911

[leafgirl115]

911 i have a huge problem!!!

This morning i got up to fined over 10 fry died and many others ding in my tank. I did some water tests and found that they when haywire!

Ammonia 1.2
Nitrite 1.6
And the water smelled like roten eggs!

I just did a 50% water change and im planing on doing another tommorow.

The fry look as if there fins are ragid/frayed. They are also twisted up.

Any advise would be helpfull.

[Durbkat]

I believe you have already made a mistake, you did a 50% change so instead of taking one step foward you just took two steps backwards. I would only do a 25% water change a day. How long has the tank been set up?

[leafgirl115]

I was tolde to do the 50% water change from the forum.

The tank has been set up for over 3 months.

[fish_doc]

A 50% is fine. The whole idea behind changing the water is to try and lower the Ammonia and Nitrite levels. The rough part is fry are delicate.

As of right now you have done about all you can do. Wait till tomorrow retest the levels and see where they are at. Then do another partial water change to help lower those levels a bit more.

[leafgirl115]

thanks fish_doc

I was also told that melafix migh help the fry with the damiged fins is this right?

[darkfalz]

I remember the same thing with my Betta fry, sudden ammonia spike and seeing their twisted little dead bodies everywhere.

My fry water doesn't smell so good even though I'm doing daily water changes. With the powdered food, it pollutes the water much more than uneaten whole flakes would, because it decays very fast. I'm going to try to stick a piece of sponge on the end of my gravel vac so I can give the bottom a very good clean.

[violet]

You could even do 50% changes every 12 hours, those levels are tough on fry. I would try Melafix, probably half dose.

That you have that smell is weird. Hydrogen sulfide is usually a product of anaerobic decomp and it, and other by-products, are unhealthy in themselves. Check that your filtration & aeration is working properly. Are there bubbles IN the gravel? If so do a VERY thorough vacuuming to get the organics out of the substrate.

With the amount of fish you have in that tank I might be doing 50% waterchanges everyday, even if everything *looked* okay.

violet

[leafgirl115]

Thanks I whent yesterday to try and get the melafix but the one store does not have it so im going to a diferent one to get it.

Ill do another 50% water change and do some more tests.

*Note* Last night it looked as if one of the fry's gill split and was comming of. Another looked as if its brain was comming out.... Could this have happened from the other fry?

[leafgirl115]

ok i have the Melafix . Now it says to add 1tsp for every 10g. I have a 20g tank so thats 2tsp. But since its fry do i add just the one? It also says to use for 7 days.

[Ringo]

Originally Posted by leafgirl115

ok i have the Melafix . Now it says to add 1tsp for every 10g. I have a 20g tank so thats 2tsp. But since its fry do i add just the one? It also says to use for 7 days.

when your fish has ick or whatever, that can be cleared up usualy withing a few days.
but with fin loss it can take months for the fish's fins to grow back.

but melafix doesent excatly heal the fins, and make the fins grow back.
melafix doesent really help the fins grow back to much, just prevents anything happening to the fish when they are open to disease. (like when there fins are torn/rotting)


i am not to sure about the fry, and the dosage amount but i would think it would be alright.
when ever i treat my tank i add just a little bit of the treatment at a time. getting the full amount after about an half hour

[Durbkat]

I would only put 1 tsp in because with the fry being so small it could kill them. Or to be on the safe side you could get betta fix, its weaker than mela fix.

[leafgirl115]

I just whent out and got the mela fix

[leafgirl115]

Well i just did a water change.

Ammonia o.6 (its down)
Nitrite 1.6 (the same)
And the water still smells like roten eggs but not as bad.

I found 4 more dead fry...

[Ringo]

what type of filter do you use?
cause you may want to put some new carbon (and a lot of it) in your filter, that should take the stink out of it.
only prob. is though is that you couldent treat at the same time, maybe once you do your water change, instead of adding another dose put some carbon in your filter and run it for a day
is the water cloudy at all?

[violet]

As long as you have the smell you have a problem. Did you vacuum the gravel and check the filter for proper function? The nitrite is still too high, you still need to keep doing waterchanges.

Use the Melafix, half dose should be fine, the fish are already dying, you need to act. I have found it really does promote more rapid tissue regeneration, speeds healing, minimizes more infection, just my experience. If you are doing a 50% water change daily repeat the 1/2 dose daily. It specifically states on the bottle not to use with carbon. The smell or lack of smell will signal you when you are making progress on correcting the problem. Artificially removing it does not tell you when you are making progress on correcting the SOURCE and means you can't use Melafix.

I stand by thinking 50% twice a day will help more than once a day.

If the problem is simple inadequate filtration and overstocking the fry will probably continue to die until the overstocking problem is corrected by attrition.

violet

[leafgirl115]

The water is not that cloudy... just from me doing the gravel. I had a new carbon thing in the filter befor this happened. It has bean in the tank for a week. I took it out to treat the fish.

my filter is an elite hush 20. (the kind that hangs on the side of the tank)

[darkfalz]

I put the carbon pad in the sponge filter and the smell has gone almost overnight (it wasn't that bad, but wasn't very pleasant). I left it out because I didn't want to risk draining nutrients and necessary trace elements from the fry water.

[violet]

my filter is an elite hush 20

IME, manufactures usually overstate the actual capacity of their filters. That filter may be okay for a lightly stocked tank. But with all those fry you it sounds like you may be overstocked and perhaps that size filter can't handle it. All the more reason to keep doing lots of big waterchanges.

Is there any improvement in the smell? I know it may be hard to tell over the Melafix.

violet