Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

[juwelofthenile]

Please someone help.  I am new and have run my new tank for 7 days, took some water into my LFS and he said it was fine to have a few fish to help cycle the tank.  I have set the tank up for Malawi Mbuna so took home 3 Syno Multi.

I lost one as it was sucked onto the Fluval pipe (have since gone out and bought a cage/guard which did not come with the Fluval) but my other two syno's seem to have hardly any life in them.  I bought them on Friday and they were swimming merrily about in the LFS's tank but in mine hardly move and seem very weak and sit on their side.

I've got a Juwel 240 tank using the Juwel internal filter along with a Fluval 304 Canister filter, spray bar and airstone.

My PH is 8.0
My water is 26c / 78f
My readings are:

Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20

Please someone help as I dont want to see these two fish suffer!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

i would either find some seeded filter media/gravel or bio-spira.

you are going through a cycle and tank water has almost zero beneficial bacteria.

[guppymax]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

You don't say where your water comes from. Is it city tap water? Did you use any dechlorinator and anything to remove the ammonia when you first set up the tank? If you did I would say fine go ahead and make some more water that way and change 30% of your water right now. If not I might want to use dechlorinator drops and amquel in the tank right now. You absolutely do not need any more fish for a month! Are you sure you did not reverse the nitrite and the nitrate numbers? Normaly the ammonia spike is first followed by the nitrite spike in two weeks then the nitrate spike in two more weeks. The source of all these toxic chemicals is either fish waste, dead fish , or dead plants. You should not be feeding the fish more than they can eat in five minutes! If there is any food on the bottom after five minutes you should siphon it out. The bacteria that break these chemicals down so they can be stripped from the water by the air column live in some sort of biological filter which is normally something with a lot of surface area. I am familiar with sponge and box filters which contain something like polyester quilt batting. Your canister filter removes solids from the water to make it clear but is not a very good biological filter. I don't know what the Juwel internal filter is. You may need to add a sponge filter to the tank. It would not hurt anything if you did.

max

[juwelofthenile]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

yes it is city tap water and i used a dechlorinator called Stress Coat and I can safely say I did not get my nitrite and nitrate tests reversed, I just did another to be on the safe side and have the same readings.

[guppymax]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

That should be fine. I would go ahead and change 30% of the water with some new water made the same way.

max

[guppymax]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

What are you feeding the fish?

max

[juwelofthenile]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

well they dont seem to be wanting to do much, but food wise i have been feeding them omnivore pellets and frozen bloodworm (alternating every other day)

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

cut back on the feeding.

i had the same thing happen in my tank, cycled and then re-cycled with just ammonia and nitrate readings.

[guppymax]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

I agree especially feeding the bloodworms. Seeded filter media is a good idea too.

max

[juwelofthenile]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

thank you for your help and advice.  would something like ammo-lock be a good thing to use as an emergency treatment for the 0.25 ammonia levels?

[SCOTT]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

No, do not use ammo lock, you are fighting the cycle if you do. Instead do a 30-50% water change each day. Your tank needs a certain ammount of ammonia at this point to get the nitrobacter started.

[juwelofthenile]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

oh bugger then i've made a real big boo boo as i've added ammo lock this morning hoping it may of been an emergency relief to the 2 synos left.  oh i have got myself into a pickle    

[szidlon]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

Do you have a smaller tank you could put them in with a seeded filter until you can get your big tank properly cycled?  You could check with the LFS and see if they have a seeded filter they would sell you.  Your profile doesn't indicate where you are located.  If we knew what part of town you are in someone close to you may have a seeded filter they would be willing to sell/lend you.  I would have looked for something less expensive to cycle the tank with, then if they did not survive at least the monetary impact would not be as severe.

[juwelofthenile]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

i'm based in the UK.  as it's new year's day my LFS is closed.  it's not the monetary value i'm worried about, i just dont like to see the fish suffer.

[szidlon]

Re: Urgent Help Required by Newbie re: Sick Syno Multis

i'm based in the UK.  

Well, I guess running a seasoned filter over to you would be a little difficult, a nice trip I'm sure but not very practical.  I would continue to do as Scott suggests with the water changes.  He, or someone else may return with additional advice to help you out. Too bad it's a holiday and your resources are so limited.  I think we have several folks here on the Fish Box that are connected to the UK.