TANK CYCLING WATER LEVELS and QUESTIONS

C

capper

Medium Fish
#1
Oct 16, 2005
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#1
Here's what we have going on:

One tank 30X30X25cm has got a handful of plants, 3 small-sized Cardinal tetras, and 2 Mickey Mouse Platties. I put the Tetras in the tank 5 days ago. I put the Platties in the tank 2 days ago. One of the Cardinal Tetras died today. Did a check for Ammonia this evening and it shows 0. Checked the Nitrite level and it showed below 0.3. PH also holding steady between 7.5 and 8.0. What should we do from here?

Our second tank is only 20X20X20cm. In it are 10 African Lampeyes (very small fish). They have been in the tank for 2 days. Checked all levels. Ammonia is a tiny hair above 0 at most. Nitrite is between .3 and .8, likely closer to .8. PH is about 7.5. What should we do now?

We have a larger cycled 60X36X30cm aquarium. Should we move any fish? Should we change the water in any of the tanks?

I appreciate your help as always!
 

T

TheMainer

Large Fish
#2
Sep 3, 2005
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#2
You need to be checking the Nitrate levels as well. It sounds like you haven't cycled your tank ahead of time, so Nitrate might not show up right away, but you should still be checking it.

You will want to do a water change and try to get some of that ammonia/nitrite/nitrate out of there. That could most likely be the cause of death for your tetra.

When doing fish-in cycles, you will have to do water changes more frequently.
 

C

capper

Medium Fish
#3
Oct 16, 2005
97
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#3
We don't have a Nitrate test kit yet. Our bigger tank seems okay as far as Ammonia and Nitrite are concerned. Should we still do a water change? If so, how much? Our smaller tank has a bit of a higher Nitrite level but Ammonia seems okay. Should we change that water? If so, how much?
 

T

TheMainer

Large Fish
#4
Sep 3, 2005
207
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#4
There is no set amount. The important part is that you get the levels of ammonia and nitrite down. I would suggest anywhere from a 25% - 50% water change. If that isn't enough to get the ammonia/nitrite levels down, then you can do more.
 

T

TheMainer

Large Fish
#8
Sep 3, 2005
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#8
I would wait a little bit. If you do it immediately, you might not have an accurate reading. I honestly have never done a fish-in cycle before, so I cannot speak from experience.

My suggestion would be to check the ammonia/nitrite levels daily and use that as your guide. If the levels are high, you need to do a water change to get them down as low as possible. Idealy, you want ammonia and nitrite to be 0 ppm and nitrate to be low (say 20ppm or below).
 

C

capper

Medium Fish
#10
Oct 16, 2005
97
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#10
Large Cycled tank has 5 Corydoras Catfish, 10 Cardinal Tetras, 9 Glowlight Tetras, 5 Rummy Nose Tetras and one Guppy (Black Tuxedo I think).

It has been up and running since May or June.
 

Seleya

Seleya

Superstar Fish
#11
Nov 22, 2004
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Cape Cod, MA
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#11
So, you essentially have a 6 gallon (US), a 2 gallon (US) and a nearly 17 gallon (US) tank. :)

You have all small fish, but those tanks are awfully heavily stocked especially considering they aren't even cycled yet. Your best bet would have been to run filters for the two small tanks for a few weeks on the 17 before buying any fish for those two smaller tanks. With those fish loads, I would maintain an aggressive water testing/change schedule. I wouldn't be inclined to move fish around much, your 17 is overstocked as well imo. You may want to try taking some gravel from the 17 and putting it into a knee high stocking or other mesh and popping it into the cycling tanks to help jump start the cycling process.
 

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