# ammonia poisoning my bala sharks



## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

I came hone today and noticed that one of my three baloa sharks in my 75 gal has developed red areas on his fins. I know for a fact that the tank is still cycling and I have read that red fins could be a sign of ammonia poisoning or internal hemorrhaging. Three days ago one of the fish banged itself against the top of the aquarium 3 times and stunned itself. But I'm fairly certian its ammonia poisoning because it had been a little but on my last water change. Here is a picture of the one with red fins.(and I don't keep them in bowls but my camera is awful and he wouldn't stay still so I kept him in there long enough to snap a pic or two)

I just got done doing a 50 percent water change. Is the only way for me to fix this to keep doing large water changes or are my fish doomed?


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

Make sure your tank has plenty of plants, filtration and aeriation to reduce the impact of Ammonia. I am not in favor of masive water changes during cycling, do that when cycling is finished. Make sure your tank doesn't have excess food or dead fish in it, both produce excess Ammonia. With only three fish in a 75G tank you shouldn't have an Ammonia problem. If you have a high ph, this could also incrrease the impact of Ammonia.


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

I normally have my ph around 7.5 in both of my tanks and my water is naturally very hard, but I don't have live plants in the tank because I don't have a lighing system yet. I'm buying my heaters and maybe a bubble wall today. last night when I changed the water there was a bit of excess food on the bottom of the tank, so hopefully it should help. I have a Pann-Plax cascade 300 which is for up to 100 gallons


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

What are your ammonia readings?


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

I'm going to get a reading from my lfs because all I have(I have a master test kit otw) at the moment are test strips and they don't even read for ammonia :/


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Could be ammonia poisoning. Have you noticed any reddened gills or the fish gasping for air at the surface?

Water changes during the cycling process, along with live plants and making sure you're not over feeding (like Neon mentioned) is really all you can do to keep the ammonia down until you have finished the cycle. Increased aeration and temperature can speed things up a little bit, but you don't want to cook your fish, so make sure it's a suitable temp'.


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

I took my water to get tested yesterday at my LFS and I had no Nitrates or Nitrites but I had ammonia. He said that my tank is cycling extremely slow because I have had it up and going for at least 4 weeks now and there have been fish in it for about 3. I have my heaters on the way, but they should be in next week some time.
Holly: no it's only the one bala shark thats showing symptoms, the others were acting fine. and the one with the red fins only has red fins, his gills look fine
He started to swim funny so I moved him to my 20 gal because it is cycled and heated in a last ditch effort to save him


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Typical fish store answer.....most of these people don't know enough to ask you the right questions, give you solid advice, or help you if you have a problem. Your tank is not going slow, IMO. 

What is your ammonia reading in ppm? Ammonia present means nothing that you can act on. I guess you could always do a 50% water change to cover whatever it may be.


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

he tried to sell me about $20 worth of safe start and tried to tell me that if I dumped it all in my tank, it would cycle in about 4 days(I had a hard time believing it so I didn't bite) but he used test strips to test the water(I could have done that at home -_-; I thought he would use a water test kit. He just said that I was in the peak stage of my cycling where the ammonia is highest. He suggested to just not feed the fish for a whole week. But I didn't get a specific ammo reading from him and even then, I don't think it would be accurate since he tested with strips


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