This isn't good

[UP UP AND GUPPY]

Water changes aren't doing nothing for when it comes to lowering my ammonia and nitrites. Within the last week there has been nothing but high ammonia and nitrite levels. Nitrite is at .50 ppm and ammomia is at 4 ppm. This was after a water change. It was a 50%water change since those were really high. 2 of 3 of my Tetras died and I beleive it was because of this. What should I do, I tried everything I possibly could think of. These are the water parameters as of recently:

pH: 7.2
ammonia: 4 ppm
nitrite: .50 ppm
nitrate: 0 ppm

The tank been up for about 5 months.

 

[FroggyFox]

Sounds like your tank is cycling... Did you change filters or clean everything recently? Pretty much the only thing you can do is keep up with the water changes.

 

[FishLuvr]

after 5 months your tank should have cycled long by now, and if it had, (i'm not familiar with your setup or habits) then something you've done recently threw your tank into a cycle all over again, did you add new fish? and if you did, did you use the water from the place you got the fish from? have any die? and not removed them? clean a filter with tap water? any chemicals used? did you try to treat for something. You need to find out what caused this swing.

As for the ammonia and nitrites. Keep doing those water changes. as its yours 10 gallon tank(i'm assuming), 20-30% if not more depending on your ammonia amounts water changes as many as 2 or more times a day until its sorted out. Smaller the tanks the harder it is to keep everything balanced.

also how soon after the water change did you take those test?

 

[exhumed07]

I had the same problem but I got them kinda sorted out. what I did was a 50% change then let it sit for bout an hour and did it again. dropped the nitrites by bout 75% and the nitrates were bout the same as was my ammonia. ammonia is at 0 mg/l and nitrates were at like .3 mg/l which is just bellow mid range on my test kit. that was after the 2 changes and been steady for bout the last week or so and been doing 50% water changes every other day. I got an over stocked tank. didn't know better when I bought the fish. Didn't ask either.

 

[UP UP AND GUPPY]

Well 2 fish have died but tooken out immediatly. These were the fish I added just recently. I did use a little of the water from where I got the fish from. But this was because I have 1 of those nets that are shape like a pipe and holds water and the fish. I did not treat for anything. I used a product called Clear Water to keep it from being cloudy.

 

[davidmold]

All you need to do is keep changing the water until the levels come down somewhere safe. Do a 50% water change, and test again immediately. If the levels are not safe, then do another 50% water change and test again. Keep doing this until the levels are safe. As long as you do this every day, your water quality will always be okay, even while cycling.

 

[noncentric]

Hi up...

In addition to the other advice already posted - have you tested your tap water, to see what the ammonia and nitrites are there? I suppose it's possible that there may have been a change in your water supply, and maybe that's why the ammonia/nitrites aren't decreasing after your water changes.

 

[Firebug]

Well 2 fish have died but tooken out immediatly. These were the fish I added just recently. I did use a little of the water from where I got the fish from. But this was because I have 1 of those nets that are shape like a pipe and holds water and the fish. I did not treat for anything. I used a product called Clear Water to keep it from being cloudy.

Do you usually use Clear Water? Maybe that's what caused your parameters to spike..I try hard to avoid using any chemicals in my tank, because they may cause more trouble than what you would have encountered had you not used the product...Water changes are in need. Hope all goes well!