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Help urgent cloudy water fish breathing heavy and losing pigment and dying

 
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      December 31st, 2009
PLEASE HELP I've read and read today but cant really find anything but to change the water.

my water got really cloudy out of the blue yesterday i bought water clearer didnt work at all changed the filter no help today my fish started dying the remaining ones are swimming at the top gasping for air they are now losing pigment i did a 20% water change the water is still cloudy i've lost a blue damsel green cromis and strawberry pseudo I only have 2 clowns a blue damsel and engineer goby left(he's even swimming the top) please is there anything i can do i dont think they will last through the night

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      December 31st, 2009
A water change. That's all you can do. Why haven't you done one already? Cloudy water is evidence of a bacterial bloom. The bacterial population explodes, turns the water cloudy, and starves the water of oxygen, which is why your fish are gasping -- they are suffocating.

If you have a 30 gallon tank that is 3 months old with 7 fish in it already, that is why you have a bacterial bloom -- your tank is totally overstocked, and you stocked it very quickly. Overstocking a fish tank like that will cause a tank crash in the exact way you are describing. In a 30 gallon tank, you can have 3 or 4 fish, max. You should add no more than 1 fish every 3 to 4 weeks. Add too many fish too fast, and this happens, sorry to say.

Water change, water change, water change. Good luck -- I hope your fish recover.

 
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      December 31st, 2009
Man, what happened? What changed in the water? What are you water tests showing? We need more info. Remove the dead things and check that water.

 
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      December 31st, 2009
Man, Biff go!

 
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      December 31st, 2009
I did a water change already but still no improvement i did a 20% water change.... and now i know that i stocked to quickly from reading and reading only reason i stocked so quickly is because our towns fish store said that i was ready to go and that i could put them all in there

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      December 31st, 2009
nitrate 20
nitrite.5
alkalinity 300
ph
7.8

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      December 31st, 2009
Sorry to hear that you were misled by the fish store -- that really sucks. Not all of them are honest. In the end, they are a business, and sometimes all they're interested in is making money off of people. There are good fish stores out there, and it usually takes a while to find one that has integrity.

I would do another 20% water change. And then another 20% in a couple of hours. There isn't much else you can do, unless you remove the fish from the tank altogether.

 
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      December 31st, 2009
How about ammonia? Do you have an ammonia test kit? If nitrite is anything above zero, it can harm fish, and I'm willing to bet you have ammonia as well.

Do you happen to have any chemicals on hand like Amquel or Prime? They neutralize ammonia and nitrites and can be used in an emergency situation like yours.

 
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      December 31st, 2009
No i cant find my ammonia test strips i've been looking all day and no i dont have any of those chems only AquaSafe, Start Right, nutrafin Cycle, and crystal clear I'm running out of salt i think i hane enough for 1 more water change and thats it I will try to do another one

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      December 31st, 2009
Okay -- good luck. Don't give up... Fish can be tougher than you think. They may pull through.

Do you have adequate circulation in the tank? Like powerheads moving the water around? Make sure there's a lot of water movement, that will help.

 
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