follow-up from my "levels are off" post

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cindymairi

Small Fish
#1
Aug 22, 2005
16
0
0
Texas
#1
I changed 20% of the water last night, cleaned the gravel real good. Checked levels with the little 5 in 1 strips again tonight and still consistent pH dropping, Nitrites & Nitrates rising (my tap water is pH 7, tank is at 6.4, Nitrite 5.0, Nitrate 25) .

The fish, babies, and snail all seem normal - How high and how long should this go before everything drops again? Will my fish be OK if it continues?

I think what I gathered from last night's question is that I can do daily 25% water changes and add the AmQuel daily for now. I'm just really surprised that two days of that hasn't already caused it to normalize.

Also one other thing... do I need to take my fish out while I do water changes? At first I did, but they seem more stressed out running from the net than they do hiding from me... :rolleyes:
 

SANND

SANND

Large Fish
#2
Jul 20, 2005
627
4
0
56
Washington, DC
#2
You don't need to take fishies out to change the water, just try not to disturb them too much. If you need to do more than just one water change a day, then do them. Frequent small water changes are best.
 

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bfish

Medium Fish
#4
Jul 23, 2005
84
0
0
51
el cajon california
#4
I think you should be fine. How much are youe feeding them? Only as much as they can eat in a few minutes twice a day. If your levels are still high stop feeding for a day or so. trust me it will not hurt them. And relax with the amquel and ph. The tank should adjust on its own slowly. You said it is a 3 week old tank. Did you set it up w/o fish for a while? If you put fish in right away that could be your problem.
 

SANND

SANND

Large Fish
#5
Jul 20, 2005
627
4
0
56
Washington, DC
#5
Just read your first thread (should've done that first!) so here's a follow up...

You will get different opinions on the Amquel, some people say you shouldn't use while cycling and other people have told me that the amquel changes the ammonia so it's no longer dangerous to the fish but is still available for the bacteria to eat. I don't know enough to say one way or the other but I did use it when I cycled my first tank.

The best thing you can do right now is lots of small water changes a day. Try 3 a day if ammonia and nitrites are super high.

Don't use the pH up or pH down. It will cause more trouble for you and the several small water changes will help with your pH more.

Good luck!
 

N

namukoby

Medium Fish
#6
Mar 30, 2005
87
0
0
#6
cindymairi said:
The fish, babies, and snail all seem normal - How high and how long should this go before everything drops again? Will my fish be OK if it continues?
Click to expand...
They should be ok if you keep doing water changes to keep nitrites from getting too high. I was told to not let nitrites get higher than 5 while cycling.

cindymairi said:
I think what I gathered from last night's question is that I can do daily 25% water changes and add the AmQuel daily for now. I'm just really surprised that two days of that hasn't already caused it to normalize.
Click to expand...
It took almost 7 weeks for my first tank to cycle with fish. It's a slow process. The longest part of the cycle is getting rid of the nitrites. You already have some nitrates, so you are almost there. Give it another week or two, and your tank should be cycled.
 

C

cindymairi

Small Fish
#7
Aug 22, 2005
16
0
0
Texas
#7
I waited just three days for the first two fish and another 5 days to add the other two. That's the way my fistank instructions suggested...

I'll try skipping the morning feeding. I think I was overfeeding them at the start- they would have it all finished within a few minutes but would be too full to help clean up the pieces that fell to the bottom of the tank. No I give just enough for everybody to eat for a minute or so and then they spend the next little while cleaning up.

My tapwater tests perfect on the little strips...no Nitrite/Nitrate at all and an even 7.0 pH.
 

TLH

TLH

Large Fish
#8
Jun 27, 2005
703
1
0
Northants;England
#8
I'd stop feeding fulstop for a couple of days.It won't harm the fish to go hungry and it'll put less stress on the system.Keep the Nitrite below 5 like namukoby said,with waterchanges.It's quite safe doing a 50% change if you have to but stick with the 25% a day for now.

When you resume feeding do it sparingly until the nitrite problem is under control.Once the tank is established the nitrite will dissappear almost overnight.

The PH will be ok aslong as the fish don't start racing about(flashing) or trying to jump out.If they start doing this it's got to acidic for them.

Finally have you tested some tapwater after it's stood out overnight to see if it's the same as when it came out of the tap?
 

C

cindymairi

Small Fish
#9
Aug 22, 2005
16
0
0
Texas
#9
TLH said:
Finally have you tested some tapwater after it's stood out overnight to see if it's the same as when it came out of the tap?
Click to expand...
nope, I'll set some out tonight before bed...


Thanks again everyone for the encouragement and advice. You've really put my mind at ease and I'm sure my fishies would love to thank you for it!

I did a 10% change tonight and will do another in the morning before work. With any luck my next post will be about something much more trivial like how to tell if I have a boy or a girl snail ;)
*PEACE!*
 

B

bfish

Medium Fish
#10
Jul 23, 2005
84
0
0
51
el cajon california
#10
sounds like you relaxed a little bit that is half the battle. ease up on feeding(stopping for a day won't hurt) and water changes. No Chemicals, let the tank balance itself out. you are getting there. everyone has given you lots of good advice now take a deep breath and.....................
 

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