# Ammonia Poisoning??



## mcarty (Jul 9, 2012)

Hello,
My tank is currently cycling with Dr Tims One and Only. During this cycle some of my fish have developed what looks to be like some of their scales are turning white. I initially treated for ich and have been for the past 3 days but it does not seem to be making a difference in the white coloration and it does not seem to look my fish have been sprinkled with salt. I am wondering if this is ammonia poisoning. My ammonia was at 2ppm for 2 days but is now slowly declining. If this is ammonia poisoning what should be i be doing about this. Should i look for filter media from established tank to try and speed this cycle up? Should i be adding in any products that will help with this? Thanks.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I have not seen white scales caused by ammonia. Aggression on the other hand looks like white marks on the fish's body. What are the size and species of your 5 fish?


----------



## mcarty (Jul 9, 2012)

They are all about 1.5 to 2 inches and i have 3 yellow labs and 2 blue zebra (blue colbalts). Only one of the fish has a bunch of them and the 2 colbalts have none what so ever on them.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Do the marks look like ich? Grains of salt?

You might want to isolate the one victim fish if the others are picking on her.


----------



## mcarty (Jul 9, 2012)

Thats what i am stumped about. It does not look like ich it looks more like some of the scales are turning white and there are some bigger white marks towards the mouth of the cichlid. Could this be a fungal infection or something related to stress? Thanks


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Malawi get white lips and mouth areas from fighting (lip locking) and scraping algae from rocks. That is fine.

If it is fuzzy at all, then you start worrying about columnaris which is serious. If you see fuzz, Goggle columnaris and see if it looks like your fish. Columnaris is also sometimes called cotton mouth disease.

I'd remove the lab with the white marks because obviously something is going on. If she heals up without meds, then it was just aggression.


----------



## mcarty (Jul 9, 2012)

Thanks for the reply. It seems to be going down and I haven't seen any aggression between this fish but I guess I would most likely not notice it. How ever today when I woke up my tank water was cloudy and I checked the ammonia and it was 8ppm. The fish are still alive but what should I do about this? Thanks.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Change water to get the ammonia down to 1ppm.


----------



## mcarty (Jul 9, 2012)

I have been doing water changes but it does not seem to be lowering my ammonia levels. My test kit is showing me that my ammonia has been at 8ppm for almost 3 days now. My fish are still alive and eating, is this even possible? They seem to be breathing at normal rate instead of looking like they are chewing gum. Could this be that my ammonia is lowering but my test kit is failing or is this a sign that they are very ill. What could be causing such high ammonia readings for multiple days in a row? Any help is appreciated.


----------



## NeptunesNeighborhood (Apr 19, 2012)

What testing kit are you using? Maybe the test is bad as that level would be lethal depending on your pH.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

If your ammonia is 8ppm and you remove half the water, it should then be 4ppm.

Did you also vacuum your gravel and is your filter clean?


----------



## mcarty (Jul 9, 2012)

When i did a large water change my ammonia still showed to be at around 8ppm. Does this mean that ammonia was maybe even higher than 8ppm and more like 16ppm? Should i also vacuum the gravel even though my tank is kind of still going through its cycle? All of my fish are still alive they are just not as active as they have been.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Is 8ppm the maximum reading on your test kit? If so, yes, that could be the answer.

Before resorting to vacuuming the gravel, try changing 50% every 12 hours and see if you can get it below 8ppm ever.

Damage done by toxins is permanent so even if they live through it, they may be impaired.


----------



## mcarty (Jul 9, 2012)

I will begin doing the water changes to try and reduce my ammonia. Is it ok to put this much de-chlorinator in my tank? Also what would some examples of the permanent impairment be? Man, never again am i going to try and cycle a tank using with fish. Thanks for the help.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I believe their gills get burned and they cannot breathe as well. I always think of a person with emphysema, but I don't know how accurate that is. Right now dechlorinator is good.


----------

