High Ammonia Fis Ok?

Question

Ok, so I got my tank running for a week now. 29 gal, i have cichlids. I had 6 but then my ammonia went high so I gave 2 to my friend. I have a biowheel and my ph is perfect along with everything else. I put 6 table spoons of aq. salt in the tank and doing water changes everyday. I also use water cond. and easy balance when the aq. was first set up. Today I added seachem to get the bacteria to kick in quicker. I didnt feed my fish today and they are swimming around the top and wall, in what seems like there looking for food... or gasping for air? My ammonia is at 2-2.5. My Jack Dempsey is a nice dark color and my parrots are also looking great. There all very active and look great. So are they gonna be ok?

Answer 1

Ammonia of 2ppm is too high. Lethargic fish are a sign of ammonia poisoning. The upside is that many of them are probably acclimated to the high ammonia levels: if they were going to suddenly drop dead, they probably already would have.

Keep changing the water to reduce the ammonia, or you could use an ammonia detox product:

1) tetra's 'Ammonia Detox'

2) Seachem's 'Prime'

3) Nutrafin (aka Hagen)'s 'Goldfish Bowl cleaner'

Until you get your nitrogen cycle in order, I'd suggest not feeding as much as you would normally.

Answer 2

Keep doing the water changes.

Hopefully the water treatment will be de-toxifing the ammonia, so if you can keep it down with water changes your fish will survive.

Not the best way to get a tank started, but it can be done. Just keep changing that water untill the ammonia AND nitrite begin to fall.

Ian  

Answer 3

your fish will be ok as long as you keep up the maintainence and get the ammonia to 0 (cycle the tank) 4 cichlids can be a big load on the 29 gall depending on the size of the fish, and dont forget when you add the aq salt to dissolve it in bowl with tank water first(straight salt can burn your fish). for futue ref when you want to start a tank, add a simple goldfish or two for 30 cents, and ask the pet store for some sponge squeezings to jump start the cycle.

Answer 4

they should be ok but i would lower the ammonia by cycling the tank just in case they don't get ammonia poisoning.