Fish-In Cycle Readings

[fishtanksmomma]

I'm about one week into a fish-in cycle. I had planned on doing a fishless cycle while my daughter's betta recovered from fin/tail rot in a quaratine tank. I was doing daily 100% water changes and treating him with antibiotic for about ten days. I wasn't seeing any improvement so at the advice of LPS, I tried Melafix & Pimafix, which almost killed him. About five minutes after I added them, her fish became lethargic, lost color, and seemed to be gasping for air. He was simply laying on the plants and not moving. I thought he was surely going to die, so at a last ditch effort, I moved him into the uncycled tank. Almost immediately he improved. So now, I am doing a fish-in cycle, praying he lives through it, and hoping that once his tank is cycled his tail will finally heal. The good thing is that it isn't getting any worse yet.

This morning, I did a 33% water change. I didn't even bother testing the water because I planned on doing a second water change later in the day. I just tested the water and got these readings:

PH: 6.6
Amonia: .25
NitrIte: somewhere between 1.0-2 .0 (this is the one reading that I have the hardest time deciphering)
NitrAte: 5

I just did a large water change of 75%. I'm waiting for it to run through the filter some before testing again. If it comes back high again, should I do another water change? What is harder on the fish? Idon't want to stress him out too much.

 

[fluttermoth]

Swimming around in toxic water is much worse for the fish than multiple water changes.

I wouldn't wait before doing another one; there's nothing wrong with doing back to back water changes, as long as the new water is temperature matched and dechlorinated.

 

[fishtanksmomma]

Thanks. I'm going to wait about 20 more minutes, test again (just because I want to keep track of the parameters) and then do an appropriate water change.