Filters And Nitrite

[Harlequins]

In my cory fry tank i keep getting nitrites of 0.25,now i orginally put mature media in a mini elite filter,i just happened to test the water when i noticed the 23 cory fry seem less active,the nitrite had shot up to 1.0ppm

I lost 18 fry from this even though i was doing 50% w/c & bottom clean daily anyway i had more eggs hatch out,i have now been doing 2x 90% w/c to keep the nitrites down.
I don't intentionally overfeed,has i'm trying to be careful.i thought it might have been the firstbites causing water issues now the liquidfry is doing the same!!

So i thought if i take out one of the cycled filters from the livebearer fry tank to try to see if its the filter or the food causing it to spike.

my question is would the fully cycled filter lose some bacteria if i put this in the cory tank? because bio load of platy tank is more than what the 24 cory fry do at the moment?

i will still do the w/c on the cory tank,but i dont know if its stressing the cory fry doing 90% twice a day!
Any help apppreciated

 

[fatheadminnow]

If you move one filter from a tank with a higher bio-load to another tank with a lower bio-load, then the bacteria in the cycled filter will have to reach a new equilibrium, One in which will cause some bacteria to die off because there simply is not enough food.

-FHM

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

It may be that the mature media you used simply wasn't enough to counteract the effects of all the fry. And it may be that there's something wrong with the filter you're using? It does sound like way too much water changing for reletively small amounts of fish. Such large changes could affect the filter by not allowing any bacteria to cultivate. Have you got any more mature media you could place in the filter?
P.

 

[mattlee]

Hi Harlequins i am currently doing about 30% water changes once a day with my cory fry and so far so good only had 2 die 1 in week 1 and 1 in week 2 so it cant be too bad a thing doing less % water changes. ive also been cleaning the sand using a length of air pump pipe to remove any uneaten food etc. filter wise im using a sponge filter that was in my main tank for about 5 weeks and my ammonia, nitrite are reading 0 using API tests i think 90% twice a day is possibly too much for the fry.... good luck with them, no doubt ill be informed inthe cory section
Matt

 

[pouyan]

Hi Harlequins ,
you should hold in your mind that Bio-media which has its own fixed bacteria from your previous tank and its condition needs that same condition to be in earlier harmony, such as amount of food oxygen and so... for get a right form again they need time and this mean they need period to settle for doing their right responsibility , and its look likes a blunder cause you disturb the balance of bio filtration and in the first days of getting balance the nitrate will promote and after the proper bacteria which find their true environment with true density and fixed related things they will work very well for breaking nitrite ,also I don't know how you siphoning your tank because as you mention the stress can make double worse of everything but I suggest you to use water which treated very well by eliminating waste stuffs such as heavy metals, some accidental toxins .... you can do it by some products such as aquasafe start or any another related supplement , and for nitrites fist compute how much nitrite you will add to your tank by fry and your daily feeding and their wastes and their growth time then you can see do you have fixed or so called cycled bacteria to handle these amount of nitrite ?! then with good siphoning for removing the wastes and and nitrat which is byproduct of breaking nitite to nitrate by beneficial bacteria you can have less die off from your nice cory fries , you can analyze this conditions and prepare correct environment for your goal

GoodLuck

 

[Harlequins]

Thanks everyone

When I do the w/c i regularly stir the small amount of sand on the bottom whilst using the hose to suck up any debris etc...When refilling i temp match as close as i can and add prime to the water,and gently using a small tub put the water in without disturbing the fry or the sand on the bottom.
If i left it at one w/c my nitrite shoots up to 0.50ppm sometimes higher.

I think i will take a chance and put the cycled filter in there for a few days just to see if handles the nitrite,and in the livebearers tank the other filter is large enough to handle the load for the time being.
I need to do maintenance on one of the externals so i will take out some fresh media from there and try the mini elite filter again!