# Help Please. sck fish



## thedawg113 (Mar 24, 2009)

I have a 72 Gal. bow front tank. I just tested my water and got .5 amonia and 7.4 ph One of my 2 powder blue dwarf gouramis had red spots on his side and fins and is lying on bottom of tank. I did a 50 percent water change yesterday andagain today when i saw him. I know. My tank is not cycled as i have no sign of nitrites or nitrates but I wasnt told of the cycle where I bought tank and fish and didnt learn of it until I found this site. What can I do to help this fish . Please help


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

As long as you have ammonia and nitrite readings the fish will continue to get worse. If water changes aren't helping then you should throw an ammo chips pack into your filter, at least until the fish gets better. To help with the redness you can try using Melafix which is anti bacterial.

The main problem here is that you have an uncycled tank, but you already know that. You can either continue to do massive water changes to keep the ammonia down, keep using ammo chips, remove the fish and start over, or find someone in your area willing to give you a bacteria starting culture you can add to your filter. BUT, problem is, if you are treating with Melafix then the added bacteria may be destroyed by the Melafix. If you do massive water changes to keep the ammonia at 0 it will take forever to cycle the tank.

I would move the fish to a smaller tank and do daily water changes, find someone to give you a 'bacteria squeeze', cycle the tank, then add back the fish.

You are not in an enviable situation here.

Good luck.


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## Billy Fisher (Apr 16, 2009)

You have too high Ammonia and Nitrite, as they should both be at zero. The fish must have a bacterial or parasital infection, and I completely agree with "Cory Dad"


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