Hi, have had 33 gallon tank up and running for nearly a month now, there were only plants and wood in tank until last Saturday put in 5 Cherry barbs. They have been okay and have been testing water parameters every day. Yesterday noticed the nitrate and nitrite readings have now elevated but amonia is still zero. Am using NTlabs Aquarium lab, my PH=8, nitrite is 1.0 and nitrate is 20. Am using Easylife Easy-start every day since fish went in. They look ok and show no sign of distress, still flying around the tank chasing each other, and not at the top of the tank. I am now feeding them every other day. Should I just carry on or is there anything else I should do, thanks
Fish in cycle
- Thread starter Negseven
- Start date
Do large water changes anytime you have a nitrite or ammonia reading. Continue this until the tank is fully cycled.
Just did a 1/3 water change, cleared up my tannin problem from wood as well, will keep on testing
Tannins are actually very beneficial for lots of fish. It has antibacterial properties and makes the fish feel safe!Just did a 1/3 water change, cleared up my tannin problem from wood as well, will keep on testing
when i say large I mean at least 50%Just did a 1/3 water change, cleared up my tannin problem from wood as well, will keep on testing
75% is optimal.
I understand the large water change, but aren’t you negating the beneficial bacteria you have built up?
No. The maturity of bacteria is on the decor and in the filter
No. The bacteria is on the hard surfaces and in the the filter media/substrate. There is barely any in the water column
Can you post a photo of the tank so we can see the plant species/numbers? Something is not right here. Are you being accurate in the nitrite and nitrate tests? And have you tested the tap water on its own for these, and with what result?
It is the nitrite reading I don't understand. Five cherry barbs in a 33g tank with plants that appear to be healthy (after a month you said) should not create so much ammonia that nitrite would occur, and the plants would readily use the ammonia/ammonium. And if nitrite really had been as high as 1 ppm, it would have affected the fish. Fish readily absorb nitrIte from the water and it combines with the hemoglobin in their blood, forming methaemoglobin. As a consequence, the blood cannot transport oxygen as easily and this can become fatal. At 0.25 ppm nitrite begins to affect fish after a short period; at 0.5 ppm it becomes dangerous; and at 1.0 ppm it is often fatal.
Thanks for your reply, yep I don’t understand it either, I did the NTlabs test tube tests twice and both times they came up as pink, indicating there were nitrite/nitrate high readings. I was also using test strips which I know are not very reliable, but they didn’t show high readings. The liquid in the dropper bottles could be defective, but I havent got another brand tester to compare against. As said the fish were not showing any signs of poisoning, so either they are very hardy fish 
or my testing media is corrupt. The 30% water change brought the readings right down, which is good…
or my testing media is corrupt. The 30% water change brought the readings right down, which is good…Similar threads
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