Aquarium Hobbyist Noob
New Member
Ugh. Please be kind.
As I've done more research, I realize I have probably committed about every cardinal offense a new aquarist could make.
Trust me, I'm beating myself up enough for all of you.
I know you need the water and aquarium stats. I'll share what I know:
Fish:
2 honey gourami
1 3-spot gourami
6 neon tetras
7 harlequin rasboras
1 bristlenose pleco (very young, only about 2.5")
3 black mollies
5 little ghost shrimp
I'm well under the 1" of fish per gallon rule of thumb.
Tank is 60 gallons
pH - 8.2 (it's high because I've been using our well water instead of store-bought distilled)
Hardness - About 200 ppm (it's well water... it's crazy hard, and the cold water isn't softened)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 0 ppm
Nitrite - .5-1.0 ppm
This right here alone is a hot mess.
It gets better.
I had added a few neon tetras to my tank a couple weeks ago. I had upgraded from a 35 gal to this 60 gal about a month ago. I wanted to fill out the little schools. Everything was fine. They integrated, everything was going swimmingly, everyone seemed to be happy and chill.
Then the spots showed up. I couldn't figure it out. There were no sick fish in the tanks at the store. I was so careful. And now I had ich in my aquarium.
So... I know, stupid... I treated the whole lot of them in my display tank. With Seachem Cupramine. I basically dropped a nuclear bomb into my aquarium. It took about 10 days for the spots to go away. I lost one neon tetra.
I followed the directions on the Cupramine. I turned off my carbon filtration system. Kept the under-gravel system going. Couldn't test the copper levels because the test kit I ordered right after I read the Cupramine label still hasn't arrived. But didn't do any water changes. I trusted the instructions. There was nothing about water changes until after the treatment.
I figured I would just suck it up and do what I need to clean it up when it was done, since I went off and used the big guns as a knee-jerk reaction. (I read after the fact that I could have just increased the water temp and added some salt. Fantastic. <<facepalm>>) But, hey, I did take the ghost shrimp out before treating, so there's that. They're hanging out in a 3 gallon mini aquarium. and seem to be doing fine.
I bought a couple cupri-sorb pads to clean it up, and a copper test, which still hasn't arrive yet. I made plans to just clean it up and move on.
But then last night, I noticed that my rasboras were acting... weird. They were wall surfing like crazy. And a couple of them looked pale-ish. Which I knew meant they were stressed. But everyone else was acting like nothing's wrong. I did a quick round of tests and realized oh crap!! The nitrite is off the charts.
I did a 50% water change. Usually when I do a water change, I would add Seachem Prime. But I didn't. Thankfully we have well-water and it's not treated. No chlorine added. But I had nothing to add to condition it. I put the 2 Cupri-sorb pads in to at least get started on removing the copper. Went to bed, crossed my fingers.
Everyone was alive this am. Retested the water. Nitrites are STILL off the charts. So I did *another* 50% water change today. Added some Top Fin bacteria starter (doesn't have the water conditioner in it, just the nitrifying bacteria to combat the Nitrite). Which brings us to where I am now, at the .5-1.0 ppm reading for the Nitrite. And I still don't have a way to test the copper levels.
I've done two 50% water changes.
I don't know what else to do to get the nitrite down.
My rasboras are still freaking out. (Everyone else, still pretty chill)
Without the Cupramine, in this situation, I would just add Seachem Prime, and keep up with that for a week or so to get the bacteria colonies back up and doing their thing again.
But having treated with the Cupramine throws it all off. Everything I'm reading online says that mixing Cupramine with Prime is a huge DO NOT DO THIS.
So what do I do to get the nitrite down?
Can I do three 50% water changes in a day?
Do I empty the entire tank and then just add Prime assuming enough of the copper is gone now that I've already done two 50%?
I feel like no matter what I do, I'm going to stress the poor things to the point of breaking.
Help me, Aquarist-Kenobi, you're my only hope!!
As I've done more research, I realize I have probably committed about every cardinal offense a new aquarist could make.
Trust me, I'm beating myself up enough for all of you.
I know you need the water and aquarium stats. I'll share what I know:
Fish:
2 honey gourami
1 3-spot gourami
6 neon tetras
7 harlequin rasboras
1 bristlenose pleco (very young, only about 2.5")
3 black mollies
5 little ghost shrimp
I'm well under the 1" of fish per gallon rule of thumb.
Tank is 60 gallons
pH - 8.2 (it's high because I've been using our well water instead of store-bought distilled)
Hardness - About 200 ppm (it's well water... it's crazy hard, and the cold water isn't softened)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 0 ppm
Nitrite - .5-1.0 ppm
This right here alone is a hot mess.
It gets better.
I had added a few neon tetras to my tank a couple weeks ago. I had upgraded from a 35 gal to this 60 gal about a month ago. I wanted to fill out the little schools. Everything was fine. They integrated, everything was going swimmingly, everyone seemed to be happy and chill.
Then the spots showed up. I couldn't figure it out. There were no sick fish in the tanks at the store. I was so careful. And now I had ich in my aquarium.
So... I know, stupid... I treated the whole lot of them in my display tank. With Seachem Cupramine. I basically dropped a nuclear bomb into my aquarium. It took about 10 days for the spots to go away. I lost one neon tetra.
I followed the directions on the Cupramine. I turned off my carbon filtration system. Kept the under-gravel system going. Couldn't test the copper levels because the test kit I ordered right after I read the Cupramine label still hasn't arrived. But didn't do any water changes. I trusted the instructions. There was nothing about water changes until after the treatment.
I figured I would just suck it up and do what I need to clean it up when it was done, since I went off and used the big guns as a knee-jerk reaction. (I read after the fact that I could have just increased the water temp and added some salt. Fantastic. <<facepalm>>) But, hey, I did take the ghost shrimp out before treating, so there's that. They're hanging out in a 3 gallon mini aquarium. and seem to be doing fine.
I bought a couple cupri-sorb pads to clean it up, and a copper test, which still hasn't arrive yet. I made plans to just clean it up and move on.
But then last night, I noticed that my rasboras were acting... weird. They were wall surfing like crazy. And a couple of them looked pale-ish. Which I knew meant they were stressed. But everyone else was acting like nothing's wrong. I did a quick round of tests and realized oh crap!! The nitrite is off the charts.
I did a 50% water change. Usually when I do a water change, I would add Seachem Prime. But I didn't. Thankfully we have well-water and it's not treated. No chlorine added. But I had nothing to add to condition it. I put the 2 Cupri-sorb pads in to at least get started on removing the copper. Went to bed, crossed my fingers.
Everyone was alive this am. Retested the water. Nitrites are STILL off the charts. So I did *another* 50% water change today. Added some Top Fin bacteria starter (doesn't have the water conditioner in it, just the nitrifying bacteria to combat the Nitrite). Which brings us to where I am now, at the .5-1.0 ppm reading for the Nitrite. And I still don't have a way to test the copper levels.
I've done two 50% water changes.
I don't know what else to do to get the nitrite down.
My rasboras are still freaking out. (Everyone else, still pretty chill)
Without the Cupramine, in this situation, I would just add Seachem Prime, and keep up with that for a week or so to get the bacteria colonies back up and doing their thing again.
But having treated with the Cupramine throws it all off. Everything I'm reading online says that mixing Cupramine with Prime is a huge DO NOT DO THIS.
So what do I do to get the nitrite down?
Can I do three 50% water changes in a day?
Do I empty the entire tank and then just add Prime assuming enough of the copper is gone now that I've already done two 50%?
I feel like no matter what I do, I'm going to stress the poor things to the point of breaking.
Help me, Aquarist-Kenobi, you're my only hope!!