help... what's wrong?

[Connie]

Just got new fish for my 29 gal tank. a black ghost, 2 mollies, 3 tiger
barbs (down from 4), a cat, and a pleco. My ammonia is running about 0.5 - 1
(it had spiked to 4 ppm, but we have been doing water changes everyday, and
added ammo lock). My pH is 7.8 (same as the LFS that I bought the fish
from). Nitrates about 5, Nitrites just "spiked" to 0.25, so I added some
amqel+ which is supposed to "remove" (I hope detoxify only) the nitrites
(ates, and ammonia also).

One of my tigers already died, I have one swimming on his last fin, he'll
probably be gone before tomorrow morning. My one mollie has a cheek that
almost looks as if it were eaten off. And now my ghost is opening and
closing his mouth... but he is still active and eating well, as are all the
others except the one mollie.

Is there anything else I can add or do? I have been adding stress free to
help out. Thanks.

[Connie]

Oh, and my tank water seems to stay cloudy... even though I have added stuff
that should help. My water has never been crystal clear.... I also have a
CO2 injector that I bought from petsmart, that I disconnected to see if that
was causing any problems.
"Connie" > wrote in message
...
> Just got new fish for my 29 gal tank. a black ghost, 2 mollies, 3 tiger
> barbs (down from 4), a cat, and a pleco. My ammonia is running about 0.5 -
> 1 (it had spiked to 4 ppm, but we have been doing water changes everyday,
> and added ammo lock). My pH is 7.8 (same as the LFS that I bought the fish
> from). Nitrates about 5, Nitrites just "spiked" to 0.25, so I added some
> amqel+ which is supposed to "remove" (I hope detoxify only) the nitrites
> (ates, and ammonia also).
>
> One of my tigers already died, I have one swimming on his last fin, he'll
> probably be gone before tomorrow morning. My one mollie has a cheek that
> almost looks as if it were eaten off. And now my ghost is opening and
> closing his mouth... but he is still active and eating well, as are all
> the others except the one mollie.
>
> Is there anything else I can add or do? I have been adding stress free to
> help out. Thanks.
>

[Elaine T]

Connie wrote:
> Oh, and my tank water seems to stay cloudy... even though I have added stuff
> that should help. My water has never been crystal clear.... I also have a
> CO2 injector that I bought from petsmart, that I disconnected to see if that
> was causing any problems.
> "Connie" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Just got new fish for my 29 gal tank. a black ghost, 2 mollies, 3 tiger
>>barbs (down from 4), a cat, and a pleco. My ammonia is running about 0.5 -
>>1 (it had spiked to 4 ppm, but we have been doing water changes everyday,
>>and added ammo lock). My pH is 7.8 (same as the LFS that I bought the fish
>>from). Nitrates about 5, Nitrites just "spiked" to 0.25, so I added some
>>amqel+ which is supposed to "remove" (I hope detoxify only) the nitrites
>>(ates, and ammonia also).
>>
>>One of my tigers already died, I have one swimming on his last fin, he'll
>>probably be gone before tomorrow morning. My one mollie has a cheek that
>>almost looks as if it were eaten off. And now my ghost is opening and
>>closing his mouth... but he is still active and eating well, as are all
>>the others except the one mollie.
>>
>>Is there anything else I can add or do? I have been adding stress free to
>>help out. Thanks.
>>
>
>
>
Your tank sounds new and cycling and you have far too many fish. Some
losses are inevitable in a situation like this. However, you are doing
the right things. Changing water is definately the best thing to do.
AmQuel+ should have helped quite a bit and is a good choice. Kordon's
website says it does detoxify rather than remove ammonia and nitrite. I
don't know what Stress Free is, but you probably don't want to be using
it. If you mean Stress Coat, that's good for when you handle fish, but
not so good as a general aquarium additive because it adds dissolved
organics (aloe goop) to the water. To keep your water pure, use only
one water conditioner unless you have very specific reasons to do
otherwise. In your case AmQuel+ sounds best.

You should also add 2 tablespoons of aquarium or pickling salt (1 tsp/5
gal) to help with the nitrite toxicity. Dissolve it in warm water and
then add it to the tank. Your mollies will need some salt to stay
healthy anyway.

It sounds like the sick mollie is either injured or has an ulcer. With
your tank cycling, he's probably not going to make it. I'm going to
assume you don't have a quarantine tank. You can try dipping the mollie
out of the tank and putting neosporin cream on the wound with a Q-tip
every day. Try and keep it off of the gills. It's a longshot, but if
the wound is the only problem it may work. If he dies, remove him from
the tank before other fish have a chance to pick at him and possibly
catch a disease.

Black ghosts are notoriously sensitive to water quality. All you can do
is cross your fingers that it lives. You got some very bad advice from
LFS if they told you he was good for a new tank.

Your water will be cloudy until the tank settles down and you don't have
to change so much water. It's suspended bacteria or algae living on
ammonia and nutrients from the tapwater. Cloudy water is normal for new
tanks and very rarely lasts once the filter has cycled.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com
PGP key at http://pgpkeys.mit.edu:11371/

[Connie]

Hi everyone... My tank had completed it's nitrogen cycle by me doing a
fishless cycle. It took it approximately 5 weeks to do so. I told my LFS
that. Last time I set up the tank, I did the same thing with no problems at
all. I was able to add a tank full of fish with no mini spike. This time, I
am guessing I did not add enough ammonia to build a large bio filter... so
it was to small before I added the fish I did.

My water had *NEVER* been clear, even when my cycle was complete. I mean, it
is clear, but not crystal clear like my tank was the last time I set it up.

I lost 2 barbs, and my white mollie, that had the defect on the cheek. My
black ghost seems to be doing fine, as well as the pleco and the rest of the
fish. By my not losing my black ghost, as fragile as they are, I am just
assuming that the others died of shock/stress/sickness.

I do not have a quarintine tank, but once I am sure I am out of the woods
with the tank I have, I will be sure to set one up before adding additional
fish, as I do not want to lose the ghost, or the others that have survived
this nightmare. Thanks for all the help, and if you have any additional
advice, please feel free to share.

Right now, my ammonia is down to 0.50ppm. I am adding ammo lock to prevent
it from being toxic to my fish, and doing water changes every other day.

Thanks.

[Elaine T]

Connie wrote:
> Hi everyone... My tank had completed it's nitrogen cycle by me doing a
> fishless cycle. It took it approximately 5 weeks to do so. I told my LFS
> that. Last time I set up the tank, I did the same thing with no problems at
> all. I was able to add a tank full of fish with no mini spike. This time, I
> am guessing I did not add enough ammonia to build a large bio filter... so
> it was to small before I added the fish I did.
>
> My water had *NEVER* been clear, even when my cycle was complete. I mean, it
> is clear, but not crystal clear like my tank was the last time I set it up.
>
> I lost 2 barbs, and my white mollie, that had the defect on the cheek. My
> black ghost seems to be doing fine, as well as the pleco and the rest of the
> fish. By my not losing my black ghost, as fragile as they are, I am just
> assuming that the others died of shock/stress/sickness.
>
> I do not have a quarintine tank, but once I am sure I am out of the woods
> with the tank I have, I will be sure to set one up before adding additional
> fish, as I do not want to lose the ghost, or the others that have survived
> this nightmare. Thanks for all the help, and if you have any additional
> advice, please feel free to share.
>
> Right now, my ammonia is down to 0.50ppm. I am adding ammo lock to prevent
> it from being toxic to my fish, and doing water changes every other day.
>
> Thanks.
>

I'm so sorry you lost fish. Especially when you went to the trouble to
fishless cycle!

I think your water will clear up just fine once your filter is
established. If you didn't build up many bacteria in the fishless
cycle, they wouldn't be able to clear the water. Maybe that's a tip-off
for other folks doing fishless cycles that something is amiss...

I hope your tank stabilizes soon!

Elaine

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Dick]

On Tue, 24 May 2005 22:02:26 GMT, Elaine T >
wrote:

>Connie wrote:
>> Hi everyone... My tank had completed it's nitrogen cycle by me doing a
>> fishless cycle. It took it approximately 5 weeks to do so. I told my LFS
>> that. Last time I set up the tank, I did the same thing with no problems at
>> all. I was able to add a tank full of fish with no mini spike. This time, I
>> am guessing I did not add enough ammonia to build a large bio filter... so
>> it was to small before I added the fish I did.
>>
>> My water had *NEVER* been clear, even when my cycle was complete. I mean, it
>> is clear, but not crystal clear like my tank was the last time I set it up.
>>
>> I lost 2 barbs, and my white mollie, that had the defect on the cheek. My
>> black ghost seems to be doing fine, as well as the pleco and the rest of the
>> fish. By my not losing my black ghost, as fragile as they are, I am just
>> assuming that the others died of shock/stress/sickness.
>>
>> I do not have a quarintine tank, but once I am sure I am out of the woods
>> with the tank I have, I will be sure to set one up before adding additional
>> fish, as I do not want to lose the ghost, or the others that have survived
>> this nightmare. Thanks for all the help, and if you have any additional
>> advice, please feel free to share.
>>
>> Right now, my ammonia is down to 0.50ppm. I am adding ammo lock to prevent
>> it from being toxic to my fish, and doing water changes every other day.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>
>I'm so sorry you lost fish. Especially when you went to the trouble to
>fishless cycle!
>
>I think your water will clear up just fine once your filter is
>established. If you didn't build up many bacteria in the fishless
>cycle, they wouldn't be able to clear the water. Maybe that's a tip-off
>for other folks doing fishless cycles that something is amiss...
>
>I hope your tank stabilizes soon!
>
>Elaine

Setting up is the worst of fishing! I am into my third year, the
first 6 months were just full of "learning opportunities!"

dick

[Derek Benson]

On Tue, 24 May 2005 11:59:49 -0500, "Connie"
> wrote:

>I lost 2 barbs, and my white mollie, that had the defect on the cheek. My
>black ghost seems to be doing fine, as well as the pleco and the rest of the
>fish. By my not losing my black ghost, as fragile as they are, I am just
>assuming that the others died of shock/stress/sickness.
>
I've had two Black Ghosts, the one I have now and one about 20 years
ago. I haven't found them to be fragile in any way or any more
susceptible to poor conditions than any other average fish from the
Amazon. Your Ghost is obviously less fragile than those two barbs and
mollie, don't you think?

-Derek