My fish are dieing due to ammonia, any solutions about how i can help them?

Question

iv had my 35 liter tank for about 6 days now and my fish for about 4 days, and recently most of the fish have died, i asked the pet store why this had happend and they had told me that it was because ammonia levels being to high, the rest of the fish are barely living, i know alot about tropical and cold water fish because iv read alot about them but i dont know that much about ammonia, by the way i think my tank is still in its cycle process. if you know any thing that might help, could you please tell me in full detail and how i can prevent this in the future.

I need to know if i should change the water more often if so how much and when? and if 2 filters are needed ect. i have already bought some chemicals but i need to no if anything else will help?

i only have TROPICAL fish in the tank no gold fish or marine

Answer 1

Here is a site that discribes cycling a tank in detail and will answer every single one of your questions
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php


Hope that helps
Good luck


EB

Answer 2

Your tank is a little more than 9 US gallons. What's happening is that your tank is cycling. The fish produce the ammonia as a part of their wastes, but your tank doesn't yet have the bacteria needed to convert the ammonia to nitrite (which is also toxic to fish) then to nitrate.

You don't say how many fish you have left, but you can save them by doing frequent water changes. Start with a 50% change today, but add back the new water slowly. Too much of a change too quickly isn't good for your fish. You may want to do another 50 % change again tomorrow to get the ammonia levels even lower. If you have a gravel vacuum, use it to clean any wastes from the gravel while the water is being siphoned out.

You should also make sure you aren't overfeeding your fish right now, because more food = more wastes and uneaten food will also produce ammonia as it decomposes. So only give the fish what they can eat in about 2-3 minutes twice a day, and net out any uneaten food.

If you have access to some filter media from another tank (one with healthy fish and no algae problems), you can take a piece of old media when it's being changed, put it in a plastic bag with water to keep it wet, then add this to your tank to jump-start your bacteria population which would really benefit your fish and make the cycling take less time. There are some products you can buy which supposedly contain the same bacteria, but not all work equally well, and if they sit on the shelf too long, there may not be any live bacteria in it to use.

From a water change tomorrow, do smaller changes of about 10-20% twice a week for the next few weeks. After about 6 weeks, you should be okay. Don't add any more fish until then. You may want to get a test kit so you can monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels in the tank to make sure you're doing the water changes soon eneough and are changing enough of the volume. If you don't have a kit, your store should be able to test some samples for you. It will also help if you're familiar with the signs of ammonia and nitrite poisoning - gasping at the surface like they don't have enough air, sitting in one place at the bottom of the tank, loss of appetite, purplish (ammonia) or brownish (nitrite) gills, and splitting fins (ammonia). Your fish may also develop black spots which are like a chemical burn showing where the skin has been damaged. Since your fish have been exposed to a high ammonia level, these signs may still continue for a few days even with the water changes.

NOTE: I don't recommend using the ammonia and nitrite "detoxifiers" - they may work, but they also give false readings on the ammonia and nitrite water tests, because they don't completely remove the compounds from the tank.
Below are some links to info about ammonia and nitrite poisoning, and tank cycling:

Answer 3

Unfortunately, this happens quite a lot with new fishkeepers. People buy a tank, put water in and buy a bunch of fish, and then wonder what happened when several days later the fish all start dying.

You are correct that your tank is cycling. This is a process that starts when the fish produce waste, which builds up to toxic levels in the tank. Eventually, some good bacteria come along and they like to eat the ammonia in the waste, and then they get a huge colony, and THEY make the water kind of toxic for awhile. Finally, a healthy balance is achieved. It can take several weeks, and the fish that are in the tank are often killed or severely damaged.

There's a way to cycle a tank without fish, and if you ever do this again, you will want to read up. But for now, since you already have fish, here's what to do:

Start right now and do a big water change - like maybe 30% of your water. Then, every couple of days, do a 15%-20% water change. Get a good water test kit and test your water daily, and decide based on that how much water to change. The cycling process usually takes four to eight weeks.

Below is an article on how to do a water change, in case you need them. Look the whole site over. It's great for learning how to take care of a fishtank, and they have a forum where you can discuss your questions with people who've been doing this a long time. They're really helpful!

Answer 4

First, how many fish do you have? Generally, one inch of fish per gallon of water is the most you can safely keep. Goldfish are extremely filthy, so go 1" to 4 gal. H20. This is just a rule of thumb, obviously, and you see where a twelve inch Oscar is not the equivalent of 12 one-inch glass fish. Start with two or three fish of a very hearty variety. Most tetras will handle the cycle well. (Neon, cardinals: not so well). There is no point in running the tank without fish for more than a couple of days. This is enough time to get the temperature settled, and ensure that the equipment is working right. Then we get to the "cycling" period that has been discussed here. Several things happen in this time period. First the fish go to the bathroom, which breaks down into ammonia. You WILL have an ammonia spike, until the bacteria that break the ammonia down grow in sufficient numbers to handle the waste load. The ammonia breaks down, and should be near zero, but it breaks down into nitrites, which are just as bad as the ammonia. Never fear, another bacteria develops that will break down the nitrites into relatively harmless nitrates. These bacteria buildups each take about two weeks -- about a month all told. Only then do you need to start doing water changes, because that is the only way to remove the nitrites. It is also important to not add more fish during the cycle. The ones in your tank during the cycle have been gradually getting accustomed to the rising levels of the ammon. and nit., but new ones will get shocked coming from a clean tank into a cycling tank. Once established, do a 10% change about once a week, 20% once a month unless there is a huge emergency. Any more than that and you start taking out the good bacteria. In our store, we did not even have filter on all the tanks -- gravel for the bacteria to live in, aeration and frequent, regular partial water changes. I would not recommend this for any but the very conscientious aquarist. If your filter has multiple pads, change half at a time, and if you have a canister filter, do not replace the ceramic pieces. And only sweep about half the gravel at a time when doing water changes. These are homes for those wonderful bacteria. You can buy additives, but as another person noted, don't get the chemicals, get the live bacteria which will cycle a tank in one or two days. The best is a refrigerated product and it is very expensive, but I've used it and it works well.
Overfeeding is one of the worst things for a tank, because like fish poop, it breaks down into ammonia. DO NOT FEED AS MUCH AS THE JAR SAYS TO!!! A small fish's stomach is approximately the size of one of its eyes. Fish in the wild never get as much to eat as their tankraised cousins, and they have to work hard for what little they do get. A small pinch once a day is plenty, and try to get a balanced brand. It's pretty cool to watch them eat live food, but once they are into eating live fish, they may get more aggressive towards tank mates.
For advice, your best move would be to go to a reputable fish only dealer, not a national departmentstore type pet shop. They often do not have the resources to develop and train minumum wage workers while keeping their prices at rock bottom.

The main key is patience. In a couple years, when you have a healthy ecosystem, you won't remember the couple of weeks you had to wait. (Sorry, didn't mean to sound like a public service announcement)

Answer 5

Yes, it is bad to put all the fish in at once. With a 20 gallon tank, you should add only 2 fish a week, but not before you let the tank run without any fish for 2 weeks. Otherwise, all the fish will create an ammonia spike and kill themselves with their own waste since the good bacteria in the tank haven't been given time to adjust to the new bioload. That dandruf looking stuff on them is called ich. Ich gets ahold on the fish when they are stressed out or when introducing a fish into the tank that already has it. You could try treating the fish but I'm not sure it would do any good since your tank is very new they would likely die from the ammonia buildup anyways. Medication requires you to take the carbon out of your filter and since you really need it to absorb ammonia, you could try a salt bath to cure the ich.

Salt Bath: Use aquarium salt if you can, otherwise you could use a pure salt that has no iodine or addatives. Use about 1tbsp per gallon, but slowly add it in over the course of a 24-48 hours so as not to shock the fish. Have the water like this for 10 days or untill 3 days after all visible signs of ich have disappeared, then do a 40-50% water change. If you have an aquarium heater turn the temp up to about 80-82 degrees during this treatment. Since warm water holds less oxygen you will need to make sure your water is well aeriated (moving around) and there is no film covering the surface of the water so that the fish do not suffocate.

In addition to the salt bath, I would put double the carbon in the filter. You most likely won't be able to save all of the fish but I believe this is the best thing you can try right now.

For the future, when stocking your tank, each inch of fish needs 1 gallon. So a 3" fish would need 3 gallons to itself. Keep in mind that fish will grow and how much water they will eventually need. This is only a "rule of thumb" however, and does not apply to every type of fish. (I hope this Helps you)





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Answer 6

Your tank is the equivalent of about 9 US gallons. Yes, it's still going through the cycle process, the whole thing takes about 4-8 weeks to complete. Start doing daily water changes(this will prolong the cycle process a bit, but it's really the only way to possibly save your fish). This will help dilute the ammonia. Here's a link, has an article about how a tank cycles, and another on ammonia and nitrite poisoning. If your fish make it through the ammonia spike, you'll be dealing with a nitrite spike soon:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/startupcycle/Step_5_The_Cycle.htm

Not sure if it's available where you live, but see if the pet stores carry a product called Prime by Seachem. It's a water dechlorinator, but it detoxifies ammonia and nitrites to a less toxic form, but doesn't remove them, so the tank can continue to cycle.

I would also recommend picking up your own test kit to test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. The liquid dropper kinds are better(and more money). That way you can monitor the levels daily, and adjust your water changes accordingly. Also, don't add anymore fish to the tank till it's done cycling. And when you do add fish, do it slowly, only 1 or 2 at a time. Good luck!

Answer 7

You need a liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrites. When the levels test above zero for ammonia, change water immediately. Then when nitrites kick in you need to change the water as the levels get above zero. The nitrates are last in the cycle and can be at a level of 10-20 before you change. Test and change the water daily as you cycle. It should only take a few weeks. Do not clean the filters or gravel while you cycle. The good bacteria lives in the filters and the mistake most people make is changing the filter too often.

Throw out or bring back ALL chemicals except dechlorinator. Products that claim to help the ph or the cycle are made so that newbies end up killing fish and spending more money.

Answer 8

first of all....did u do research about having a tank. well other than that, u shouldnt have fish so soon. u need to cycle the tank until the levels are right...exp.ph, alkalinity, hardness,etc. the fastest way to cycle ur water is to use food

Answer 9

You probably should let the tank settle for far longer than 4 days before putting fish in it to live.

Answer 10

first thing is if you have had the tank a week you should nt have any fish in it at all and yes it is...
try this site it will have many answers to what you need to know about what you are doing wrong... cycling a tank takes much long than a week if done right read more before you buy more fish

http://www.oscarfish.com

Answer 11

You could buy chemicals for your tank. They have them for freshwater at LFS. Plus you should clean your tank reguarly and make 20% water changes every week. Good luck.