Nitrate Spike - Advice Needed

[birdhouse]

edit : nitrite spike - not nitrate

hi all,

i recently asked for advice on my 40litre tank and things have been going well until monday this week when we added some new fish.

the tank was in seemingly good condition until we added the last of our stock to it and i made a couple of mistakes..

it was stocked with 3 dwarf gouramis and 4 leopard cats who had all settled in and were happy. on monday i added 6 silver tip tetra, 2 algae shrimp and 1 assasin snail. i had a lot of trouble with the dealers bags and ended up letting all of the water from the dealers tank into ours. i noticed the tetras gasping at the top and the shrimp sitting with their heads out of the water - i wasnt sure if this was just them being a bit disturbed at being in a new tank or what....

woke up in the morning with 2 dead shrimp and the fish still gasping at the surface - the tank smelt bad as well. i only have a nitrate kit and the nitrates were up at around 0.5 or just above. i did a 50% water change and brought the level down but i think i forgot to dechlorinate some of it as it went in the tank... the fish were happier after the water change and went back to swimming around all levels of the tank.

in the evening the fish were gasping again so i did another water change and again put a bit of chlorinated water in - i then realised what i was doing.. i had the same situation this morning and changed a bit more. i've taken out a plant which wasnt getting enough light and was looking a bit sick.

i think whats happened is :

1) i put dealer water which was dirty in and had a nitrate spike
2) i did a water change and killed off my bacteria with clorine
3) the bacteria isnt recovering well

could anyone give me some advice on what to do? should i carry on doing water changes or should i try and leave it a bit. we're feeding them every other day now and they seem to be happy after the water changes, the tank was doing well and only needed water changes every week or so. plants were/are mostly happy, things are ok.

as a reward for reading and to show what the tank is like heres a video! http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZyP0vrYA48

cheers

 

[toshapetriji]

and things have been going well

What does this mean? Has the filter been cycled? It sounds to me that the tank is not ready for fish.

You need to get a test for Ammonia and Nitrite as soon as possible I recommend the API freshwater test kit. Both Ammonia and Nitrite are highly toxic to fish even in low levels.

Until we are sure of the problem please carry out some large water changes a couple of times a day. I would suggest 80% twice a day. Report back here with readings for Ammonia and Nitrite as soon as possible and members will be able to help more.

 

[ZoddyZod]

nitrate is the least important substance you can check for, you really need to know your ammonia and nitrite levels - these two are the ones that are harmful to your fish/shrimp even in very small quantites. Nitrate can be present up to 400ppm and still not be harmful.

it sounds like you just tipped the fish from the bags straight into the tank? Did you acclimatize them at all? Shrimp are very sensitve to sudden water changes so this may well be why you found them dead in the morning.

 

[birdhouse]

the shrimp were floated in the bags for about 20 minutes and tank water was added to their bag gradually over another 45 minutes - an hour or so. i had trouble getting the dealer water out of the bag which was then introduced into the tank.

i will try and find the api master test kit.

im sorry i think ive got confused with nitrate and nitrite.

i have the test for nitrite and thats what the spike is.

 

[karin]

Just to restate, nitrate levels at this point are not that important and most likely not your problem. It sounds like you are dealing with either an ammonia spike, a nitr-I-te spike or both. Your only choice at this point is to do twice daily big water changes until you get an adequate test kit. You will need a liquid test kit that tests ideally for ammonia, nitrite, and pH at a minimum. Stay away from the test strips as they are not very accurate.

Also, let us know when and how you set up your tank. It sounds like a new tank that has not been cycled. Cycling means setting up the biological filter, essentially growing the bacteria you need in your filters to process the ammonia that the fish release into this tiny closed environment. If that is the case you are looking at getting all your fish back to the store to start at square one with a fishless cycle, or doing daily water changes known as the fish-in cycle. Read about these in Beginner Resources at the top of this section.

Please get back to us with the information and we will do our best to help you out.

 

[ZoddyZod]

i have the test for nitrite and thats what the spike is.

ok if there's a nitrIte spike then as said above, couple of BIG water changes each day until you can start testing the water for ammonia as well.

Shrimp are very sensitve to ammonia and nitrite so it's no surprise that they didn't last long.

 

[birdhouse]

the tank has been at least paritally cycled and im doing a fish in cycle as advised by wills and some other people.

the tank was run for about 3 weeks with no fish in it, with some bio/bac liquid added, some ammonia and some crushed food. i watched the nitrite readings rise as it was converted from the ammonia and then fall as it was converted to the nitrite (from the second to the third one). in the first week we added 2 dwarf gouramis who then had a male in with them a week later. we had to swap him for another male as the original was very agressive a week or so later and we introduced a new male and the 4 leopard corydoras. then 2 weeks later we introduced the tetras and

3 weeks - 2 dwarves
4th week - 3 dwarves
5th week - 3 dwarves + 4 catfish
7th week - tetras added and crashed.

i really just want to know how much damage the chlorinated water will have done to the bacteria in the filter and if there is any advice you can give but as i haven't got the api master test kit or an excel spreadsheet i doubt there is

i have the test for nitrite and thats what the spike is.

ok if there's a nitrIte spike then as said above, couple of BIG water changes each day until you can start testing the water for ammonia as well.

Shrimp are very sensitve to ammonia and nitrite so it's no surprise that they didn't last long.

ok thank you, i will carry on doing large water changes morning and evening. i think the problem is that i accidently put some chlorinated water in there - it wasnt much and i put the dechlorinater in the tank when i reaslised. i am using tetra stresscoat +

 

[ZoddyZod]

Worst case it is feasible that the chlorinated water could have destroyed your entire bacteria colony. That's what chlorine is used for, after all.

So big water changes and then test for the nitrite after each (until you get the ammonia tester) to ensure you are getting 0 readings. If not.....another partial water change. Be careful to match temp of the tap and tank water though as there will be some shock to the fish that you need to minimize. However, water changes are much less harmful to fish than letting them swim in ammonia/nitrite

 

[birdhouse]

hi all,

sorry for the late response.

through continued water changes and most importantly a cleaning of the filter the nitrite level has dropped and the fish seem a lot happier. i havent been able to get hold of an api test kit still but things seem to be better. i will continue doing regular water changes and give the filter a more thorough clean this week - i gave it a quick clean and got the water flowing again (how did i miss this ) and ill leave it a bit so the fish can settle down again so they arent too stressed.

thanks