Help with water condition PLEAES!!!!!!!!!

Chinxican420

Chinxican420

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#1
Aug 26, 2005
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I have a 60g with a jardini, bichir, 3 small cichlids, 2 barracuds, 2 pacus and a pleco. I feed 2 frozen blood woms drops, a few goldfish, guppies and ghost shrimp about once a day. I checked my water yesterday and my ph was off the charts as well as my nitrite. The fish store said to do water changes about 25% everyday for 2 weeks then wait 3 days and check it again.
I currently do water changes about once every week and a half.
Any/every info would be great.

Thanks!
 

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ashleigh

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#2
Jan 8, 2004
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You've probably heard this already but I think you need to get some of those fish back to the store sooner rather than later- chiefly those pacus (which I believe are frugivores, by the way). I think a lot of the problem will be that you are feeding messy food to an overstocked tank. did you cycle this tank? How long has it been running? When you say ' off the charts' what are the actual numbers?
 

Chinxican420

Chinxican420

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#3
Aug 26, 2005
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#3
My girlfriend is the one who got the pacus and I'm already going to give them back.
Ive had the tank for about 2 months nd yes, I did cycle the tank... I think...
The ph was so high it didn't show on the chart so there was no number. Same for the nitrite. With the type of fish I have what would be a good menu?
Thanks!
 

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ashleigh

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Jan 8, 2004
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here's what I would do for now-
Start testing for Ammonia, nitrates and nitritites
Take back the barracudas and pacus, find out what your small cichlids are
Start doing daily water changes to reduce ammonia
Stop feeding live fish (this has to do with the cycle a little, but also they can often introduce diseases)

As for a diet, I'm not experienced with a lot of the species you have so you might want to look around on the profiles or see what others have to say. It sounds like you are feeding too much maybe for one thing, and I think you need to look at the species you have, think about which ones you really like and change some things around a bit. I really don't think a few of them are compatible long term.
 

FroggyFox

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#7
May 16, 2003
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What you described as "cycling" is not what setting up a new tank is about. When we talk about cycling its a bit more involved. What your tank is doing right now with high nitrites is cycling. Did you test ammonia?

Basically I agree with Ashleigh. The Pacus definitely need to go, and you should do some serious research on the other fish as far as how big they get, what kind of tankmates would be suitable etc. High levels of nitrites will poison your fish so you need to be doing water changes as often as you can 25% every day or every other day. You wont get them down to 0...you need them to start being converted to nitrates and if they're spiking then hopefully you are relatively close to the end of your cycle.

There are some threads stickied at the top of the beginner forum about cycling that you might want to check out...but in a nutshell, in a new tank there is no bacteria. When you add fish, those fish make waste and add ammonia to the water. Bacteria show up to convert that ammonia to nitrites....then a different bacteria shows up to convert nitrites to nitrates. You use water changes to get rid of the nitrates. Ammonia and nitrites are harmful to your fish...this is why in a healthy tank you have 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and a low amount of nitrates. Unfortunately it sounds like your pet store people are just as inexperienced at fishkeeping as a lot of them are and you followed what they said...only what they said wasn't good enough. I think most of us have had this problem in the past and this is why most people around here will tell you "DONT LISTEN TO THE PET STORE EMPLOYEES"...
 

Chinxican420

Chinxican420

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#8
Aug 26, 2005
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#8
first of all I want to say THANK YOU ALL!!!!
I'll continue to do my daily water changes @ 25%. How long shuold I do it until I check the water? Does the water need to settle before I do a water check?
I'm going to take the pacus back this weekend, I'm even considering taking back the cichids too. I did ny research on arowana and bichirs but again I asked the lfs about the saber-tooth barracuda and they said they would be ok with what I had.
I guess the problem with the saber-tooth, is that they only eat goldfish and I know they are the dirtiest fish.
Like you said do the water changes.... In my situation is that all I do for now?

Thank you again!!!!!!
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

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#10
May 16, 2003
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#10
You can check the water for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates as much as you want to...but its probably not worth doing more than every couple of days.

Letting the water mix for an hour or so before doing testing would probably be a good idea just to get the most accurate reading. Keep us posted...when you test you can post the results here and maybe some people can help ya with some interpretation.

I also forgot to mention earlier about your pH. What do you mean your pH is off the chart? Honestly...thats not always a bad thing. Your fish like a STABLE pH more than they care what their supposedly "ideal" pH is. Dont buy any chemicals to mess with your pH (and I 2nd what twoluvcats said about not buying any chemicals that your pet store reccomends, with the exception of biospira or stabilize)
 

Chinxican420

Chinxican420

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#11
Aug 26, 2005
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#11
Thank you all again!
I'll do my daily and check the ammonia/nitrites/nitrates every few days and post the results.
One more thing : When I do my water change should I use tap water or my water from water filter that that I can choose the ph. I can choose from 5.5, 7, 8, 9.5.
When I changed the water last night I used half 5.5 and 7.

Thank for the love!

PS the ph # was so high that it wasnt on the chart.
 

Last edited:
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ashleigh

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#12
Jan 8, 2004
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I would go with tap. does the filter change the PH chemically? The reason I woudl go with tap is that you really don't want to mess with your Ph. As a general rule, as long as the Ph is stable, your fish will adjust. You want a Stable Ph more than a particular number.

Oh and hey- since the Ph was high- what kind of decorations do you have in your tank.
 

Chinxican420

Chinxican420

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#13
Aug 26, 2005
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#13
I've only used the filter water since I got the tank. This filter cost us about $3000.00 And I'm not sure if it changes chemically. I do know that it has charcoal in the filter.
Thank you very much! I'll start using tap from now on.
By the way, what is the ph in tap water?
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

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#19
May 16, 2003
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#19
well 2 is better than it was before right? :) The fact that you have nitrates is good, means that your cycle should be in the homestretch.

If you're doing some water changes every day or every other day...and they've been ok thus far, I'd think they're going to be fine...just have to wait it out.
 

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