My water test results:

[sunflower]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a little bit of advice.

I tested my water tonight and came up with the following:

Ammnia 0.25
Nitrate 0
PH 8
Nitrite 0

I'm a little concerned about the ammonia level and am wondering if it could be due to the water change I did about 90 mins ago?

If so, should I retest tomorrow and see if it's still the same?

I'm not too concerned about the PH being at 8 as I understand this is OK for Platys although I know it should be a little lower.

 

[nirvanarama]

has your tank cycled? did u test the ammoina BEFORE the water change? if so, what was it?

 

[sunflower]

I last tested the water on 16th June and it was zero then.

 

[aquarius]

how big of a water change did you do?

 

[gadazobe]

If that's a pic of your tank as your avatar, then it's not the water change that caused the ammonia. Is this a new tank that has only just been set up?

 

[sunflower]

The tank was set up at the end of April.

Yes that's my tank in the Avatar. How can you tell it's not the water change from that pic?

The water change was about 25%. I do it weekly.

 

[gadazobe]

Most of the beneficial bacteria live in the filter media, in the gravel, on the ornaments and only a little in the water. If you did a major clean up - gravel, filter, ornaments all at the same time, then you would have a problem but doing just a water change shouldn't cause ammonia spikes.

Have you added any more fish lately?

Also, have you been doing 25% water changes from the very beginning of setting up your tank?

 

[sunflower]

Yeah, I've always done weekly 25% changes.

My siphon is also a gravel cleaner, could disturbing the waste in the gravel (to suck it up) have caused it?

Sorry if I seem to be asking silly or obvious questions but this is my first tropical tank and although I seem to know quite alot of useless trivia regarding fish, I just want to make sure I'm OK.

 

[gadazobe]

I'm a little concerned about the lack of nitrate in your tank. If there's none whatsoever, then it's quite possible that your tank hasn't cycled yet and what you're seeing is the beginning of the cycle. Did you ever have ammonia and nitrite spikes or have the levels stayed at 0 from the very beginning?

 

[sunflower]

Yeah, I've had levels of ammonia and nitrite at the beginning (not sure of exact reading as lfs tested the water)

My tank was initially set up at the end of April but we've only had fish in there for about a month after the lfs tested the water and said that it was now OK to add fish.

I've just retested the ammonia and nitrate and areading are:

ammonia 0.25 (same)
nitrate 0 (same)

Should I do another water change to try and reduce the ammonia?

 

[gadazobe]

When there were no fish in the tank, did you add anything to make the tank cycle or just leave it stand for some time?

 

[sunflower]

No, there was just the ornaments, plants and gravel in the tank for almost a month (heater, light and filter too - obviously)

 

[gadazobe]

From the sound of things, your tank is just beginning to cycle. There is no way that a tank can cycle by just standing with nothing in it. How many fish in the tank now?

Have you read about cycling tanks? If not I suggest you read the pinned articles at the top of "Beginner Questions"

In the meantime, feed very sparingly, keep an check on the ammonia levels and keep us posted what's going on.

You can continue to do water changes, they will lengthen the cycle but keep your fish happier.

 

[sunflower]

Right, no probs. Thanks for your help and I'll def keep you posted on the progress.

I have 7 Platys in the tank.

They're supposed to be pretty hardy so I'll keep my fingers crossed that I dont lose any.

 

[sunflower]

Update, after a few days of reducing the feed and light and daily water changes, My ammonia has now dropped to between 0 and 0.25 and nitrates are back up to 10.