Dying Fish??!! Help!

[ekimmel]

Hi - one of my fish is in trouble.

I have a 5g tank with 1 zebra danio and 2 panda cories. One of the cories - the bigger one - is virtually motionless in the tank. He has been like that all day, even when I fed the tank and the other 2 zipped around and ate as usual while the one in question just laid there. Very strange.

Did ammonia check and looked like 1.0 - did 50% water change and now reads .5. pH is 7.2. Nitrites are 0.0.

What can I do to help and save my fish??? I dont want it to die!!

thanks

[ekimmel]

Side note-- I have had the tank for 3 months or so now, and have had problems with eliminating all the ammonia in the past. From other posts, I have done water changes to keep this level at or under .5, but still dont have any nitrites. I am really concerned about my fish. It is laying on the bottom and very rarely wil it move and when it does, its like the water is moving him - it doesnt look like he is swimming.

[Holly9937]

I would do another water change, and start testing the water daily, or more often to keep the ammonia down. As close to, or at 0 is really best, ammonia is really hard on the fish. Have you ever figured out why the tank is not cycling? Do you have any nitrate reading? Is there a filter on the tank?

[Jericho]

Are you declorinating the water when you put it in? If not then you are killing any bacteria that may be forming...

[ekimmel]

I just did a 2nd water change. I dont know why its not cycling. I use a Whisper 10 filter, but I did throw out and replace this monthly until a month ago when I was told to keep it in for much longer to keep good bacteria around.

I dont know what my nitrate is -- all i have is ammonia, ph and nitrite tests.

Is there anything I can do in the meantime to make sure my sick fish lives?? Someone told me I could put salt in?? Will this help?

[ekimmel]

Yes, I use AquaSafe when I add water. And I tested my tap water - it is ammonia-free.

[Holly9937]

What are you using in your filter now? Its good that you aren't throwing them out regularly now, but I would suggest getting some sponge and cutting it to fit the filter container, that will trap dirt really well, and can be rinsed out (in tank water of course) much more thouroughly than some of the inserts can. I would get a nitrate test when you can, or have your LFS test for you, just to find out what the reading is, and to have all the info. we can. I don't know that salt would help. I know I have read that it helps if the nitrites are high, but not sure if it will do anything for high ammonia...

How often do you normally do water changes/gravel vac.?

[ekimmel]

I do on average a water change every 2 weeks. Recently, I have been doing them more often to try and get the ammonia levels down and keep them down. I did go the last 2 weeks with no changes - because the ammonia was staying at .5 and lower. Today I noticed the cory just laying there and did a test and it was close to 1, if not 1.

The filter I have has that foamy material with the gravel they give you in it.

[ekimmel]

sorry, carbon i meant - not gravel.

My fish really does not look good. Almost like death is imminent. Is there anything I can do to save it???