Are my fish sick???

[itsyitz]

I put in a few feeder guppies and a few goldfish 3 days ago to cycle my tank. I have been finding 2-3 dead per day. I have a 75 gallon tank using a fully established canister filter. My levels are: ammonia 1.0; ph 8.0; nitrite 0.0; nitrate 5.0.

All the fish look healthy in the morning but I just find them dead later. I feed VERY Minimal amounts twice day.

I did however notice that one fish had clear/ white poop. And one had red poop. I originally thought it had to do with the type of food I was feeding that caused the color but i am concerned with all the fish dying. (fyi the two fish with strange color poop are still alive).

Please help



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[mnemenoi]

The Ammonia is crazy high, well within the toxic range. That would be my guess. Prime should help bind the free Ammonia into Ammonium, though the fish have likely been gill burned as a result. Here is a good chart to go by. Most test kits and online sources do not go into the depth that is needed for detrmining Ammonia toxicity as this changes with temp, Ph, and ppm. Our water is especially hard and Ammonia is far deadlier in harder water. Had the Ph been 6.0 then they would be perfectly safe.

[suicune]

don't feed twice a day, actually fish do not need to be stuffed...

[morpheus]

both are right. i feed oncea day generally, and that ammonia reading is pretty high. you can either use prime like mnemenoi suggested as a temporary solution, but something is causing that high of a spike (fish waste, rotting carcass, food deposits, etc)

only other option for a quick drop in ammonia is to do a large water change every day for a few days and monitor how fast the ammonia is rising once you get it to zero. chemicals can only do so much and you can spend a lot of money continually buying them

[itsyitz]

The ammonia is high because the tank is cycling. I find it strange that its over a week cycling with a established filter and still not cycled...
I have used water conditioner and prime (first when setting up and last night). Is there any way to heal the fish if their gills are in facemt burned?

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[morpheus]

it just takes time even with an established filter/media. There is no set amount of time it should be cycled by

if the gills are burned there is not a whole lot you can do. things i can think of are:
-keep the water as clean as possible first of all even if its more frequent water changes.
-you can use conditioners like stress coat in an attempt to heal damage to slime coat or tissue
-keep the water well aerated. you can use an air pump, power head, etc. this should at least help them breathe easier if the gills are in fact inflamed
-lowering the pH would work, but can be more difficult with harder water

[itsyitz]

The Ammonia is crazy high, well within the toxic range. That would be my guess. Prime should help bind the free Ammonia into Ammonium, though the fish have likely been gill burned as a result. Here is a good chart to go by. Most test kits and online sources do not go into the depth that is needed for detrmining Ammonia toxicity as this changes with temp, Ph, and ppm. Our water is especially hard and Ammonia is far deadlier in harder water. Had the Ph been 6.0 then they would be perfectly safe.

Thank you for the chart. turns out my temp. is only 68deg. so its not as bad as if i were heating it. I have used prime. what other steps can i take to heal the fish other than wait for the water to cycle?

[suicune]

it's because you stock the tank with Goldfish and guppies, they are known to produce lots of waste. So even with an established filter, it may not be enough to keep ammonia under control. Of course it also depends on the size of your tank.

[mnemenoi]

Hard cycling with fish is difficult and dangerous to the fish. Water changes can safeguard them for the immediate danger, but this just prolongs the cycling process. Seachem's Stability, or Cycle, can help. As your ammonia rises the better and faster your cycle actually takes, this becomes higher nitrites and contributes to a denser denitrifying bacterial colony. If you water change during the cycle, this sadly prolongs the cycling process and reduces the size and ability of your colony to handle these components. Adding filtration mulm (all the bad brown stuff in your other aquarium filter pads) can boost your colonies and quicken your cycle. If you lack another established aquarium then a product like I listed earlier would be helpful. Hope that helps :)

[mnemenoi]

Sorry, just read the earlier post. Water changes would be my best offered recourse and hope it will eventually seed the tank and lower your ammonia levels.

[itsyitz]

I am confused because the general opinion seems to be to not to do any water changes for the first two weeks of cycling. I am also confuses why a fully established canister filter is not having any effect on speeding up the cycling. In addition I have used prime twice in the week and seemingly no change. Though I tested again tonight and the ammonia was down to .5 however there were 4 more dead feeder guppies. I am not as concerned for the feeder guppies as I am toward understanding what I am doing wrong and my future ability toward keeping fish.

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[mnemenoi]

It will just take time to establish a tank that size. Give it time you'll be fine

[suicune]

yeah, even with a seeded canister filter, it will still take time for the tank to be ready. I think the main problem was the feeding and the heavy loads of fish on the first week of the new tank. Next time just introduce 1 fish if you are going to cycling with fish instead of severals. one guppy or goldfish is pretty much enough to produce the ammonia needed for that tank. You will also have less of a headache by just cycle with one fish.

[troy tucker]

How big is the filter? Also are you using city water?

[itsyitz]

Update:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 1.0 (was 2.0, two days ago)
Nitrate 20
Ph 7.6

Just did first water change after doing these tests lats night and dosed with Seachem Prime.
I have 4 feeder guppies any 1 goldfish. All guppies seemed perfectly active before and after the WC. The goldfish however was very active before and within half hour of the change became real sluggish on the bottom of the tank.

I am using a python to fill up the tank to save mess and labor. Don't want to give this up. What options do I have?

I have seen posts saying to use carbon filter but pricing is real expensive...

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