH. It's still a concern, but the higher the pH above neutral, the more dangerous it is.
What kind of fish are they? 6.9 isn't awful, it's close to 7, which is neutral, which may not be ideal for the types of fish you have, but most fish can deal with it. (This *is* a freshwater tank, yes?)
Jenn
African cichlids typically like a higher ph 8.2. If you are near a LFS or even petsmart they carry ph 8.2 which will help you a lot. It is in a powder.
Good luck!
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Good luck!
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Sorry I read that wrong
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Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2
This is whats getting me.. my parameters are so weird right now...
PH- 7.2
Ammonia- .05 ppm
Nitites- .35 ppm
Nitrates-10 ppm
-AND-
Temp- 75degrees
I dont understand how nitites and nitrates are showing at the same time.
I tested the water out of my tap and its all at 0 and PH was at 7.0 but it was showing .025 ppm of phosphates.
I recently added some Seachem Neutral Regulator in the tanks and the phosphates got high at like 10.0 ppm so i am not using a carbonate based buffer.
PH- 7.2
Ammonia- .05 ppm
Nitites- .35 ppm
Nitrates-10 ppm
-AND-
Temp- 75degrees
I dont understand how nitites and nitrates are showing at the same time.
I tested the water out of my tap and its all at 0 and PH was at 7.0 but it was showing .025 ppm of phosphates.
I recently added some Seachem Neutral Regulator in the tanks and the phosphates got high at like 10.0 ppm so i am not using a carbonate based buffer.
Nitrite and nitrate can be present at the same time. So can ammonia. Unless it was a brand new tank, it would take a while for nitrate to appear, but this is an established tank that had a mishap, yes?
No need to worry about phosphate, it won't harm anything. Seachem Neutral Regulator *is* phosphate based so that is an expected result.
If you don't want to use a phosphate-based regulator, then switch to Seachem Acid Buffer and Alkaline Buffer. You'll need both, and you'll need to follow the recipe on the packaging to get the pH you are aiming for. Neutral Regulator targets 7.0 and it's dummy-proof, using the Acid/Alkaline buffers is a bit tricker but there are no phosphates, and as such, less stable.
South Americans, a bit acid to neutral pH is good (Africans are the ones that like it higher in the 8.2 range).
Jenn
No need to worry about phosphate, it won't harm anything. Seachem Neutral Regulator *is* phosphate based so that is an expected result.
If you don't want to use a phosphate-based regulator, then switch to Seachem Acid Buffer and Alkaline Buffer. You'll need both, and you'll need to follow the recipe on the packaging to get the pH you are aiming for. Neutral Regulator targets 7.0 and it's dummy-proof, using the Acid/Alkaline buffers is a bit tricker but there are no phosphates, and as such, less stable.
South Americans, a bit acid to neutral pH is good (Africans are the ones that like it higher in the 8.2 range).
Jenn
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