# Illness back + any more tips on lowering ammonia?



## BishQueen (Aug 28, 2015)

I'd kept 3 fish in their Tetracycline bath? For the entirety of the treatment recommended, took 2 out when they appeared fine, and reacclimated them to my 55g. 
Now, they appear almost just as bad. Again, it's just my swords.
My cichlids are fine, all my other fish are fine. They're just the ones (aside my angel still in the tetracycline treatment) demonstrating fin & tail rot.
As well as this issue, I've noticed a spike in ammonia.
I read it might be caused by rotting plants, so I removed all of my plants (most were doing poorly, now they're in a green bin growing until conditions improve) but the readings are still high.
It's nothing major, just higher than I can have peace of mind over. 
The readings show not quite .5 but not as low as .25 so somewhere in between.
I've done 4 water changes over the past 6 days trying to lower it but it stays at a constant.
Nitrites have also raised to about a 1.0 which would probably explain my swords floating near the surface.
Im aware that plants help eliminate nitrites, and my perfect readings previously were probably thanks to them, but right currently they were probably benefiting less than they were harming by their leaves dying & decomposing.
So now I ask how the fudge do I get these levels down other than more water changes?
I'm going to go ahead and get some Melafix today to maybe help the fins and destroy the bacteria leading to this that's developed in the water but I just need to understand how do I get this to go away??

Thanks for patience with me and input. I really just want my fishies healthy.


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## BishQueen (Aug 28, 2015)

Here are some photos of the rot., to any that might have had it before and know some answers..
The blueish photo depicts the position my male stays in most of his time.

Along with that, my other males tale has gotten shorter, which is disappointing...


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## BabyGirl77 (Jul 24, 2015)

Clean water will help with the fin rot. There is medication for fin rot. Yes water changes do get the ammonia down. Is this a new tank? Your tank could be cycling. Test your tap water to see if there is ammonia in the tap water, if there is then you are going to have to treat the tap before putting it in the tank.


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## welok (Jul 20, 2015)

A.Hobbyist said:


> I posted in this section about perhaps using Zeolite, but someone must have disagreed, because my post never showed up ??


Your post never showing up has nothing to do with people's agreement/disagreement -- that is what other people's comments are for to agree/disagree. I have never used Zeolite, but I have also never dealt with fin rot [quickly knocks on wood]. If your posts aren't showing up on any new posts tomorrow, you should PM the forum mods. From when I joined, anything that didn't post never did to my knowledge, so...


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Fin rot is columanrisand tetracycline will not work probably IMO.
You are looking for kanamycin and furan.I believe.

Fish Columnaris | Fungus & Saprolegnia | Treatment & Prevention

^good read with great links^

http://www.myaquariumclub.com/columnaris-and-what-i-have-learned...-1689.html

^easy read and probably most convincing for many^.
Salt and water changes first along with lowering temp to low/mid 70s.
Columnaris(AKA finrot) loves warm clean water.


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## BishQueen (Aug 28, 2015)

coralbandit said:


> Fin rot is columanrisand tetracycline will not work probably IMO.
> You are looking for kanamycin and furan.I believe.
> 
> Fish Columnaris | Fungus & Saprolegnia | Treatment & Prevention
> ...


Probably going to add some salt to my QT to see if that helps.
The brownish fungus does look like the one affecting my angel, whereas I think the swords just have some rot.
The Tetracycline fixed the swords right up but my Angel hasn't demonstrated much if any improvement. The ammonia is also at a 0 in my QT tank, and now at a more manageable .5 in my main tank. 
But also, my water was extremely clear and was particularly warm as well. -so maybe probably it was Columnaris. 
Nonetheless I'm going to fix my fishies up! -thanks!


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## BishQueen (Aug 28, 2015)

Blue Moon said:


> Clean water will help with the fin rot. There is medication for fin rot. Yes water changes do get the ammonia down. Is this a new tank? Your tank could be cycling. Test your tap water to see if there is ammonia in the tap water, if there is then you are going to have to treat the tap before putting it in the tank.


Id tested my water previously and it displayed no ammonia. 
And it is a new tank. -now especially since I've done my fair research on tanks recently.
My pet store said let it cycle 3 says, then I came back to get fish (thank god I didn't) and they said let it cycle 3 more days. 4 more days pass (in total I thought I was waiting for nothing haha) and I put fishies in it. It's been up about 2 months now. So yeah, it's new. But nonetheless, the ammonia still is freaking me out. Not so much now since its went down, but if it returns I'll have another panic attack.
I just can't believe they told me wait a week. -compared to educated websites who say wait 4-6 weeks... x.x


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## mooncon (Feb 13, 2015)

I don't know what pet store your dealing with but you have to remember most of the pet stores have uneducated employees as to how to cycle a tank among other things.I know sometimes I make stores mad because I will hear them telling people just set up the tank and your ready to go.I have had customers from the store to come to my house and get sponges to cycle their tanks.I have a sump that is full of sponges so if I decide to set up a tank its as easy as pulling some media put in the new filter and add fish.Ive always done weekly water changes of at least 50% and have been pretty lucky as far as sick fish go.All fish like the same things basically and that's clean water and consistency they don't like big changes especially large ph swings.I would keep doing water changes until you see an improvement.As far plants I love them they help with the water conditions and you can never have to many plants as far as I'm concerned.


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## big b (Jun 28, 2014)

Most pet stores are in it to make money, they see fish as expendable objects. They don't care if it dies, or your fish dies. They only want the money, a few stores are good however, you just have to find them. Because of that, I am not surprised that they only told you to wait 1 week..


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## BishQueen (Aug 28, 2015)

mooncon said:


> I don't know what pet store your dealing with but you have to remember most of the pet stores have uneducated employees as to how to cycle a tank among other things.I know sometimes I make stores mad because I will hear them telling people just set up the tank and your ready to go.I have had customers from the store to come to my house and get sponges to cycle their tanks.I have a sump that is full of sponges so if I decide to set up a tank its as easy as pulling some media put in the new filter and add fish.Ive always done weekly water changes of at least 50% and have been pretty lucky as far as sick fish go.All fish like the same things basically and that's clean water and consistency they don't like big changes especially large ph swings.I would keep doing water changes until you see an improvement.As far plants I love them they help with the water conditions and you can never have to many plants as far as I'm concerned.


When I did my research on setting up a tank, I was honestly appalled because they told me 0 of it. -but now I know otherwise. My future tanks will all be set up correctly & I am sort of pouting at my local Petco because of the bs they told me.
And as far as plants go, I've had a bunch of different kinds all fail on me. I've been told it might be because of my wAter softeners salt, but that'd be microbial amounts of salt I can't see affecting the plants as bad as they have been.
Ive got the Co2 booster, plenty of air, plant food, and root tabs for all the plants. 
Any tips for me here? 
i know I have bamboo and a fern which actually aren't doing that bad but my Anubis, my elephant ear, and my moss, to which I haven't checked on recently cause it's in a green bucket at the bottom, weren't doing the greatest.
Co2 systems are sooooo pricey. I'm going to my local hardware store today to see if they've got any cheaper options.


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## big b (Jun 28, 2014)

Bamboo, most ferns, and elephants ear aren't fully aquatic. They can survive for periods of time underwater but they can't live forever underwater.


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