Hi, I'm a new member to MFK (long time lurker). I read what to post, so hope I cover everything in this insanely long post
Fish, tank, feed, accessories, & decor:
I have had a breeding pair of Jack Dempsey cichlids (Jack, the male, is about 9" and Jill, the female, is around 6.5") for about 2 years now. I'm not sure of their age, the male was about 7" and the female was about 5" when I purchased them from the LFS.
I feed them once per day when I get home from work, and I don't feed them on Saturdays. I give them Hikari cichlid gold and also give them freeze dried crickets, freeze dried shrimp, and (occasionally) raw shrimp.
They are (and have been since coming home) in a 55 gallon tank and I HAD an Eheim Professional 2 filter (the locking tabs broke Saturday), and have a Penguin 350 now. I recently put in an Aqueon 950 circulation pump. The tank has a 300 watt Aqueon heater and the tank temp is 78°. There is a dual air pump with two 18" air stone bars. I had pea gravel and natural wood decor (from my brother's 125 gallon) in the tank for about 2 years now. There are no plants in the tank and it is not in a location to receive natural sunlight. . I have an Aqueon 48" LED. I turn it completely off when I leave for work at 5am, lights on at about 3-330pm when I get home from work, and blue LEDS come on when I go to bed around 1030pm (thanks, Aqueon, for not including separate power sources so I could use timers as I had with the fluorescents).
Maintenance/cleaning;
Using a dechlorinator, I perform 15 gallon water changes every Saturday and do 25 gallon changes once a month (3 Saturday's in a row, I do 15 gallons then I do 25 gallons the last Saturday). I use a window cleaning brush & vacuum the gravel. On the 25 gallon change days, I rinse the filters & bio media from the Eheim (with aquarium water) and replace them when they don't rinse clean (I cut a piece of the old blue filter and put it in the filter tray). I have an API Freshwater Master Test Kit.
The REAL reason for this thread is, looking back, I made a BUNCH of stupid mistakes.
Saturday (01/23), happened to be the 27 gallon change/filter clean. I was also preparing to move the fish tank to my oldest son's bedroom (he's switching rooms to a finished room in the basement). I am going to be buying a 125 gallon tank to put where the 55 gallon was.
Emptied the tank using the gravel vac and I filled a 5 gallon bucket with water from the 55 gallon aquarium, netted Jack and Jill, and put them in the bucket. I took the air pump and attached an air stone.
When I went to disassemble the Eheim filter, two of the locking tabs broke. I had no other options (my brother's 125 gallon is already what most would consider over stocked, honestly), so I was hoping I could get away with buying a HOB filter, cutting some of my old filter to put in with it, and putting some Jungle Start Zyme in to get a quick cycle. In the meantime, with no other alternatives, I had intended to leave Jack in the 5 gallon bucket (I had done so previously with a similar sized Oscar with no ill effects).
With the tank being moved to the basement, I had already intended on buying a HOB for ease filter maintenance. I removed all of the gravel from the tank and rinsed it in a separate 5 gallon bucket. After moving the tank downstairs, I ran the garage garden hose down and began filling it. There are both hot and cold outlets (and since I had previously had this tank down there, I had also made a Y connector so I could regulate the water temp going into the tank). Filled the tank, added in the dechlorinator, and put the heater in.
Okay, so tank was filled but now I had a filter with 2 broken tabs. So I went to the LFS and purchased the aforementioned Penguin 350 and circulation pump. I was gone for about 45 minutes & when I returned home I immediately opened and installed the circulation pump and filter and that took about ten minutes.
I went to check on the JDs and the male was missing. After looking around, I found him on the floor, completely motionless. I picked him up and he twitched, so put him back in the bucket. He was very lethargic and went from being upright, to floating on his side, to going completely belly up several times. I wasn't sure what to do, so I gently guided him around, trying to get him to get some water moving over his gills, but he continued to go belly up.
In a near panic, got him out of the bucket and placed him in the 55. All that was in the tank was the heater, circulation pump, and the new filter. In my haste, I had completely forgot that the 55 had new filter and had not been cycled.
I even facetimed my son (who was at his mom's that weekend) just in case. He was crying (he's 10 and really attached to him) & kept saying "you're a Jack Dempsey, you got this!!!"
I stayed up with Jack until 330am and he went from not being able to stay upright to appearing completely fine and swimming around normally. I made sure to update his status to my son (who was at his mom's that weekend). I took several photos that night and made this collage.
The next morning (around 9), I was so relieved to find Jack appeared completely normal.
Fast forward to Tuesday night when I finally noticed Jack was in trouble. He had a big glob of what looked like white slime on his left side
I immediately tested the water & found the following. Nitrates were 0ppm, nitrites were .25ppm, PH was 7.8, and ammonia was at 4ppm. It wasn't until this point that I remembered the tank hadn't cycled.
I contacted a friend and he recommended I begin treating with Melafix, so that's what I did. I removed the filter cartridge, cut open the filter to remove the carbon, and I cut a piece of the old filter and placed it in there.
I did a 15 gallon water change and tested the ammonia about 2 hours later and the green color was between 2ppm and 4ppm.
Wednesday, I got home from work around 330pm and noticed that Jack had (what appears to be) fin rot.
Today upon arriving home from work at 3pm, I retested all the water. Ammonia were still between 2-4ppm, nitrites were .25ppm, and nitrates were 0ppm. I added 5 1/2 Jungle Ammonia Clear fizz tabs (dissolving them in a cup of water from the tank first, per the directions).
Testing the ammonia about 5hrs later (had sports events tonight for my daughters) and the ammonia was between 1-2ppm.
I'm at the point I don't know what to. I've never had a fish this sick and I'm trying to help him get better...but it doesn't seem to be working.
Please help!!!
Fish, tank, feed, accessories, & decor:
I have had a breeding pair of Jack Dempsey cichlids (Jack, the male, is about 9" and Jill, the female, is around 6.5") for about 2 years now. I'm not sure of their age, the male was about 7" and the female was about 5" when I purchased them from the LFS.
I feed them once per day when I get home from work, and I don't feed them on Saturdays. I give them Hikari cichlid gold and also give them freeze dried crickets, freeze dried shrimp, and (occasionally) raw shrimp.
They are (and have been since coming home) in a 55 gallon tank and I HAD an Eheim Professional 2 filter (the locking tabs broke Saturday), and have a Penguin 350 now. I recently put in an Aqueon 950 circulation pump. The tank has a 300 watt Aqueon heater and the tank temp is 78°. There is a dual air pump with two 18" air stone bars. I had pea gravel and natural wood decor (from my brother's 125 gallon) in the tank for about 2 years now. There are no plants in the tank and it is not in a location to receive natural sunlight. . I have an Aqueon 48" LED. I turn it completely off when I leave for work at 5am, lights on at about 3-330pm when I get home from work, and blue LEDS come on when I go to bed around 1030pm (thanks, Aqueon, for not including separate power sources so I could use timers as I had with the fluorescents).
Maintenance/cleaning;
Using a dechlorinator, I perform 15 gallon water changes every Saturday and do 25 gallon changes once a month (3 Saturday's in a row, I do 15 gallons then I do 25 gallons the last Saturday). I use a window cleaning brush & vacuum the gravel. On the 25 gallon change days, I rinse the filters & bio media from the Eheim (with aquarium water) and replace them when they don't rinse clean (I cut a piece of the old blue filter and put it in the filter tray). I have an API Freshwater Master Test Kit.
The REAL reason for this thread is, looking back, I made a BUNCH of stupid mistakes.
Saturday (01/23), happened to be the 27 gallon change/filter clean. I was also preparing to move the fish tank to my oldest son's bedroom (he's switching rooms to a finished room in the basement). I am going to be buying a 125 gallon tank to put where the 55 gallon was.
Emptied the tank using the gravel vac and I filled a 5 gallon bucket with water from the 55 gallon aquarium, netted Jack and Jill, and put them in the bucket. I took the air pump and attached an air stone.
When I went to disassemble the Eheim filter, two of the locking tabs broke. I had no other options (my brother's 125 gallon is already what most would consider over stocked, honestly), so I was hoping I could get away with buying a HOB filter, cutting some of my old filter to put in with it, and putting some Jungle Start Zyme in to get a quick cycle. In the meantime, with no other alternatives, I had intended to leave Jack in the 5 gallon bucket (I had done so previously with a similar sized Oscar with no ill effects).
With the tank being moved to the basement, I had already intended on buying a HOB for ease filter maintenance. I removed all of the gravel from the tank and rinsed it in a separate 5 gallon bucket. After moving the tank downstairs, I ran the garage garden hose down and began filling it. There are both hot and cold outlets (and since I had previously had this tank down there, I had also made a Y connector so I could regulate the water temp going into the tank). Filled the tank, added in the dechlorinator, and put the heater in.
Okay, so tank was filled but now I had a filter with 2 broken tabs. So I went to the LFS and purchased the aforementioned Penguin 350 and circulation pump. I was gone for about 45 minutes & when I returned home I immediately opened and installed the circulation pump and filter and that took about ten minutes.
I went to check on the JDs and the male was missing. After looking around, I found him on the floor, completely motionless. I picked him up and he twitched, so put him back in the bucket. He was very lethargic and went from being upright, to floating on his side, to going completely belly up several times. I wasn't sure what to do, so I gently guided him around, trying to get him to get some water moving over his gills, but he continued to go belly up.
In a near panic, got him out of the bucket and placed him in the 55. All that was in the tank was the heater, circulation pump, and the new filter. In my haste, I had completely forgot that the 55 had new filter and had not been cycled.
I even facetimed my son (who was at his mom's that weekend) just in case. He was crying (he's 10 and really attached to him) & kept saying "you're a Jack Dempsey, you got this!!!"
I stayed up with Jack until 330am and he went from not being able to stay upright to appearing completely fine and swimming around normally. I made sure to update his status to my son (who was at his mom's that weekend). I took several photos that night and made this collage.
The next morning (around 9), I was so relieved to find Jack appeared completely normal.
Fast forward to Tuesday night when I finally noticed Jack was in trouble. He had a big glob of what looked like white slime on his left side
I immediately tested the water & found the following. Nitrates were 0ppm, nitrites were .25ppm, PH was 7.8, and ammonia was at 4ppm. It wasn't until this point that I remembered the tank hadn't cycled.
I contacted a friend and he recommended I begin treating with Melafix, so that's what I did. I removed the filter cartridge, cut open the filter to remove the carbon, and I cut a piece of the old filter and placed it in there.
I did a 15 gallon water change and tested the ammonia about 2 hours later and the green color was between 2ppm and 4ppm.
Wednesday, I got home from work around 330pm and noticed that Jack had (what appears to be) fin rot.
Today upon arriving home from work at 3pm, I retested all the water. Ammonia were still between 2-4ppm, nitrites were .25ppm, and nitrates were 0ppm. I added 5 1/2 Jungle Ammonia Clear fizz tabs (dissolving them in a cup of water from the tank first, per the directions).
Testing the ammonia about 5hrs later (had sports events tonight for my daughters) and the ammonia was between 1-2ppm.
I'm at the point I don't know what to. I've never had a fish this sick and I'm trying to help him get better...but it doesn't seem to be working.
Please help!!!
