New Tropical Tank - Fish In

[mfernott]

Hi All

So, on 14th June we got a tank, got it set up straight away with the filter running. No monitoring of water stats being done at this point. The water in the tank now has been there since 14th June.

On 20th June, on the advice of staff at an aquatics store, we added 4 Zebra Danios to the tank. I now understand, thanks to some help on this forum, that this wasn't the best way of going about things, and that cycling the tank without fish would have been the best option.

So, today (22nd June) I went out and got the API master test kit, to see where we are, as I was concerned that the fish might be suffering if the levels were not right.

I will now be doing daily tests to keep an eye on the levels.

The first test, which I have just done, the results are as follows:

PH 8.2
Ammonia 0.25 (Could potentially be a bit lower, it's hard to distinguish the shades)
Nitrate 5.0
Nitrite 0

So, reading the instructions on the API kit, these stats seem fairly good, is this correct? Perhaps the PH is too high? And obviously we want the ammonia at 0.

So, is a water change required? If so, how much should be changed?

I've noticed today that the Danios are spending a lot of time at the top of the tank, angling their bodies upwards with their mouths at the top of the tank. Is this normal behaviour?

Thanks for your help!

Martin

 

[Wills]

Hi Good that you have the test, the levels sound about right since there are only 4 small fish present. It would sound like you have started to get over the ammonia bump now but with nitrite at 5 that is really bad the gasping behavior you mentioned is a sign of bad water so do a 50% water change and it should sort things out for now.

Wills

 

[mfernott]

Hi Good that you have the test, the levels sound about right since there are only 4 small fish present. It would sound like you have started to get over the ammonia bump now but with nitrite at 5 that is really bad the gasping behavior you mentioned is a sign of bad water so do a 50% water change and it should sort things out for now.

Wills

Hi Wills

Thanks for your help in getting all this sorted - couldn't have done it with out your help yesterday!

It's the Nitrate that's at 5 not the Nitrite, the Nitrite reading is 0.

The API kit says that Nitrate below 40 is fine, so presumed the 5 was OK for nitrate? Could you please clarify?

 

[mike_980]

no he said nitrIte was 0 and nitrAte was 5 so it's all fine

i would do very small changes of about 10% until ammonia drops to 0 for about a week straight and then drop to 20% change every 2 weeks

once you get to ammonia and nitrite both at 0 you can start adding some more fish but only very slowly!

 

[Wills]

yeah 5 nitrate is fine.

sounds like you should be fine, maybe do a small water change usually IME if the ammonia test isnt clear yellow there is a little lingering ammonia though it does sound like you have done quite a quiet cycle. I suspect though that as you add more fish you might get a mini cycle each time.

Wills

 

[mfernott]

yeah 5 nitrate is fine.

sounds like you should be fine, maybe do a small water change usually IME if the ammonia test isnt clear yellow there is a little lingering ammonia though it does sound like you have done quite a quiet cycle. I suspect though that as you add more fish you might get a mini cycle each time.

Wills

Thanks Wills, and thanks Mike also!

Will do a small water change, and then keep monitoring the stats daily. Will leave it a good few weeks before adding more fish, and will start with adding more of the Zebra Danios, and then keep a good eye on all the stats.

 

[mike_980]

yeah 5 nitrate is fine.

sounds like you should be fine, maybe do a small water change usually IME if the ammonia test isnt clear yellow there is a little lingering ammonia though it does sound like you have done quite a quiet cycle. I suspect though that as you add more fish you might get a mini cycle each time.

Wills

Thanks Wills, and thanks Mike also!

Will do a small water change, and then keep monitoring the stats daily. Will leave it a good few weeks before adding more fish, and will start with adding more of the Zebra Danios, and then keep a good eye on all the stats.

i have two zebra danios and they have soooo much energy! great little fish, they swim about the top all the time and are always first to the food! watch you dont overfeed them though because mine are getting so fat because they eat and eat!

 

[mfernott]

i have two zebra danios and they have soooo much energy! great little fish, they swim about the top all the time and are always first to the food! watch you dont overfeed them though because mine are getting so fat because they eat and eat!

Haha, yeah they are very energetic, brilliant to watch! Though they've been noticeably less energetic today, with the angled bodies at the top of the tank, almost like they're trying to get air at the surface.

Have just done a 10% water change so hopefully that will help things along!

 

[mike_980]

i have two zebra danios and they have soooo much energy! great little fish, they swim about the top all the time and are always first to the food! watch you dont overfeed them though because mine are getting so fat because they eat and eat!

Haha, yeah they are very energetic, brilliant to watch! Though they've been noticeably less energetic today, with the angled bodies at the top of the tank, almost like they're trying to get air at the surface.

Have just done a 10% water change so hopefully that will help things along!

yeah it should! good luck with it

you'll probably see the levels rise and fall every few days when adding new fish but thats normal and so long as you stick to regular small water changes youll be fine

 

[mfernott]

yeah it should! good luck with it

you'll probably see the levels rise and fall every few days when adding new fish but thats normal and so long as you stick to regular small water changes youll be fine

Thanks!

Will give the 4 Danios a couple of weeks to settle in before I add anything else, and try and get the ammonia as close to 0 as possible!

 

[waterdrop]

no he said nitrIte was 0 and nitrAte was 5 so it's all fine

i would do very small changes of about 10% until ammonia drops to 0 for about a week straight and then drop to 20% change every 2 weeks

once you get to ammonia and nitrite both at 0 you can start adding some more fish but only very slowly!

I'm sorry, it it my feeling that this is incorrect information. The water change percentages should be based on the test results, not a set percentage. The goal is to keep both ammonia and nitrite -below- 0.25ppm (.25ppm should be the max) such that by the time you can be home again to re-test and potentially change water, it has not risen above that. If this can be accomplished with frequent small percentage changes, then that's great, but if it takes 70% changes at less frequency, then that's what should be done. Ammonia and nitrite are orders of magnitude more stressful than water changes.

Often people become concerned that there will not be enough ammonia to feed the bacteria and they will not develop and cycle the filter. This is not true. A perfect tank will register zero ppm for both ammonia and nitrite day after day and yet will have large healthy bacterial colonies. This is because there is still a healthy flow of ammonia even when our test kits are registering zero ppm!

The end of fish-in cycling comes when you can go two days in a row without having to change water but without getting any trace readings of ammonia or nitrite(NO2), just true zero ppm readings. You then watch it do this for a full week before doing your first introduction of 2 or 3 new fish, if you are ready to do that.

~~waterdrop~~