silver molly having seizures????? help
- Thread starter lasbh9
- Start date
If the bottle says it does, then it does -- what's on the web may not be complete. But, when it breaks the chloramine bond, it does take care of the chlorine, but I don't think it does anything to the ammonia that it has just broken off of the chlorine, which could spike your ammonia levels depending on how much chloramine is in your tap water.
I think the best thing would be to get something like the Seachem Prime (this detoxifies all of the bad stuff but makes it still useable for the bacteria so you can get the bacteria growing) or a conditioner with "ammo lock" in it. The thread I linked earlier can give you some ideas about how to cycle your tank with fish in it.
I'm glad it sounds like your molly is doing better, although I'm really sorry your tetra didn't make it - please keep us updated!
thank u sooooo much....
You're very welcome.
Just out of curiosity, what part of NY -- I'm in Northern Westchester.
Well, welcome to this site neighbor -- and please don't hesitate to post more questions as you get your aquarium up and running. It's amazing how much more there is to ti than what most pet stores suggest! Good luck, Lisa
Well, I think the best you can do tonight is hope for the best. However, as a fairly new tank, yours many not be fully cycled. The link someone posted has good info about cycling a tank.
Probably either ammonia, or nitrites, or both are elevated enough to be causing problems. With my new tank I experienced this, being a newbie myself at the time.
Tonight, as an emergency treatment, just in case either chlorine or nitrites are the problem, you could do another partial water change, leaving them in the tank, and making sure the water temp is the same as the tank temperature. This would help to reduce harmful levels of ammonia and nitrite.
Also, I was helped by KarlTH, who is an expert in the chemistry of the aquarium, on one occasion when I had nitrite poisoning. The same treatment works for chlorine poisoning.
0.5 teaspoons table salt per 10 gallons. That will prevent uptake of the nitrite until you can do a water change.
This is like giving oxygen to a sick or injured person. The salt interferes with the action of the nitrites in the gills. The salt binds with the hemoglobin and allows the o2 to be carried to the body.
The hemoglobin in the blood is what carries oxygen to the cells, and nitrites bind with the hemoglobin and prevent the o2 from binding with the hemoglobin so the fish in effect suffocates.
The salt helps in a similar way with chlorine poisoning, in that the fish can breath better and get more o2.
Be sure to dilute the salt in a cup of tank water and gradually pour it into the tank.
I would do that after a water change tonight if you can. If you dose the salt tonight, and then do a water change in the morning, you need to replace the salinity that you removed.
Example: if you dose .5 tsp for 10 gallons, then tomorrow do a 50% water change, add .25 tsp to the water you're adding back.
You need to get the API Master liquid test kit. Strips aren't very accurate, and over a few weeks and months you really save money with the API kit using test tubes and drops of chemicals rather than strips.
It is imperative that you get testing equipment, to monitor ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph.
As soon as you can, tomorrow, get a product called PRIME.
It's a great conditioner, and it detoxifies ammonia and nitrites for at least 24 hours and can really save your life, the life of your fishies that is, until you can do water changes to bring levels to safe limits.
I've read many many posts on this forum, and the consensus is that PRIME is a life saver.
We've all been there, with a new tank, and until your beneficial bacteria that eat ammonia, and then nitrite eating bacteria develope in your tank, you are going to have unstable water parameters.
Here's a great link to a thread that follows the progress of one of our members. When you have time, look through it. You'll learn a lot. Really, there are so many extremely experienced fishkeepers here, that want to help. You have come to the right place.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177542&highlight=katuuz
As you look for help on the AC you might want to start new threads in the 'Newbie" forum. I always titled it something like 'HELP HELP, nitrites!!" or something that helps convey your level of distress. It's not that people won't respond quickly, it's just that there are so many people looking for assistance that I guess the folks here sort of "triage" and go for the ones that seem the most serious first.
This is, I think, the best forum on the web for fishkeepers of all levels of experience. These people here really want to help, and you'll really learn a lot.
Welcome to the AC, and I hope sincerely, that your molly and the others will be OK.
Probably either ammonia, or nitrites, or both are elevated enough to be causing problems. With my new tank I experienced this, being a newbie myself at the time.
Tonight, as an emergency treatment, just in case either chlorine or nitrites are the problem, you could do another partial water change, leaving them in the tank, and making sure the water temp is the same as the tank temperature. This would help to reduce harmful levels of ammonia and nitrite.
Also, I was helped by KarlTH, who is an expert in the chemistry of the aquarium, on one occasion when I had nitrite poisoning. The same treatment works for chlorine poisoning.
0.5 teaspoons table salt per 10 gallons. That will prevent uptake of the nitrite until you can do a water change.
This is like giving oxygen to a sick or injured person. The salt interferes with the action of the nitrites in the gills. The salt binds with the hemoglobin and allows the o2 to be carried to the body.
The hemoglobin in the blood is what carries oxygen to the cells, and nitrites bind with the hemoglobin and prevent the o2 from binding with the hemoglobin so the fish in effect suffocates.
The salt helps in a similar way with chlorine poisoning, in that the fish can breath better and get more o2.
Be sure to dilute the salt in a cup of tank water and gradually pour it into the tank.
I would do that after a water change tonight if you can. If you dose the salt tonight, and then do a water change in the morning, you need to replace the salinity that you removed.
Example: if you dose .5 tsp for 10 gallons, then tomorrow do a 50% water change, add .25 tsp to the water you're adding back.
You need to get the API Master liquid test kit. Strips aren't very accurate, and over a few weeks and months you really save money with the API kit using test tubes and drops of chemicals rather than strips.
It is imperative that you get testing equipment, to monitor ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph.
As soon as you can, tomorrow, get a product called PRIME.
It's a great conditioner, and it detoxifies ammonia and nitrites for at least 24 hours and can really save your life, the life of your fishies that is, until you can do water changes to bring levels to safe limits.
I've read many many posts on this forum, and the consensus is that PRIME is a life saver.
We've all been there, with a new tank, and until your beneficial bacteria that eat ammonia, and then nitrite eating bacteria develope in your tank, you are going to have unstable water parameters.
Here's a great link to a thread that follows the progress of one of our members. When you have time, look through it. You'll learn a lot. Really, there are so many extremely experienced fishkeepers here, that want to help. You have come to the right place.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177542&highlight=katuuz
As you look for help on the AC you might want to start new threads in the 'Newbie" forum. I always titled it something like 'HELP HELP, nitrites!!" or something that helps convey your level of distress. It's not that people won't respond quickly, it's just that there are so many people looking for assistance that I guess the folks here sort of "triage" and go for the ones that seem the most serious first.
This is, I think, the best forum on the web for fishkeepers of all levels of experience. These people here really want to help, and you'll really learn a lot.
Welcome to the AC, and I hope sincerely, that your molly and the others will be OK.
Chloride (note - not chlorine!) competes with the nitrite for take up at the gills, so it's taken up instead of nitrite. I'm not aware of it having any effect on chlorine poisoning, since chlorine is not ionic so can't use the same uptake mechanism.
Get the basic tests, but also get GH and KH. Mollies cannot (IME) live long term in soft water, so you need to know the hardness.
Get the basic tests, but also get GH and KH. Mollies cannot (IME) live long term in soft water, so you need to know the hardness.
I don't really know the specifcs, on a cellular level, as to how salt helps with chlorine poisoning. It was indicated for chlorine poisoning in an article I read on Practical Fishkeeping, a UK fish forum. I copied it and pasted it to wordpad to save on my computer in a folder I created to keep info that I thought might be helpful to me, as a fishkeeper. (Much copied and pasted text by KarlTH is in there as well)
Another article by Myron Kebus, DVM discusses salt in his article "Salt Treatments: Chicken Soup for Your Fish". He suggested the use of salt when a fish has been stressed, although the article mostly deals with fish in ponds, therefore no mention of chlorine poisoning. I'm not knowledgeable about much in the fishkeeping world, seriously, I still consider myself a noob, but it seemed that in general, salt can be, if you will, sort of a tonic that aids the fish in feeling better and in general helps it heal.
Another article that discussed its use in fishkeeping compared its use to giving oxygen to a sick or injured person, though it didn't explain in what way it acts to help the fish breathe better.
Here's an excerpt from Dr. Kebus' article:
"If I had to choose just one chemical to treat freshwater pond fish, it would be salt. Salt is probably the safest and the most forgiving of all the drug or chemical treatments available for our fish. It is highly effective in curing many types of diseases, infections, and conditions. And even if it won't cure everything that's ailing them, it will probably help ease them through the most difficult periods of their illness. "
Myron Kebus, MS, DVM
The following is a quote from Practical Fishkeeping, though I'm sorry to say I didn't copy the name of the author of that article.
Treatment for Chlorine poisoning
When you change water you should use the chlorine tester to find out whether the water contains chlorine. If so, use chlorine neutralizer to get rid of chlorine - (hypo).
After changing water, if the content of chlorine is high, it will kill the fish in a very short period of time. You will then know the chlorine in the water causes the death of the fish.
If the content of chlorine is low, it will not kill the fish immediately. The chlorine will get into the body through the gill and kill the fish slowly day after day. Always periodically test for small amounts chlorine presence in water.
Treating chlorine poisoning
Prepare another tank with water no chlorine
Transfer the fish to the new tank carefully. (Minimize the stress)
Apply very small dosage of antibiotic plus salt
Change water and repeat the same treatment every day for at least 5 days
I don't know if any of this is helpful, but I thought it might be. Hope your molly is getting better.
Another article by Myron Kebus, DVM discusses salt in his article "Salt Treatments: Chicken Soup for Your Fish". He suggested the use of salt when a fish has been stressed, although the article mostly deals with fish in ponds, therefore no mention of chlorine poisoning. I'm not knowledgeable about much in the fishkeeping world, seriously, I still consider myself a noob, but it seemed that in general, salt can be, if you will, sort of a tonic that aids the fish in feeling better and in general helps it heal.
Another article that discussed its use in fishkeeping compared its use to giving oxygen to a sick or injured person, though it didn't explain in what way it acts to help the fish breathe better.
Here's an excerpt from Dr. Kebus' article:
"If I had to choose just one chemical to treat freshwater pond fish, it would be salt. Salt is probably the safest and the most forgiving of all the drug or chemical treatments available for our fish. It is highly effective in curing many types of diseases, infections, and conditions. And even if it won't cure everything that's ailing them, it will probably help ease them through the most difficult periods of their illness. "
Myron Kebus, MS, DVM
Originally published in Water Gardening Magazine, Jan/Feb 1999 Reprinted with permission
Aquarticles
The following is a quote from Practical Fishkeeping, though I'm sorry to say I didn't copy the name of the author of that article.
Treatment for Chlorine poisoning
When you change water you should use the chlorine tester to find out whether the water contains chlorine. If so, use chlorine neutralizer to get rid of chlorine - (hypo).
After changing water, if the content of chlorine is high, it will kill the fish in a very short period of time. You will then know the chlorine in the water causes the death of the fish.
If the content of chlorine is low, it will not kill the fish immediately. The chlorine will get into the body through the gill and kill the fish slowly day after day. Always periodically test for small amounts chlorine presence in water.
Treating chlorine poisoning
Prepare another tank with water no chlorine
Transfer the fish to the new tank carefully. (Minimize the stress)
Apply very small dosage of antibiotic plus salt
Change water and repeat the same treatment every day for at least 5 days
I don't know if any of this is helpful, but I thought it might be. Hope your molly is getting better.
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