Ammonia spike! 2-3 PPM!

[yashinfan]

I have 3 fish in a 10 gallon, I guess I now know that it wasn't fully cycled.

I tested the ammonia: 2-3 PPM.

What do I do to bring it down? The fish are swimming crazily and one of them is breathing a bit heavily and sometimes sits on the bottom and then starts swimming again! PLZ HELP NOW!

[allwet]

hi yash.see my post on your strange behavior post.you do need to get the test kits.check your tap water for ammonia.when adding water be sure to add amquel for the ammonmia,chlorine and chloramines.their are other products to use also.any three of the above mentioned can damage and or kill your fish.allwet.........

[NJ Devils Fan]

Other than about a 40% water change, there really is nothing. That is why so many people fishless cycle, because it doesn't put stress on any fish.

[anonapersona]

Change water! match temps, dechlorinate.

[LMOUTHBASS]

will be against this but you coul try an amonia neutralizer just to save your fish until you have changed the water enough to get your amonia out of the tank, i used one before and noticed the fish were breathing a lot easier once i put the chemicals in, again i only used the stuff because it was an extreme situation

[famman]

I might have to agree with the last post, a bag of ammo-lock in your filter might get you past this difficulty. Frequent water changes are also important.
good luck
:)

[somefinnfishy]

nothing wrong with adding some white dimmond or similar product its not adding chems as its an absorber.

[yashinfan]

Since it is a sponge filter in that tank I couldn't use ammo-lock. I did a 20% water change the first day and the ammonia was down to 1PPM yesterday. I've been doing 15% water changes daily and will continue until the quarantine period is over and I can put them in the community tank. I also only fed them every 24 hours to cut down on wastes produced. They are looking better than before and have calmed down a great deal.

What do you recommend as a good quarantine period?

[allwet]

you can put the ammo lock in a small box filter if you have one.(sandwich it between floss).i q/t two weeks.many q/t even longer.does your tap water have ammonia in it? allwet..

[yashinfan]

I don't have a box filter so that doesn't help me. There is no ammonia in my tap water. I think I will quarantine them for a week.

[anonapersona]

one week is not going to solve many problems, 3 to 4 weeks is wat most people who have quarantine tanks do.

preventing Disease (http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquasource/diseaseprevention.shtml)

[yashinfan]

Wow! That long? How long would it take for a fungus infection to show up? Should I medicate the tank even if they don't show signs of having it just to be safe?? The other danios I have in my 23 gallon tank I didn't quarantine when I added them (2-2-3) seperately. They are all from the same store and same tank and I haven't had any problems with them. After I bought the last 3 I saw one fish have a fungal infection that would be easily cured but none-the-less I didn't want to expose my fish to it without needing to. They've been in quarantine for 5 days now in my 10 gallon tank.

Do you think it's better to leave these fish in an uncycled 10 gallon tank for another 9 days where the ammonia is still 1PPM and I do 15% water changes daily?

Or do you think it's better to put those 3 fish in with the other 7 so as not to stress them out any more??

[Sumpin'fishy]

They have already been stressed and are now more prone to picking up any disease/pathogens. I would DEFINATELY keep them in the Q-tank for 3 more weeks. Ammonia/Nitrite can damage gills and cause other problems which could make getting "sick" much more easy than normal.

I used to do minimal QT with my fish, until I got sickness running rampant in one tank. It was a heavily planted tank, so when I added medications it tends to harm the plants also. I will now do a 1 month QT on any fish I add to my house....period!

[yashinfan]

The ammonia level has been between 0 and 1 PPM the last couple of days. Is it still necessary to do daily water changes of 15% or is the tank cycled enough that the ammonia levels will stay down? The three fish have been quarantined for a week and show no signs of disease or infections.

My next pair is set to spawn on July 11th, so I was wondering do you think it would be safe to take the fish out of quarantine on the 9th, which would give them a total of 12 days in quarantine? Also, do I change all the water in that tank if I want to put established "safe" fish into that tank to make it a breeding tank? I know that most people suggested a quarantine period of 2-4 weeks but I don't think that is practical in my situation. I have no live plants, observe my fish everyday and if they were to get any sort of disease I would treat them immediately at first sign...

Do you think that my impatience will end up killing my fish??

[JSchmidt]

IME, impatience is not conducive to good fishkeeping. Your primary concern should be controlling/preventing illness in your main tank, and a quarantine of 12 days is just about worthless. I consider a month the minimum time for quarantine, and 6 weeks is usually adequate. All kinds of nasties -- intestinal parasites, etc., may not show up right away. Quarantining for only 12 days is the same as not quarantining at all, in my book.

Water changes are in order to keep ammonia below 1 ppm. Are you also testing for nitrites?

Jim

[anonapersona]

Yashinfan, do I recall that you are using a dechlorinator that treats for chloramines?

I'm not really up of how that affects ammonia readings.... can someone enlighten me, and maybe Yashinfan too, if this is what she is using.

I'm thinking that if she has used Prime or something like that then the standard ammonia test kit will read ammonia but it is actually bound up and not affecting the fish.

Right?

[yashinfan]

Alright well I moved my fish (2 out of 3) into the community tank and there was a spawn immediately (*grrr*) and I moved a male to the bottom tank with the remaining female and it's been 6 days and I am not quite sure if they have spawned because he's about half her size!
I used dechlorinator when I added new water but the ammonia tests were about 22-24 hours after that. The ammonia level is now 0 ppm even tho I continue to use dechlorinator so it doesn't seem to affect the test. I do not test for nitrites or nitrates- only the fish store does that for me if something goes wrong. But they were 0 even then ... so... yes... My fish are all fine and continue to breed like mad horny fish that they are. No problem of mine. :D