Fish breathing fast / faces look a little red

[Snkrpmp]

So I changed tank today , I cycled the water with the prime and waited 24 hours , ran all the water tests and everything seems perfect,  I transfered all my fish and they seem to be breathing fast and have redish in their faces , also sticking to corners , any advice?

[sanny]

Most of them won't make it by tomorrow. The red your mentioning is ammonia poisoning and its deadly for them. Also the cycle process takes about 4-6 weeks maxs. What I would do is do a 100% water change now, and then tomorrow see if any of your buddys have an established aquarium and you could borrow some of his media such as sponges, bio rings, etc. The sponges and so on carry bacteria which is beneficial for the fish and its what keeps them alive. Read how to cycle an aquarium online and don't waste your money on meds other than water conditioner.

[Snkrpmp]

My ammonia level is at 0ppm

[Snkrpmp]

0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
5 Nitrate after

[charlie]

A bit out of my experience, but i would suggest daily water changes & adding some carbon along with aggressive surface agitation.
Hopefully the fish make it & someone with more experience in this aspect can be of more help.
Regards

[Snkrpmp]

Small update , I haven't lost any fish yet , most of my fish are an inch and smaller , seem to be eating and swimming around a little more  , still a little red on the faces

[lucius]

0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
5 Nitrate after

I agree with sanny, tank is not fully cycled yet. 

[wolfiewill]

Perhaps you could describe the tank in a little more detail. What was your acclimation process? What substrate, filtration, lighting, etc. Any exotic wood or rock? I have never heard of red faces as a symptom before. And you haven't really even started the cycling process. The above chart Lucius provided is a very good graphic representation of the concentration/timeline you should expect for the pertinent toxins associated with the nitrogen cycle. As for other issues, well I'm at a loss at this stage.

And where did the new tank come from? Have you repaired it with a sealant perhaps?

[Snkrpmp]

The tank is a 77 gallon that was used for lizards , I washed it very very well , let it sit in the sun for the whole day to dry , all rocks have been used in a previous tank and have been fully washed , fake plants we're all cleaned , tank is holding labs , demansoni and frontosa , all have slight red faces or gills , all fish are an inch or smaller and there's about 30 of them .

Filter is a fluval 403 , I have a power head 803 , temp is about 78 , before I transfered my fish to this tank I transferred 20 gallons of the old tank water and tested the water and everything tested great so I transferred the fish

[exv152]

Check out the chart in this link, and in particular the 2nd symptom under item #1.  

http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/stressdisease.shtml

When you see this together with the chart provided above, it adds up to most likely ammonia poisoning.

Also adding 30 fish right off the bat to an uncycled tank is bad news. Using old water from your previous tank won't help the cycle. It's the media in the filter, gavel etc (surfaces), that contain beneficial bacteria and not the water itself. I would reduce feeding dramatically, rehome some fish, add more filters with media borrowed from mature tanks, and heavy water changes.

[Snkrpmp]

How can it be ammonia poisoning if the tests come back 0ppm

[exv152]

I would trust the signs you're seeing over a water test that can be inaccurate. There are a number of things that can make the water test inaccurate/unreliable.

[Snkrpmp]

Is it possible that the gills look red because they are babies? None have died aND all seem to be swimming normal

[bergenm]

I would suspect your test kit is faulty or out-dated. If you have just treated city water for chloramines you should register ammonia (chloramine is a chlorine/ammonia bond).

[wolfiewill]

Check the best before date or date of manufacture on your test kit. As it ages it looses its ability to do what it's intended. but that aside, Lucius provided a chart of the toxic nitrogen compounds and their presence during the cycling process. It can be relied on qualitatively more so than test kits (Charlie's reading this with unbridled glee). The timing may change, but you can bet your eye teeth on it happening in the order illustrated. So where did you get so much ammonia, or nitrite so quickly..... Exv152's advise is what I would follow in any case. Is it possible the reptile detritus is more insidious than you'd expected?

[Snkrpmp]

Luckily everyone is still alive

[angelcraze]

I would trust the signs you're seeing over a water test that can be inaccurate. There are a number of things that can make the water test inaccurate/unreliable.

Red on faces, more on joints of fish is a sign of septicemia.  A fish can go into 'remission' and never exhibit that again, or only when stressed, which is what happened to me and my ignorance and my fishes' spawn.  But if the redness is solely in the gill area, than it's most likely ammonia poisoning.  I am sorry to say, but your ammonia test is faulty, unless your pH is very low, which is a very possible variable actually.

What is your pH?

[angelcraze]

And, if you are using Prime throughout the attempted cycle, I would definitely not overdose and only treat new water going in, this could give you a false ammonia reading as well.

Also, it is possible that the tank cycled quickly, and that the fish were exposed to the ammonia or even nitrite spikes for a short period of time, before it cycled fully.

+1 to surface agitation or an airstone, just more oxygen for now.

When you say

I transfered all my fish and they seem to be breathing fast and have redish in their faces , also sticking to corners

Where did you get these fish from.  Do you have another aquarium somewhere?  Maybe they were in the bag too long and were already sick, imports?

[Mike L]

I'm curious where the fish came from as well. LFS or shipped? How where they acclimated to the water.