Ammonia & Nitrite Spike

[GP]

OK guys, I have a problem but it may not be. I've had my tank for exactly 7 days. I know part of the cycle is having ammonia and nitrite spikes, but I rushed things ) and I have my GSP in my tank now, and I got a big spike with ammonia and nitrite.. Thing is, I did a water change about 10 hours ago. I didn't check the water before the change, but now after the change the ammonia is really high, and nitrite is really high as well.. Fish is fine, nothing wrong with him.. Should I do another water change

Fish is 2 months old, so he's in a 5 gallon for a little bit before I get him a 60 gallon. He's the only fish in the tank.

 

[WheelmanCA19]

How much water did you change? You'll probally want to do daily water changes of 1-2 gallons untill your tank is cycled.

Whats "really high" 1ppm, 5ppm, off the chart?

 

[GP]

um, the ammonia was about 4-5

the nitrite I forget but I know it was almost toxic....

Should I do another WC tomorrow?

I would say I did about a 35%




WOAH forgot to add this... I was slowly converting to brackish, and I went from 1.005 to 1.005 to 1.008 in about 3-4 days.. Could that have killed the benefitial bacteria in my tank?

 

[luxum]

If your tank has only been running for 7 days it is unlikely that there was much beneficial bacteria in it at all. Seeing ammonia and nitrite spikes at this point is normal, do daily 20% water changes until the cycle establishes to minimize stress on the fish. I dunno how well GSP take to cycling.

 

[ger87410]

Something that I haven't seen in this thread is take some gravel from an established tank (Yours or your lfs's) and add it to the filter. That already has beneficial bacteria in it and will speed up the cycling tremendously.

 

[GP]

Thanks, the fish is doing perfectly fine.. I'll keep you updated.. Should I be adding The stuff that removes nitrites, nitrates and ammonia? Also adding cycle?

 

[ger87410]

I would STRONGLY recommend against using that stuff. It puts a ton of stress on the fish. Use water changes to reduce the level of toxins. Make sure your tap doesn't contain toxics, otherwise treat it with that stuff your talking about but wait for a few hours after doing that. IMO

 

[GP]

I don't use tap water, I've got reverse osmosis water, which is awesome for my fish... I'll try doing regular water changes instead of using those supplies and see how it goes.

 

[ger87410]

I forgot to mention. IME cycle speeds up the cycling process.

 

[GP]

Yes, I know that.

 

[GP]

bump, I could really use some advice, so anything else would be much appreciated.

 

[luxum]

There isn't a whole lot of advice that can be given. Do lots of water changes until the cycle establishes. Try to get your hands on some established filter media or gravel if possible, that will help. In my experience, the cycle products do absolutely nothing except waste your money. The only one i would even try is the kind that is refridgerated, but there have been availablity problems with that recently.

 

[GP]

Alright thanks.. I'm going to do every other day water changes.

Welp, I just talked to the moron "specialist" down at Petco, and he said he can't let me buy some pre established gravel off of him, but he can let me buy "Cycle", and Amquil, which DOESN'T put stress on the fish in anyway. He did say they have sand with preestablished bacteria on it. Is this possible?

 

[ger87410]

Certanly is if the sand is in water. Amquel+ does stress the fish IME. I used it a couple of times and it states on the bottle the oxygen level in your tank will drop for a couple of hours. I'd recommend checking your parameters everyday and the days that they're high, do a water change. That's what I did in my cycle w/ fish and I lost none.

 

[GP]

OK I did a water change today, didn't test the readings, but the nitrates are really high now, the nitrites are not as high but are still high, and the ammonia levels are still high.. I'm going to do daily water changes.. Also, there are long lasting bubbles on the surface, and the water looks a TAD bit cloudy. Is this normal?