# Help, fish is sick !



## 20GallonPirate (Nov 1, 2010)

Hey guys, so after realizing that my nitrites were way too high, i added an AC 50 to my tank to go along with my EX20. it hasnt helped at all, been about 1 week now and i have been doing 10-20% WC every day or so and STILL nitrites are at a steady 3-5 ppm.

anyways, my BN peacock started to get a white film over his left eye a last week, in a few days it started to cover his whole eye, and now the pupil of that eye seems like it "leaked" out and its a blob, also on the same sade (left) he barey moves his fin, and the same thing is starting to happen to his right eye!!!

i dont know what to do at this point, i cant seem to make the nitrites go down and my fish are getting sick


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

Sounds like a fungal infection, if not worse. Can you post a pic of it?

From what I gather one of the eye came out of the socket? If so, I would say the best course of action is to euthanize it and end the suffering.

I would also increase the water changes to 30% a day or even twice a day.

What is the stock of the tank? how many gallons? what filters are you using?


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## 20GallonPirate (Nov 1, 2010)

Its hard to get a picture, i will try though.

I have a 20G, with 7 fish now. the two filters im running are Tetra Whisper EX20 and the Aqua Clean 50 with foam, charcoal and ammonia filters. 

i reduced the feedings to 1 time per day or sometimes once every 1.5 days. the waste was reduced significantly, but stupid nitrites are still high


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

If you're showing nitrites, your tank is not cycled. 
+1 on upping the water changes, and do you know anyone with a healthy tank from whom you could get some used, dirty filter material? Where are you? Someone in your area might be able to help you out...


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## 20GallonPirate (Nov 1, 2010)

im in richmond hill. young/mmac

edit

the thing is, BEFORE i put fish in, i let the tank run for 3-4 days and every day i tested nitrites were 0, even for 2 weeks with fish in they were steady 0, up untill the last week where i lost 2 fish and i checked and nitrites spiked to almost 20!!! ever since then it was 3-5 ppm steady


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

I agree with getting some seed bacteria to speed up the process of cycling.

what are these 7 fish?

reduce feeding wont do too much on nitrite since there will still be waste produced. Getting that tank properly cycled is of the up most priority right now.

Also keep an eye out on the other fish, if the BN is suffering from fungus, chances are its just a matter of time for the other fish (having their immune system compromised) will also be infected.


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## 20GallonPirate (Nov 1, 2010)

i had 10 in total all chichlids and one pleco.

i gave away one johanni, it was too aggressive

one small BN peacock died, its belly was bloated

pleco died about 1 week after, i dont know why, it decreased in size since i bought it, im pretty sure it was because he didint have enough food.

remaining fish are

2x yellow lab
2x pseudo kenyi
1x BN peacock
2x venstus


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

*Anyone in RH willing to help out?*

Stuff builds up. Just think if you didn't flush the toilet...it would get worse with time.

I just checked previous posts...there is no way you could have cycled and built up to 7 fish already. That's a crazy bioload in a 20g, especially not cycled!

You just need to continue with damage control (water changes) and try to get cycled. I'll let those with experience with your type of fish advise as to stocking levels...

Sorry, I'm in Burlington, or I'd get you some grungy stuff. Hopefully someone can help. Don't ask at the LFS, they'll sell you crap that doesn't work...



20GallonPirate said:


> im in richmond hill. young/mmac
> 
> edit
> 
> the thing is, BEFORE i put fish in, i let the tank run for 3-4 days and every day i tested nitrites were 0, even for 2 weeks with fish in they were steady 0, up untill the last week where i lost 2 fish and i checked and nitrites spiked to almost 20!!! ever since then it was 3-5 ppm steady


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

Since the tank was only set up 3-4 days before adding fish, there is no way the tank is cycled. At the beginning, there was no nitrite because there is 1) no fish to produce ammonia and waste and 2) there is no bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrite.

The reason why nitrite stayed at 0 is still because a 1 week + 3-4 days, there would not be enough bacteria to convert the ammonia into nitrite.

The reason why the other fish died is because of ammonia poisoning or other conditions related to high levels of ammonia.

at this point, I would try:

1) decrease # of fish

2) get old media to help the cycle along (which unless you take a perfectly cycled filter from another tank or something, will take another 2 weeks ish for things to be good)

3) increase the % and frequency of water changes in that tank.

as a side note, once the tank is actually cycled (ammonia: 0, nitrite: 0), remove the ammonia filter (which doesnt really do anything) and the charcoal and just focus on mechanical and biological filtration.


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## 20GallonPirate (Nov 1, 2010)

thanks for the help!

i was wondering what that ammo lock stuff does... does that actually keep ammonia down or is it useless? 

and also if im doing 30% WC daily, how much of that bio support/decholinator stuff should i add?


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

useless useless and more useless

I dont know what you mean by bio support. As for dechlorinator, the bottle should say how much to use for each gallon, so calculate how much water you are adding and use the appropriate amount.


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## 20GallonPirate (Nov 1, 2010)

good to know, i was going to buy some out of desparation!


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

20GallonPirate said:


> good to know, i was going to buy some out of desparation!


ya, I dont blame ya...


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## duckyser (Oct 4, 2009)

tried that crap from big als cause it was on sale for 99c. Yeah it works and neutralizes ammonia but kills the bacteria in your filters, meaning i had to does daily in order to keep the fish alive. Complete garbage, and a headache for me.


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