# High Ammo and red gills



## Mira (Sep 13, 2011)

Hi everyone 

I really need help with my tank(s) i thought all would be fine once my tank cycled. Before I finally bought my Aqueon quietflow 20 filter, we were using bubblers. I really don't know if it was helping out or not during cycling but I have noticed last week that my platys' and otos' have red gills. That is one of the reasons i bought the new filter, the other was i noticed them all pooping more. anyways, on October 10 my ammonia was @ 2.0 so i immediately did a 50% water change, added aquarium salt, stress zyme, and . After the water change i tested my water again and ammonia went down to .50, which i was relieved. 

So today i did another 50% water change trying to fix the ammonia problem in the tank. I have read about getting live plants and that should help out, but will the high ammonia levels kill the plant and then harm my fish?

Oh yeah, we also have another 10 gallon tank with higher readings than mine. He told me that he would feed his fish twice a day but since we upgraded to 10 gallon on 10/10 he has fed them that day and we will feed again 10/12. He put about 30% of old tank water in new tank as well with fresh water.

hubby's tank
Tank size: 10 Gallon with aqueon quietflow 10
Ammonia: .50
NitrIte: 5.0
NitrAte: 5.0
PH/GH/KH: 7.8
Cycled,yes or no: yes?
Number of fish: 6 plus 2 red cherry shrimp
Acclimation process:
Physical signs of illness(IE spots,shimmer,ECT): red gills
How often between fish additions: 10/5 zebra danio, 10/10 2 cherry shrimp
Waterchange schedule: i'm not sure when he does it
Tank temp: 84

My tank
Tank size: 10 Gallon with aqueon quiet flow20
Ammonia: 1.0
NitrIte: 1.0
NitrAte: 5.0
PH/GH/KH: 8.0
Cycled,yes or no: yes?
Number of fish: 6
Acclimation process:
Physical signs of illness(IE spots,shimmer,ECT): red gills
How often between fish additions: sunburst platy 10/5
Waterchange schedule: 50% water change every other day
Tank temp: 82

Please help us figure out what's we're doing wrong *c/p*


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Sounds like ammonia poisoning. How long has the tank been up? Your adding to many fish at one time, and changing out filters has set the tank into a cycle again.

Quit adding salt to the tank, just use dechlorinator and do water changes to bring the nitrites and ammonia down. Don't add any more fish.


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## Mira (Sep 13, 2011)

ammonia poisoning? that's what i thought well my tank has been up since 9/11, so 1 month today. not sure on his tank but it was like 2 wks after me

ok so no more salt but i thought it was good for the fish


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## Mira (Sep 13, 2011)

i always get confused when i see people write dechlorinator lol. so every time i do a water change i put 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt, 5ml of tap water conditioner and 5ml of stress zyme. today i put 10ml of tap water conditioner hoping it will help ease their red gills. 

I also wanted to add that 1 of my otos' died yesterday, i didn't find him until last night when i noticed the fish nibbling on it.

so i'm starting my cycling again since i put in a new filter, is that why my readings are high?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Yes you are cycling again. You may loose more fish as cycles can shorten their life span. Don't add anymore fish until its completely cycled. Once that is done the ammonia and nitrite will read zero. Then when adding fish do it slowly. Keep up with water changes.

Dechlorinator is a good water conditioner. If you get some prime or amquel + it will help you fish a lot more than stress zyme as it will bind most of the ammonia and nitrites to make it not so toxic. But keep up with water changes at least every other day unless you loose all your fish then don't do changes until it fully cycles.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You never completed the cycle, so not really starting again. Will RCS do well in temps that high? Sounds like you would be cooking them, but I'm not sure on their requirements.


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## madtyke (Sep 26, 2011)

Hi, I agree with everything susankat says, 4 weeks is no time at all to cycle the tank, keep up with the water changes whilst you have fish and keep testing, you want 0 ammonia and nitrites. There is a product, cant remember what its called, that is supposed to be live bacteria that you can add to the filter media. A lot of people think these products are rubbish but hey, it worked for me and it certainly wont make things worse.


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## Mira (Sep 13, 2011)

red cherry shrimp can be in water temps as high as 80 ... i told my hubby but i don't know anything lol.

i do add bacteria to my water i believe that's the stress zyme.

well tomorrow i plan on going to petsmart and picking up Kordon Water Conditioning kit, it comes with a bottle of amquel plus and novaqua plus ... what do you guys think? also if they have i would like to get some hornwort for both tanks. i just hope the plant doesn't die in our tank. 

so please let me know what you think, i guess i didn't know what i was doing but hey its a lesson learned *H2


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

I agree with everything Susan said except for the Amquel+. If you use any ammonia locking chemicals during the cycle, it will just stall the whole process. Better to just keep doing water changes to get rid of the ammonia.

Also noticed you listed your husbands tanks Nitrites at 5ppm and ammonia at .5ppm. He needs to do a 50% water change (which will take the ammonia down a bit) but will also take down the Nitrites. Nitrites are highly toxic to fish and he's got them at the highest number on the test chart!


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

holly12 said:


> I agree with everything Susan said except for the Amquel+. If you use any ammonia locking chemicals during the cycle, it will just stall the whole process.


According to the manufacturers the bacteria in the filter can use the ammonia like normal its just not so harmful to the fish. If thats true it should not effect the cycling but some people says it does. I wonder if anyone has tested it.


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## Mira (Sep 13, 2011)

Thanks so much for the responses, i really do appreciate them all. Well I have nothing to lose trying out the amquel, well maybe a fish but my guys are survivors. Still gotta try to get to petsmart feeling a bit sick but the day is still young 

Oh i feel like a horrible fish mom, i forgot to mention my betta so there are 7 fish in my tank. 3 mickey mouse platy, 1 sunburst platy, 2 oto and 1 halfmoon betta. I also have a 2.5 gallon fry tank which have 3 lil teeny tiny sunburst fry.


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## Mira (Sep 13, 2011)

was just thinking about this ... is it ok to do daily 50% water changes until the ammonia goes down to zero without stressing out my fish?*reading


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Yes its okay. And no amquel will not slow down the cycling process. It just detoxifies it so it won't harm the fish as much but the the bacteria is still able to utilize it.


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## Mira (Sep 13, 2011)

just got back from petsmart and was a bit disappointed that they didn't have any hornwort but i did get a anacharis plant and a mondo grass. after getting home and doing a bit of research i find out that mondo grass isn't for aquariums. was gonna put that one in hubby's tank oh well i guess we'll have to go to petland and see what they have there.

gonna go do the water change and add the amquel and then do a test on both tanks and see the results


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Ohhh - thanks for clearing that up. So, that's why Nitrates still show up when I use Amquel... they are still there, just way less toxic.... cool beans!


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## Mira (Sep 13, 2011)

*w3 great news well for us anyways lol the amquel freakin worked!! i am so excited both tanks came out with the same results

no3 5.0
ammo 0
ph 7.4
no2 0.25

hubby said his levels were cause of the water changes i say its cause of the amquel. will have to check again tomorrow to make sure the ammo levels stay at zero. thanks so much for all your advice


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Even with Amquel, your test kit will show ammonia. Great if you no longer read it, but Amquel doesn't make it where the test pop up zero, just detoxifies it.

You should let the tank run for about a hour before you test again after a water change.


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## Mira (Sep 13, 2011)

hi again everyone  well i tested our tanks late yesterday evening and hubby's tank was still good but mine was a bit crazy. nitrate was still 5.0 ammo was slightly in between 0 and 25, but my nitrite was @ 1.0. so i did another 50% water change and i'm done with testing for tonight.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Make sure your hubby's nitrites are at 0ppm - noticed that they were still showing after the Amquel. Keep doing water changes if they are showing. You'll get there eventually!


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