Tank crash, acute ammonia poisoning and other issues....

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hanwyz

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 8, 2013
299
2
16
United Kingdom
So my community tank is being looked after by my partner at his house, who likes looking at the fish and talking top them but not much else... he went to feed them tonight and discovered my leopard corydorus swimming erratically, as he put it "doing barrel rolls". He had tested the water before ringing me,

Ammonia 1-2ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20-30ppm
Temp is 23 Celsius (subtropical tank)
Stock:
1x 3in goldfish
2x 4in weather loach
3x 2in peppered Cory
1x 1in sterbai Cory
1x 1in leopard Cory
2x 1in Borneo loaches
4x 1in zebra danio
4x 1in wcmm
5x zebra nerite snails

Filtration: fluval u4 running purigen as well


When he rang me, I guessed ammonia poisoning was what was causing the erratic swimming, and also the lack of movement from the other fish in the tank.

He refused to change the water without me, so after an 11pm trip to his house, I did a 50% water change and used 7.5ml of prime (tank volume around 100l)

After this the Cory seemed to be able to swim a bit better but was still listing slightly to the left. So my question is, apart from daily 50% water changes until this spike is over and using prime to detoxify the ammonia and nitrite, is there anything else I can do? Would you agree with the diagnosis of acute ammonia poisoning? There was no sign of bloating or parasite and he was fine two days ago...

Any idea on why the tank crashed? They were last fed on Tuesday, and get fed two to three times a week. We have lost no fish that I can tell and there hasn't been a power cut. The tank was left unattended from yesterday afternoon till this evening , no lights and no feeding. I'm really confused about the spike :-/

Anyway, hope this makes sense, I'm getting better at dealing with illness and I just want to make sure as a relative newcomer to the hobby that I'm doing the right things in terms of acute care.

Thanks for reading :)

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Just realised, should make that clear that it's a fantail goldfish...

Water changes are normally 20-30% twice weekly...

This is just a grow out tank, in October they are being upgraded and my snakehead is getting this tank...

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Ammonia of 1-2 ppm might not be lethal at low pH and low temps. At 73 F and pH below 7.1, it will be fine.

So, it would be good to know the pH. As to the crash, you haven't stated what the normal readings were, so it's possible that the pH went up, rather than the ammonia.

Regardless, even if the ammonia went up while the pH was unchanged, we would still not know the exact cause without more information. Could the BB population have been compromised? Could the amount of food been increased? Could the type of food have been changed? Could there be a dead fish hidden from view in the tank?


Here are some symptoms of ammonia poisoning.


  • Fish gasp for breath at the water surface
  • Purple or red gills
  • Fish is lethargic
  • Loss of appetite
  • Fish lays at the bottom of the tank
  • Red streaking on the fins or body

1) check the tank for a dead animal
2) reduce feeding both in quantity and frequency to allow the tank's BB to recover and reduce ammonia levels
3) test the water's pH.
4) continue testing ammonia levels
 
pH went up a couple of months ago for no apparent reason, it's coming out the tap at around 7.8...
All fish are accounted for, and they probably get underfed rather than overfed...
So is erratic swimming not ammonia poisoning? I checked all the gills and they seemed as normal.

The last time they were fed was Tuesday, they had a block of frozen meaty stuff, a block of spinach and some micro pellets, the time they were fed before that was last week some time.
Normal readings:
0,0,20
pH 7.8

Apparently the filter had been very loud recently, which to me suggests it could have been clogged, so last night I rinsed one side gently in tank water as he refused to do it last week when I told him to, but could that have caused an issue?


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Yes it is entierly possible that a clogged/fowled filter could have caused this. Filter maintance is as important as water changes and substrate cleanning/vacuming. If the water flow decreases the filter could go anarobic and result in a die off of BB causing the ammonia to spike. The thank is now in a mini-cycle. Increase water changes and monitor perameters for the next week or so until you the numbers comming back into the required range.
 
Ok, thanks :) I have him doing daily 50% changes for at least the next week, using some of my prime instead of the normal conditioner for that tank. I will be moving that tank back to my house in October so will be able to make sure the maintenance is done properly. Never realised how stressful it was leaving my fish in the care of someone else :-/
 
I have no idea what is wrong with this leopard cory
Water parameters 0,0,0-5
Temperature 22
Water changes 50% a day at the moment

He is still swimming erratically, laying on his side, barrel rolling, getting stuck upside down etc. Yesterday he did this for about 25 minutes badly, then he started to act a bit more normally (we did a water change when we first noticed the behavior yesterday)
I can't see anything weird, except some possible missing scales on his face. Could it be a swim bladder issue?
I have a video of the swimming which I will try and work out how to upload

Please help, I'm totally out my depth with this stuff :-/
 
Could be swim bladder. Try feeding them some skinned peas.
 
He went missing over night so guessing he didn't make it :( no sign of him, dead or alive in the tank, like the last one that I lost... not getting any more leopards, that's three I've lost and I don't know why... sticking with peppered, sterbai and eventually barbatus (if I can afford them)

On the plus side, the water quality is better than usual, just hope we can keep it up... can't wait for a bigger tank (200l or more I hope... :D )

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woah so you've lost 2 fish but never found there bodies? could they be stuck in the filter somewhere? in the hose or the actual canister? you should completely take apart the decor and check all in it for the dead ones, along with your filter hoses. just run water through them and you should be able to tell if it is a dead fish blocking the flow. sorry for your loss btw, losing a fish you care about is no different then losing a cat or dog to me haha

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