Hello, have posted recently about acidic ph in my tank, but fish seem to have been fine, in fact a bit too active! Anyway have had them a week or so, seven hardy fish, yesterday did a partial water change, and it's all gone horribly wrong! Water is cloudy now, doesn't seem to have settled, but much more worringly, fish are hogging the surface, as if there is an oxygen shirtage. How could this have happened? Should i do another water change when i get home? Doubt ammonia could be too high yet, and have put ammo lock in anyway as got initial reading of 0.25, filter pump pumps out water just above water level so get some bubbles that way in water, what should i do???
Please help!
- Thread starter howiehok
- Start date
Oooh boy, sounds like trouble. I had a similar problem a few weeks ago when my tank crashed (it became UN-cycled)... the water turned cloudy and fishies looked like they weren't getting enough air. My ammonia levels were astounding when my fish were behaving like this. Sounds like your tank is cycling.
Not sure about the specifics of why they hog the surface exactly-- I don't *think* it's an oxygen shortage, but rather their ability to use the oxygen. For one, the ammonia burns up their gills-- comprimising their ability to absorb oxygen from water.. Or, if it's high nitrites, I believe this will displace oxygen in the blood-stream. Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken on this.
Yeh, so either way-- not good! Don't know if you've tested for nitrites, but keep doing 50% water changes until your fish seem more comfortable.
Not sure about the specifics of why they hog the surface exactly-- I don't *think* it's an oxygen shortage, but rather their ability to use the oxygen. For one, the ammonia burns up their gills-- comprimising their ability to absorb oxygen from water.. Or, if it's high nitrites, I believe this will displace oxygen in the blood-stream. Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken on this.
Yeh, so either way-- not good! Don't know if you've tested for nitrites, but keep doing 50% water changes until your fish seem more comfortable.
problems
done all in one test and nitrates still seem very low so no problem there, well unless you consider no nitrate as part of the problem! Put ammo lock in though which might have disrupted the cycle, and as mentioned water too acidic...
done all in one test and nitrates still seem very low so no problem there, well unless you consider no nitrate as part of the problem! Put ammo lock in though which might have disrupted the cycle, and as mentioned water too acidic...
nitrates are really not the thing to worry about right now, its amonia and nitrites that are really toxic, start doing large water changes to help bring the levels down. If you don't have test kits for nitrite and amonia, your LFS will usually test for free, then you can post the results here and may get some more advice! Good luck
testing
Thanks for that. Done tests and nitrate and nitrite levels very low, ammonia definitely too high, was 0.25 when first tested so i added some ammo lock to tank but that product has been slated since then so wish i hadn't and latest test was even higher, approaching one, but ammonia would still show up even if ammo lock had detoxified it, so not sure how accurate that reading is. Done another partial water change this evening, and put some mild buffer in which should help it rise to 7.0, but only putting that in a bit at a time as don't want sudden change to shock the fish.
Thanks for that. Done tests and nitrate and nitrite levels very low, ammonia definitely too high, was 0.25 when first tested so i added some ammo lock to tank but that product has been slated since then so wish i hadn't and latest test was even higher, approaching one, but ammonia would still show up even if ammo lock had detoxified it, so not sure how accurate that reading is. Done another partial water change this evening, and put some mild buffer in which should help it rise to 7.0, but only putting that in a bit at a time as don't want sudden change to shock the fish.
Is the pH stable? That's more important than a bit low--what buffer did you add? Many commercial products will not give you stable results.
How long was the tank cycled? How did you clean the tank/filter? In the mean time--water changes, water changes, water changes. Feed the fish lightly--they'll be better off with less waste in the tank than with more food, and many likely won't eat much anyway.
How long was the tank cycled? How did you clean the tank/filter? In the mean time--water changes, water changes, water changes. Feed the fish lightly--they'll be better off with less waste in the tank than with more food, and many likely won't eat much anyway.