High Readings On Ammon And Nitrite

[Miss M]

Good morning everyone. Our 10 gall fish tank is showing the following as of Wednesday:

ammonia is literally off the color chart (almost black)
Nitrite is highest reading on color card
nitrate is halfway on color card.

We lost the rest of our fish once the nitrite cycle kicked in. We currently have 1 zebra danio cycling the tank.

My question: Shouldn't the ammonia be coming down before we begin to get nitrate readings? I'm only feeding the danio every other day. Our tank has been running for a few months, but it never finished cycling, so after we lost our last neon tetras and guppies, we opted to add just one zebra danio (only after doing a water change so it wouldn't be such a shock to him when we added him). We've had him for about 2 weeks and he seems fine so far. We began to get the nitrate readings monday.

Thank you to all that respond.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

water change, water change, water change

keep up 20% water changes every day to keep those levels manageable for the danio

 

[Lynda B]

Read the link "what's cycling" in Miss Wiggle's signature line, if you haven't already. Since you have such high readings on everything, you might not fully understand how the cycling really works.

Are you using a drop test kit or the strips? The strips aren't really reliable.

 

[rdd1952]

Sorry to hear all your problems. How often have you been doing water changes and how many/what type fish did you have in the tank? During the cycling process with fish, you have to do water changes (15 to 25 percent) as often as necessary to keep the ammonia and nitrite below .25 ppm. If you're not doing water changes, it is possible to start getting nitrates even though the ammonia isn't gone. It's just that the fish are producing more waste than the bacteria can process. Also, when ammonia levels get too high, it can actually stall the cycle so that very little is happening. There's enough being proccessed to yield nitrate but not enough to rid the tank.

In your situation, I would do a massive water change, 80 to 90 percent. Put the danio in a baggy in some tank water and acclimate him back into the tank just as when you bought him. That will get the levels back to where you can actually see what they are or hopefully back down to no more than .5 ppm on ammonia. As a side note, what is your pH? Ammonia becomes more toxic as pH rises.

 

[Lynda B]

*deleted double post*

 

[Miss M]

here's an update. 10 gallon tank has 3 zebra danios, ph level 7 (neutral) temp is 80 degrees. (We added 2 zebra danios after we lost the guppy and neon, and did a major water change before adding them).

I had not checked ammon. etc for a few days, but these are the readings I got yesterday:

Ammonia is still at highest level on color card, dark green. (All tests are dropper kits)

Nitrite is still high (second to the last color on card) dark pink.

Nitrate has dropped to second reading on color card ,yellowish/orange.


Tank looks good, not as much algae as before. My ammonia will not go down on its own. Frequent water changes haven't seemed to make much difference (20-30%). Danios look good and seem to eat every scrap of food they find, even at the bottom of the tank. I've read many articles re: cycling, and my understanding is that the ammonia should be dropping by now, but it hasn't. The only reading that has dropped over the past week is the nitrate reading, which I thought I shouldn't even be getting until the ammonia drops.

Any input as to what is going on is appreciated.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah that does sound odd.

what filter media have you got? have you been cleaning it and if so how? what, if any products are you adding to the tank? what test kit are you using nad how old is it?

 

[rdd1952]

I still suggest massive 80 to 90 percent water change to get rid of the ammonia. The fish will suffer far less harm from the hue water change than they will from the massive amount of ammonia in the tank. If you don't get it down soon, you will definitely lose the other fish. Even danios, which are one of the hardiest fish around, can't handle that level of ammonia for too long.

The reason your ammonia is not dropping is that the level is so high, it is inhibiting bacteria growth. You have to lower the level before the bacteria will be able to begin reproduction and do their job.

 

[Miss M]

We have a tetra whisper power filter (10-30 gallon). I haven't changed the filter, but did rinse it in the aquarium tank water about 5 weeks ago (just a quick swish to remove some algae). The test kits we are using are API dropper test kits. The only thing we add to the tank is aquarium salt (about a teaspoon with every small water change) and tetra aqua safe for the water changes. The fish are being fed flake food every day and blood worms/brine shrimp 2x a week (dried, not frozen).

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i think rdd is right, do a massve water change and see what happens

 

[Miss M]

I changed approx 75-80% of the tank water. I also dipped the filter in the old tank water to remove more algae. Waited a few hrs, then checked the ammonia: level is currently 2.0.

I'll keep you updated as things change.

Thanks to all who responded.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

When you have been doing water changes...are you actually do a gravel vac at the same time or are you just siphoning water from the tank?

If you haven't been doing a gravel vac I would highly recommend it as this will help remove built up waste in your substrate that will continue to release ammonia into your tank.

 

[Miss M]

Hi Phoenix,
I usually try not to vac the gravel. The last time I did was the large water change before we added the 2 danios. I was afraid of 'disturbing' the bacteria, but if I did see any food/waste on the bottom, I did try to siphon it out. Just a few pokes with the vac here and there in the gravel,but again, nothing major. The gravel is blue, so it is pretty easy to see any extra waste/food on top of it.

 

[-germ-]

The vast majority of bacteria would be in your filter and filter media (sponges etc.) unless you had an undergravel filter.
In which case the gravel would be your main source, well depending on if you had a UGF with media.
I'd get vaccing there'll be loads of tiny broken down waste particles amongst your gravel pieces.

 

[Miss M]

we don't have an under gravel filter, so should I assume it's safe to thoroughly vac the gravel? I'm going to kick myself if I should have been doing that all along.