Ammonia Poisoning

Question
Dear Mr. Coleman,

Thank you so much for answering my question, my poor guppies are in need of serious help! I have a 2 week old, 20 gallon, fish tank that cycled without fish for 1 month. I put what ever chemical in the tank that came with the tank set up (I believe that it was water conditioner and bacteria) I then added 2 male guppies, 2 female guppies, and 2 apple snails. One of the females had a cottony ball on her tail, and the fish expert at Petco told me to take out the tank filter and treat with Mardel. I did this for three days - that is when my fish first started looking sick. The 2 males died, and the females are upside-down at the bottom of the tank, struggling to breathe, with bloody streaks and splotches on them. The snails are near the top of the tank and won't come out of their shells. The Fish Place tested my tank water and told me the ammonia had spiked. I did 2 50% water changes and used water conditioner. The only thing I can think of doing is to keep changing the water, but I want to do as much as I can to help my two remaining fish recover, or at least not suffer as much as they seem to be. They were both far along in their pregnancies, but I have no expectation that that part of the situation will have a positive outcome. I don't know if this effects their survival or not. What should I do? Thank you again for your time. I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving.

Sincerely,
Steph  

Answer
Hi Steph,
 It is largely a myth that you can cycle a tank without fish, unless you know exactly what you are doing.  The way I recommend to start a fish tank is with a small number of fish, such as you have.  They produce waste and that is what starts the cycle.  It is essential that you do regular weekly water changes on a fish tank.  You should be changing 25% of the water once a week, every week.  BTW, you cannot change water too frequently, i.e., more frequent water changes will not hurt the fish at all.  You can, however, change too much water at once.  I prefer to stick with 25%, although I will go to 50% in case of emergency.  In your case, I suggest you change 25% for each of the next few days and see if that helps.  I would put the filter back in.  Also be sure that you are not overfeeding them.  I feed my fish only once a day and only give them what they will eat immediately.  Never put food in for them to "eat later". That food will rot and create tons of ammonia.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>