What do you think I might be dealing with here?

[SCM_2123]

Have you tested your water?

Yes

If yes, what is your ammonia?

2.0

If yes, what is your nitrite?

0

If yes, what is your nitrate?

0

If I did not test my water...

1. ...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.

Do you do water changes?

Yes

What percentage of water do you change?

31-40%

How frequently do you change your water?

Every week

If I do not change my water...

1. ...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.

I am at my wit's end. I have dealt with issues since late April. I have tried ich cures, I have tried Kanaplex, and I have tried AAP Yellow Powder- Premium Nitrofurazone. It seems like things clear up and then suddenly I have what looks like another infection. What do you think this might be here? It's hard to tell but the serpae's eye is bulging a bit. I changed the water on Thursday. I've been trying like hell to get the ammonia lower but have not succeeded.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; First thing I do not see ick. Ammonia at any level over time is not good. At 2.0 is very likely part of the problem. Not clear if the ammonia is causing what looks like fin rot. Guess it could be a secondary opportunistic infection after damage from the ammonia. But no point in my guessing.

My suggestion is to step up the WC (water changes) gradually. Do 40% tomorrow. Do 50% the next day. Do 75% the next day. Once you get to 75% then try that twice a week for a while.

It might be useful to know the size of the tank and the relative stocking density (how many fish). The fish pictured are not large.

That you have persistent ammonia since last April is a puzzle. I suspect the treatments may have killed off any BB (beneficial bacteria). I cannot say for sure as i am not familiar with all these. In general shot gunning medications at an unknown malady is not a thing to do. The extra WC should dilute the effects.

I have tried ich cures, I have tried Kanaplex, and I have tried AAP Yellow Powder- Premium Nitrofurazone. I

If you have other tanks I suggest without issues I suggest you isolate equipment and not share nets and such in those tanks.

I am curious about the substrate in the picture. Is it the painted gravel I see in fish shops.

Good luck

 

[SCM_2123]

Hello; First thing I do not see ick. Ammonia at any level over time is not good. At 2.0 is very likely part of the problem. Not clear if the ammonia is causing what looks like fin rot. Guess it could be a secondary opportunistic infection after damage from the ammonia. But no point in my guessing.

My suggestion is to step up the WC (water changes) gradually. Do 40% tomorrow. Do 50% the next day. Do 75% the next day. Once you get to 75% then try that twice a week for a while.

It might be useful to know the size of the tank and the relative stocking density (how many fish). The fish pictured are not large.

That you have persistent ammonia since last April is a puzzle. I suspect the treatments may have killed off any BB (beneficial bacteria). I cannot say for sure as i am not familiar with all these. In general shot gunning medications at an unknown malady is not a thing to do. The extra WC should dilute the effects.


If you have other tanks I suggest without issues I suggest you isolate equipment and not share nets and such in those tanks.

I am curious about the substrate in the picture. Is it the painted gravel I see in fish shops.

Good luck

I don't know that the ammonia has been high since April as I wasn't testing it as regularly. It's a 55 gallon tank with 8 Congo tetras, 6 Colombian tetras, 3 serpae tetras (I had more but lost most in the last round), 3 julii cories (same story as serpaes), and 7 red eye tetras. I haven't been sharing any equipment with any other tank. I understand it's bad to shot gun medication, but with all due respect, how the hell am I supposed to know with 100% certainty what the fish have? I can Google symptoms and certainly try to ask here but otherwise I'm not sure how else to figure this out. You say the extra water change should dilute the effects, what effects do you mean? I haven't administered any medication for over a week. Do you think just doing the water changes for now is the best idea and not using and medication at all?
Here is one of the cories.

 

[skjl47]

I don't know that the ammonia has been high since April as I wasn't testing it as regularly. It's a 55 gallon tank with 8 Congo tetras, 6 Colombian tetras, 3 serpae tetras (I had more but lost most in the last round), 3 julii cories (same story as serpaes), and 7 red eye tetras. I haven't been sharing any equipment with any other tank. I understand it's bad to shot gun medication, but with all due respect, how the hell am I supposed to know with 100% certainty what the fish have? I can Google symptoms and certainly try to ask here but otherwise I'm not sure how else to figure this out. You say the extra water change should dilute the effects, what effects do you mean? I haven't administered any medication for over a week. Do you think just doing the water changes for now is the best idea and not using and medication at all?

Hello; The aggressive WC schedule will improve the water quality in some ways. First will dilute the ammonia which is a toxin. Will also dilute ruminants of medications. In a general way large WC are beneficial. Cleaner water can help is my take.

Your stocking is not bad for a 55 gallon.

I am going to flag a member in hopes he can advise duanes .

 

[SCM_2123]

Hello; The aggressive WC schedule will improve the water quality in some ways. First will dilute the ammonia which is a toxin. Will also dilute ruminants of medications. In a general way large WC are beneficial. Cleaner water can help is my take.

Your stocking is not bad for a 55 gallon.

I am going to flag a member in hopes he can advise duanes .

Thank you so much! This site really is the best online forum for fish.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Another thought. Ammonia at 2.0 with nitrite and nitrate at zero. This seems a bit odd. A fully cycled tank should read zero for Ammonia & nitrite and some level for nitrates. Most try to keep nitrates between 20 -40 ppm. One BB when established take care of the ammonia and another type of BB for the nitrite. We have to do WC to dilute the nitrate.

A suggestion is to get a gallon of distilled water from Wal-Mart or some such. Use it to clean the water test vials. The distilled water can also be used as a standard. Test the distilled water to gauge the results of the test kit.

I agree it is frustrating to not know what an aliment is. My comment about shotgunning medications was meant to point out that the wrong or ineffective medication can add other levels of stress to a bad situation. I and many others have done the same thing before. You are not alone.

 

[danotaylor]

If the ammonia reading is accurate you can also detoxify it using Prime water conditioner from Seachem. Prime converts toxic ammonia to less harmful ammonium but only binds it for about 48 hours. This should not replace the water changes that have been suggested though. Clean water is essential when fish are sick. I would also add salt at 1tbsp/1-2gal to reduce the bacterial load in the water column. Replace the salt with your water changes keeping the concentration consistent for 14 days then let it wash out when you return to your routine water changes keeping schedule.
If you have other mature tanks, place some sponge or media in the filter of this tank to help jump start your nitrogen cycle.
If you have charcoal add some to remove all residual medication from the water column.
If you’re in the US I use this salt from Home Depot it’s $9/40# amd is 99.8% pure sodium chloride

 

[kno4te]

Looks like fin and body rod from poor water quality issues and stress. Would add salt 1 tsp per gallon, dechlorinater like seachem, beneficial bacteria and increase your water changes to twice a week at 50%. I’d hold off on antibiotics for now. Hope this corrects. See what duanes thinks as well.

 

[SCM_2123]

Hello; Another thought. Ammonia at 2.0 with nitrite and nitrate at zero. This seems a bit odd. A fully cycled tank should read zero for Ammonia & nitrite and some level for nitrates. Most try to keep nitrates between 20 -40 ppm. One BB when established take care of the ammonia and another type of BB for the nitrite. We have to do WC to dilute the nitrate.

A suggestion is to get a gallon of distilled water from Wal-Mart or some such. Use it to clean the water test vials. The distilled water can also be used as a standard. Test the distilled water to gauge the results of the test kit.

I agree it is frustrating to not know what an aliment is. My comment about shotgunning medications was meant to point out that the wrong or ineffective medication can add other levels of stress to a bad situation. I and many others have done the same thing before. You are not alone.

I wonder if the beneficial bacteria is off since I had changed the filters as well. I have changed them more lately than previously. I didn't take offense to the shotgunning comment, it just seems like you hear so many different things. Truly, no offense taken.

If the ammonia reading is accurate you can also detoxify it using Prime water conditioner from Seachem. Prime converts toxic ammonia to less harmful ammonium but only binds it for about 48 hours. This should not replace the water changes that have been suggested though. Clean water is essential

Looks like fin and body rod from poor water quality issues and stress. Would add salt 1 tsp per gallon, dechlorinater like seachem, beneficial bacteria and increase your water changes to twice a week at 50%. I’d hold off on antibiotics for now. Hope this corrects. See what duanes thinks as well.

when fish are sick. I would also add salt at 1tbsp/1-2gal to reduce the bacterial load in the water column. Replace the salt with your water changes keeping the concentration consistent for 14 days then let it wash out when you return to your routine water changes keeping schedule.
If you have other mature tanks, place some sponge or media in the filter of this tank to help jump start your nitrogen cycle.
If you have charcoal add some to remove all residual medication from the water column.
If you’re in the US I use this salt from Home Depot it’s $9/40# amd is 99.8% pure sodium chloride
View attachment 1565626

I have some Prime so can add that tonight. What about Ammo Lock? I have some of that as well. Unfortunately I don't have other mature tanks. I have some aquarium salt I can use. I'll do a water change tomorrow and start the suggested regimen. When you say charcoal I'm assuming you mean something specific for aquariums correct? Not Kingsford? Ha ha! You can buy beneficial bacteria? What brand do you recommend?

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Beneficial bacteria (BB). Pages have been posted about them. As far as I know there is not a "for sure" over the counter product you can purchase to get BB.
They can be had for free but there are catches. The simplest way to get a starter culture is to grab some object which has been in an established tank for some time, like months or at least a few weeks. If your local fish shop is decent they might let you have some gravel, snails, used filter floss or something from one of their tanks. If you have a friend with tanks perhaps the same.

The BB are all around us. Start a bare tank filled with water and add a 1/4 cup of ammonia every day or two. Do this for a few weeks and you will have some BB colonies on surfaces in the tank. They show up. This is one method of doing what is called "cycling" a tank. I guess cycling is a made-up name for what happens in nature. Adding ammonia is called "fishless cycling". Some prefer this way as it does not harm fish.

Another way to "cycle" is with "fish in" the tank. The fish excrete waste which contains the ammonia. In a few weeks the BB show up and grow in the tank. Many do not like this way because ammonia harms fish. A way to reduce the harm is to do more WC to keep the ammonia down but that sorta slows the process down.

The goal is to have enough of one sort of BB growing on the tank surfaces to completely convert the ammonia into nitrite. Then to have another sort of BB to convert the nitrite into nitrate. Nitrate is the least toxic of the three and most of us consider keeping nitrate down to 20ppm or so to be good enough. A problem is the BB are slow growers compared to other bacteria. Makes cycling a tank from scratch a week's long thing.

You , the OP, are embarked on a "fish in" way of cycling. I suspect you did not know such. A puzzle is why the ammonia is at zero after the tank is setup since last April. Hence my suggestion to "standard" test the test kit with distilled water.

Let me open another potential can of worms not related to ammonia or cycling. That being your tap water. If you know about prime (SAFE) and use it or some such water conditioner at WC then I will not need to go into that. I am thinking of chloramines or chlorine added to tap water.