Hello, I have a question about ammonia poisoning recovery time...if there is any true recovery. There is not much information about what happens when your water parameters return to normal and if your fish survive. I was wondering if any of you guys had an info on how long the recovery process is? Do they ever fully recover?
I ask because I just had an ammonia spike in my tank, because I am an idiot; and my blood parrot was greatly affected by it. The stupid thing I did was deep clean my HOB filter, I'm pretty sure I scrubbed all the beneficial bacteria out of it. I didn't replace the old filter cartridges. The next day the water got cloudy, so stupidly, I changed the filters. Yeah, I know...bad bad. A few days after that, my parrot was SO pale, sitting in the bottom corner of the tank, between her flower pot and the tank side. The heaters had pretty much failed, they were "on" but not really on. That same day I realized the water was cold, around 75, our power went out for 5 solid hours. So it was just back to back total fish tank nightmare.
I have added a new heater, that was the first step. When that didn't solve her problems, I looked into filtration. I realized I had been doing it all wrong this whole time, I got some ceramic bio-rings, let them sit in tank water for a few hours before putting them into the filter. I fashioned my own filter media, by putting bio-rings into a floss cartridge, some rings in the bottom of the HOB and some where the water flows over. I left the old cartridges in for 2 days before I took them out.
I have been doing 50%-75% water changes daily for the last 6 days, vacuuming the top of the gravel. The ammonia is down to 0 ppm, but I'm not sure about the nitrites/nitrates, because I don't have that test kit. I stopped feeding her days ago, she had no interest in food anyway and I didn't want any excess waste in the tank.
This long post brings us to today. The tank has been at 0 ppm of ammonia since yesterday, I haven't done a water change today because it seems okay. I decided to give the blood parrot a meal worm with the head pinched to see if she had any interest in it at all, she did eat it! That is the first shes eaten in over a week. Her behavior is still off, shes still in the corner when left alone, but if I do go into the room she comes to the front of the tank. She started following my hands again when I run them the length of the tank. Her color is back to normal and her fins aren't clamped anymore. So I feel like we're making progress, but will she ever recover fully? When this happens, are they always a little off afterwards? Or after some time (and after the tank cycles) will she be normal again? I don't mind her being in the corner and just coming to greet me when I walk in, I just want to make sure shes as happy as she can be and feeling as good as possible.
The pleco seems to be unaffected by the imbalance in the tank, at least from what I can see. It shows no signs of distress or abnormal behavior. But I have read, they can tolerate poor water quality fairly well.
Is there anything else I should be doing?
Oh, tank info. Its a 55 gallon long tank, water temp is 85 right now, normally at 82. It has the 6 inch blood parrot and one 3 inch pleco. I do 25% water changes weekly. The tank does have a large piece of mopani wood in it, that was treated for months and months before going into the tank and its been in since January. The filter is a Whisper 30-60, with bio-rings and floss, I don't know the GPH, but I'm sure its not enough. I have hard well water.
Any help is appreciated! Sorry its so long, but I knew there would be questions. I wanted to give as much info as possible. Thanks!
I ask because I just had an ammonia spike in my tank, because I am an idiot; and my blood parrot was greatly affected by it. The stupid thing I did was deep clean my HOB filter, I'm pretty sure I scrubbed all the beneficial bacteria out of it. I didn't replace the old filter cartridges. The next day the water got cloudy, so stupidly, I changed the filters. Yeah, I know...bad bad. A few days after that, my parrot was SO pale, sitting in the bottom corner of the tank, between her flower pot and the tank side. The heaters had pretty much failed, they were "on" but not really on. That same day I realized the water was cold, around 75, our power went out for 5 solid hours. So it was just back to back total fish tank nightmare.
I have added a new heater, that was the first step. When that didn't solve her problems, I looked into filtration. I realized I had been doing it all wrong this whole time, I got some ceramic bio-rings, let them sit in tank water for a few hours before putting them into the filter. I fashioned my own filter media, by putting bio-rings into a floss cartridge, some rings in the bottom of the HOB and some where the water flows over. I left the old cartridges in for 2 days before I took them out.
I have been doing 50%-75% water changes daily for the last 6 days, vacuuming the top of the gravel. The ammonia is down to 0 ppm, but I'm not sure about the nitrites/nitrates, because I don't have that test kit. I stopped feeding her days ago, she had no interest in food anyway and I didn't want any excess waste in the tank.
This long post brings us to today. The tank has been at 0 ppm of ammonia since yesterday, I haven't done a water change today because it seems okay. I decided to give the blood parrot a meal worm with the head pinched to see if she had any interest in it at all, she did eat it! That is the first shes eaten in over a week. Her behavior is still off, shes still in the corner when left alone, but if I do go into the room she comes to the front of the tank. She started following my hands again when I run them the length of the tank. Her color is back to normal and her fins aren't clamped anymore. So I feel like we're making progress, but will she ever recover fully? When this happens, are they always a little off afterwards? Or after some time (and after the tank cycles) will she be normal again? I don't mind her being in the corner and just coming to greet me when I walk in, I just want to make sure shes as happy as she can be and feeling as good as possible.
The pleco seems to be unaffected by the imbalance in the tank, at least from what I can see. It shows no signs of distress or abnormal behavior. But I have read, they can tolerate poor water quality fairly well.
Is there anything else I should be doing?
Oh, tank info. Its a 55 gallon long tank, water temp is 85 right now, normally at 82. It has the 6 inch blood parrot and one 3 inch pleco. I do 25% water changes weekly. The tank does have a large piece of mopani wood in it, that was treated for months and months before going into the tank and its been in since January. The filter is a Whisper 30-60, with bio-rings and floss, I don't know the GPH, but I'm sure its not enough. I have hard well water.
Any help is appreciated! Sorry its so long, but I knew there would be questions. I wanted to give as much info as possible. Thanks!
