Am I Headin In The Right Direction

[snowfam]

yes  we have 5 fish (2 guppies 3 glowfish) 3 mystery snails and a dwarf frog

and they all seem fine. thats the wierd part

 

[snowfam]

Lost a guppy today. He was very spastic last night  and sinking to bottom basically scooting along gravel, with occasional flop up into water and then sink again, or get caught up in the plants.breathing heavy too..... 
 
other guppy has been acting weird just chilling in the corner with tip of mouth at surface but not swimming. An hour or or so later hes swimming a long. Hes  not as active as when we first got him
 
The 3 glow fish are looking good kinda bullying the guppies though, but living strong.
 
3 snails are all over the tank, just scooting along and occasionally over each other(weve been keeping an eye on them).
 
The frog, whom weve had for 3 weeks before we got the fish we do have, is living strong as well, and he survived a bleach accident in old tank...
 
been 2 weeks now and still no change in levels. All they do is fluctuate... The levels go up, i do water change.. they go down a smige, i do a i do water change,  they go back up, water change........ every day i do  a water change. i  use aqua safe dechlorinator  pre mixed as im filling my  bucket
 
Nh3 fluctuate between 2 - 6 ppm
 
Nitrites fluctuate between .25 - 2 ppm
 
neither have ever read 0 and its a 10 gallon tank its been 2-3 months now
 
Nitrates are always stable at 10 ppm
 
Ph says 7.8
 
High Ph says 7.4
 
temp @ 79 F
 
is this ever gonna get better?

 

[the_lock_man]

Yes, it will eventually.
 
THe good news is that you are seeing nitrite readings, which means that the ammonia being produced is being converted - just not fast enough. This will get better over time.
 
Ultimately, you need to do as much of a water change to keep the ammonia and nitrite down until you can test and change again. Do the maths - if you are seeing a level of 4ppm ammonia, and you do a 50% water change, the ammonia will still be at 2ppm - which is still highly toxic, and almost certainly the reason the guppy died. However, if you do a 90% change, that ammonia level will go down to 0.4ppm (which is still too high).
 
So yes, you are needing to do 2-4 changes per day, if that';s what it takes to keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm at all times. Which is going to be a nightmare with your work patterns. But it will keep the fish healthy.
 
I suggest you only feed the fish once every 2-3 days, that will help keep ammonia production to a minimum. Also don't replace that guppy (or any other fish that die) until your cycle is properly established. I'd also suggest that you think of something else to keep, when the Glofish(R) die, as they are too active, really, for a 10G tank.

 

[snowfam]

will do more frequent water changes...
 
we feed the every 5 days...
 
and the reason i got glowfish is for my sons amusement, he likes them and i only have 3 in the tank, plenty of room for them.
personally, i want sharks, but not them fake balla sharks, but cant put one in this small of a tank.
 
He does like the black molleys tho, may be next fish for him

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'd also drop the temp in your tank to around 75.

 

[snowfam]

right now its sitting @ 77

i did my change aboutan hour ago, how long should i wait to do a level check? another hour?

 

[snowfam]

just tested the water... readings are as follows
 
Nh3 - > .50 ppm
 
Nitrites - 2 ppm
 
NitrAtes - 40-80 ppm (cant quite tell)
 
Ph - 7.2

prior readings were
 
Nh3 - 2 ppm
Nitrites - 5 ppm
Ph - 7.8

 

[the_lock_man]

will do more frequent water changes...
 
we feed the every 5 days...
 
and the reason i got glowfish is for my sons amusement, he likes them and i only have 3 in the tank, plenty of room for them.
personally, i want sharks, but not them fake balla sharks, but cant put one in this small of a tank.
 
He does like the black molleys tho, may be next fish for him

 
These fish (or at least their non-GM counterparts) come from fast moving hillside streams, consequently, they are capable of swimming very quickly, in order to be able to swim upstream. In a relatively static aquarium, this means they can get from one side of a 10G to the other quicker than you can blink, and more pertinently, they like to be able to do so, it's habit. The accepted wisdom is that they need a minimum 3' tank, to be able to stretch their legs. OK, stretch their fins.
 
Mollies too are too big for a 10gal.
 
If you look further down the forum, there is a section called Nano Tanks. There is a pinned topic in there which discusses fish that are suitable for small tanks such as yours.
 

just tested the water... readings are as follows
 
Nh3 - > .50 ppm
 
Nitrites - 2 ppm
 
NitrAtes - 40-80 ppm (cant quite tell)
 
Ph - 7.2
 
prior readings were
 
Nh3 - 2 ppm
Nitrites - 5 ppm
Ph - 7.8

 
You need to do a huge water change, as soon as you can. Take out as much water as possible, leaving the fish just enough to swim upright in. Be quite careful with matching the temperature of the water going back in. Nitrite becomes attached to the fish's haemoglobin, and prevents the haemoglobin from transporting oxygen around the body to brain, muscles, etc., effectively it suffocates the fish.
 
You need to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels below 0.25ppm at all times. In other words, when you do a water change, you need to get the levels as close to zero as you can, to leave yourself some time for the levels to increase again to 0.25ppm before you change again. Letting levels reach 2ppm and 5ppm is not good.

 

[snowfam]

will do more frequent water changes...
 
we feed the every 5 days...
 
and the reason i got glowfish is for my sons amusement, he likes them and i only have 3 in the tank, plenty of room for them.
personally, i want sharks, but not them fake balla sharks, but cant put one in this small of a tank.
 
He does like the black molleys tho, may be next fish for him

 
These fish (or at least their non-GM counterparts) come from fast moving hillside streams, consequently, they are capable of swimming very quickly, in order to be able to swim upstream. In a relatively static aquarium, this means they can get from one side of a 10G to the other quicker than you can blink, and more pertinently, they like to be able to do so, it's habit. The accepted wisdom is that they need a minimum 3' tank, to be able to stretch their legs. OK, stretch their fins.
 
Mollies too are too big for a 10gal.
 
If you look further down the forum, there is a section called Nano Tanks. There is a pinned topic in there which discusses fish that are suitable for small tanks such as yours.
 

>just tested the water... readings are as follows
 
Nh3 - > .50 ppm
 
Nitrites - 2 ppm
 
NitrAtes - 40-80 ppm (cant quite tell)
 
Ph - 7.2
 
prior readings were
 
Nh3 - 2 ppm
Nitrites - 5 ppm
Ph - 7.8

 
You need to do a huge water change, as soon as you can. Take out as much water as possible, leaving the fish just enough to swim upright in. Be quite careful with matching the temperature of the water going back in. Nitrite becomes attached to the fish's haemoglobin, and prevents the haemoglobin from transporting oxygen around the body to brain, muscles, etc., effectively it suffocates the fish.
 
You need to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels below 0.25ppm at all times. In other words, when you do a water change, you need to get the levels as close to zero as you can, to leave yourself some time for the levels to increase again to 0.25ppm before you change again. Letting levels reach 2ppm and 5ppm is not good.
 

so that is why they love hanging by the filter and bubbler, for the stream.....
 
we did a 90 percent water change last night, will do another 80 percent today..
 
why did my nitrates jump? they have always chilled around 10ppm now at 40-80

 

[the_lock_man]

Because the nitrite is starting to be processed by the bacteria.

 

[snowfam]

did not do a water change yesterday, but i did check levels about 45 minutes ago and they were as follows
 
Ammonia 0-.25ppm
 
Nitrites - 4 ppm (Edit) After looking it seems to be @ 6ppm, its a dark pink not violet or purple
 
Nitrates 80-100ppm? not quite brown color,(wich indicates 160ppm) but a dark orange
 
Ph  - 6.0

?? regular Ph test not High Ph
 
High Ph - 7.4 (lowest on scale)
 
I did a 75 percent water change
 
i see that my ammonia is getting closer to 0 and nitrites and nitrates seem to be peaking, does this mean im on track in my cycle?

 

[the_lock_man]

By not keeping those levels down, you are seriously risking the fish's health, and indeed, their lives. I appreciate that sometimes lives are so hectic that it's difficult to make time to change water, but please bear in mind that it will impact your wallet if the fish die.
 
I don't know if nitrites are peaking or not. The bacteria which process them are much slower to grow. Also note that if nitrates get up to the 150-200ppm mark, that too starts to become harmful.
 
If someone were to tie a plastic bag over a dog's head, and it died due to lack of oxygen, that person would be (rightly) prosecuted by the RSPCA and banned from keeping dogs. By allowing nitrite levels to reach these heights, you are doing the same thing to your fish - denying them oxygen. I've explained why. Please, for the sake of the fish, and the sake of your finances, you must do water changes often enough to keep the nitrite down to under 0.25ppm at all times.

 

[Chad]

Also, if big water changes aren't for you, you can do smaller ones more often. For example take a regular plastic pitcher and remove and replace just that much every other day. It literally takes 30 seconds to do. Then you don't have to lug gallons or take much time but the fish still get a cleaner environment. It's a method that has been experimented upoin and found to be successful.

 

[snowfam]

By not keeping those levels down, you are seriously risking the fish's health, and indeed, their lives. I appreciate that sometimes lives are so hectic that it's difficult to make time to change water, but please bear in mind that it will impact your wallet if the fish die.
 
I don't know if nitrites are peaking or not. The bacteria which process them are much slower to grow. Also note that if nitrates get up to the 150-200ppm mark, that too starts to become harmful.
 
If someone were to tie a plastic bag over a dog's head, and it died due to lack of oxygen, that person would be (rightly) prosecuted by the RSPCA and banned from keeping dogs. By allowing nitrite levels to reach these heights, you are doing the same thing to your fish - denying them oxygen. I've explained why. Please, for the sake of the fish, and the sake of your finances, you must do water changes often enough to keep the nitrite down to under 0.25ppm at all times.

 
Bro, i know this...
 
I have been doing a lot of water changes, its not like i do 1 change a week, sorry i missed a day due to being tired....and having a prego wife as well.
 
its only been recently when i believe you mentioned to " do the math" when doing my water changes that i needed to do 75-90 percent changes instead of the 20 percent daily
 
If i need to continue with the water changes tell me this , not that im kiling them,someone already beat you to that statement 
 
I know this bro, tis why i am here
 
one of my snails is acting wired,, i see his body and the little disc thingy but he hasnt moved in 2 days, typically when my snails died they bacically just left a shell , could he be dead?

just checked my levels after a 90 percent change yesterday and they are still the sam as if i never changed the water
 
ammoni 0-.25 PPM
 
nitrites - 5 PPM
 
nitrATES - 100 PPM

 

[snowfam]

I'd also drop the temp in your tank to around 75.

 
 
i cant my heater is not adjustable, its  seems to be set @ 78