question

[kwok]

it should be finished cycling because my nitrites and nitrates read 0 and i had fish swimming around the tank and eating well for over two weeks.

[daniella3d]

In deed, at high PH and hight temperature, even a trace of ammonia can be toxic.

If your conditioner is anything like Prime, it only control ammonia for 24 hours and it must be dosed every 24 hours until the ammonia is undetectible.

Prime is also said to neutralize heavy metal, not sure if this is true or not. For a RO unit, look in the local add like on kijiji, or ebay, or put some post mentioning you are looking for one on a budget. Maybe someone has one for sale.

Originally Posted by reefwars

should read 0 for amonia if theres any amonia it could be the cause of heavy brething could even be lethal in even just small amounts.

if theres amonia in your tank then your not finished cycling yet and with 3 fish in a 20g it would make sense that they are breathing heavy.

[reefwars]

yes but you see you added to much to fast restarting your cycle, 2 clowns, a six line wrasses and a scooter are far too much for a 20g just set up and finished cycling not even 2 weeks ago.

a scooter is not a good choice for a first addition imo.



see when you start testing after set up and you see the amonia drops to zero it means that you can add something small, this is going to add a very small amount of amonia to your tank on a regular basis thus keeping bacteria multiplying, as the bacteria multiplys it is able to handle stronger loads of amonia....this is called a bio load......if you add more amonia to your tank then it can handle.....it creates a "cycle" or "mini cycle" thus having to pretty much start from scratch.........it is very hard on fish.


patience is the key here

[kwok]

ok that could be the reason and i do blame myself for being a bit too impatient adding too many fish at a time even though i added a new fish about once a week and if i wanted to start over again how should i approach it? if all my fish are going to die and it's starting to look like that do i just wait till they die and then let my tank keep cycling with just hermit crabs and if so when can i add a fish cause my reading's show 0's?

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by kwok

ok that could be the reason and i do blame myself for being a bit too impatient adding too many fish at a time even though i added a new fish about once a week and if i wanted to start over again how should i approach it? if all my fish are going to die and it's starting to look like that do i just wait till they die and then let my tank keep cycling with just hermit crabs and if so when can i add a fish cause my reading's show 0's?

thas ok and its quite common just about everyone who starts a tank does the same its more affected to small tanks so yours would be hit a bit harder then a 100g tank with the same fish.

if you are just showing a small amount of amonia i would do a water change , since your in edmonton i would look into getting rid of the scooter.

if your tank has been runnig for 2 mths you should be ok with the clowns provided you make sure your amonia is gone.


theres a number of things you can use for amonia i like water changes and prime

test for amonia reguarily while the tank is young if the test doesnt quite look yellow then its prosbaly not:P

[daniella3d]

How long have you got those fish? because they could also be infected with some parasites, thus the fast breathing.

At first I thought you had those fish for a while but it seem not that you added some fish recently? since the wrasse was the one who died, when was it added?

If your fish are not looking better and they are breathing fast, they could have some disease or parasite. YOu may have to treat those fish. What was the wrasse looking like when it died? was it sort of whitish or with a film on it? did it have any white dots?

I think in your case it is either something in the water from the tap water or a disease/parasites. The first one is easy to cure with carbon and water change but the second will need a treatment.

If all your fish die from a parasite, you will need to leave the tank without fish for 2 months minimum, or else every new fish is going to be contaminated as well.

Originally Posted by kwok

ok that could be the reason and i do blame myself for being a bit too impatient adding too many fish at a time even though i added a new fish about once a week and if i wanted to start over again how should i approach it? if all my fish are going to die and it's starting to look like that do i just wait till they die and then let my tank keep cycling with just hermit crabs and if so when can i add a fish cause my reading's show 0's?

[kwok]

I don't think there we're any disease on any of the fish. No small white spots. All the fins and scales are normal. Even the color of the fish look fine. They dead fish we're a bit slimy though and i assume that's normal.

Is it possible to have a mini cycle happen while having parameters unchanged? During a mini cycle am i suppose to see some sort of spike?

[subman]

could he be getting false ammonia readings because of the de-chlorinating drops?

[daniella3d]

the fish breathing fast can only be caused by either a parasites, lack of oxygen from having their gills attacked or burned by ammonia or another chimical.

A fish breathing fast is never a good sign if it is not due to a temporary stress like when a fish is scared.

Originally Posted by kwok

I don't think there we're any disease on any of the fish. No small white spots. All the fins and scales are normal. Even the color of the fish look fine. They dead fish we're a bit slimy though and i assume that's normal.

Is it possible to have a mini cycle happen while having parameters unchanged? During a mini cycle am i suppose to see some sort of spike?