Nitrites n plants

[Tyler777]

Been following this for a bit. 2.5 ppm ammonia is more an indicator that the tank is not cycled, with new substrate and cleaned plants it is possible that the tank was cycled but now it is not.

I suspect things went poorly after the introduction of the soil, but then never got a chance to re-establish after this event and the subsequent changes. The bacteria grow on surfaces, not just on the filter, and most of the surfaces would have been disturbed. I also believe that most of the smaller filters really don't have enough volume to provide enough bacteria to solely depend on the filter to oxidize ammonia to nitrite then to nitrate.

If you still have fish I would do large water changes any time the ammonia gets measurable, at least 50% change and if the ammonia is greater than 0.5ppm I would change closer to 75%. This might mean daily water changes for a short time. I would feed the fish lightly and make sure I don't add anything that adds more nitrogen to the tank, ie fertilizers. I have to do this whenever I establish a grow out tank for fish fry. Keep in mind this method is only appropriate if your source water is good, if you are on a well it is possible that you have some elevated levels to start with.

Your plants can help a lot here, if you have enough light to encourage growth. They can intercept the ammonia before it gets used by the bacteria, but they need to be growing to help with this and it sounds like they have been disturbed, but if you leave them for a bit they will re-establish. I prefer to start a tank with lots plants, rather than use the fishless cycle method, seems simpler and has worked for me many times.

From all I have read, I believe you have to treat your tank as if it is a new tank now. I wish you the best of luck.

Well thank you so much for your advice. Besides water changes what else should I do ro re recycle the rank ?

Tyler, to avoid vague test results and get the right help, can you post a photo of your tests with the corresponding chart please?

I will retest n send pics of the tube plus the color chart

 

[Lcc86]

Well thank you so much for your advice. Besides water changes what else should I do ro re recycle the rank ?

I will retest n send pics of the tube plus the color chart

I think a lot of it will be about time and patience. You're essentially doing a fish in cycle now, so lots of large water changes, potentially even daily until your test results for ammonia and nitrite are 0. I'm not sure how many fish you have left now but they've been through a lot with these spikes so I think if it was my tank I'd just be doing daily changes for the foreseeable future.

 

[Fishfunn]

I think a lot of it will be about time and patience. You're essentially doing a fish in cycle now, so lots of large water changes, potentially even daily until your test results for ammonia and nitrite are 0. I'm not sure how many fish you have left now but they've been through a lot with these spikes so I think if it was my tank I'd just be doing daily changes for the foreseeable future.

Also, I would add bottled bacteria to the water to speed up the seeding of the filter.

 

[Tyler777]

I think a lot of it will be about time and patience. You're essentially doing a fish in cycle now, so lots of large water changes, potentially even daily until your test results for ammonia and nitrite are 0. I'm not sure how many fish you have left now but they've been through a lot with these spikes so I think if it was my tank I'd just be doing daily changes for the foreseeable future.

Well I found another girl gone n one more is on her way out. That would leave me with 2 koi betta girls and one normal betta girl plus 4 or 5 Cory but the corys r doing fine

Also, I would add bottled bacteria to the water to speed up the seeding of the filter.

Ok these are all the plants I have in the female bettas tank the only thing in the tank when nitrates went crazy were these plants so I'm not sure if to blame the plants. I'm so upset with my girls dying everyday that I blame everything n everybody. But you have the k owledge I don't. I take n accept any advice I can get

 

[Tyler777]

Ok these are the water parameters from this morning . The nitrates went sky hight once again n I did a massive 80% water change on Wednesday today I did another 70% water change. I just don't understand how come after an 80% water change the nitrates went crazy high again. I'm listening to any opinion n advice I can get from u guys

 

[Essjay]

Thank you for the photos, they clear up exactly what is high and what's low.

Nitrate gets into a tank in 2 ways. The first is from tap water. The US allows a maximum 45 ppm in mains water. The second way is made from nitrite which in turn is made from the ammonia excreted by the fish.
Have you tested your tap water for nitrate? If tap water has high nitrate, water changes will not lower it below the level in tap water.

 

[Tyler777]

Thank you for the photos, they clear up exactly what is high and what's low.

Nitrate gets into a tank in 2 ways. The first is from tap water. The US allows a maximum 45 ppm in mains water. The second way is made from nitrite which in turn is made from the ammonia excreted by the fish.
Have you tested your tap water for nitrate? If tap water has high nitrate, water changes will not lower it below the level in tap water.

No I didn't test the tap water but I'm doing it right now n will post the result in a few

 

[Lcc86]

Sorry to hear you've lost more fish, this must be really frustrating. Keep up with large daily water changes while you're dealing with this. The plants won't be causing the spike but is there any chance there's still any of the soil left anywhere? Did you put any of it under your substrate? If so it could be that the cories doing their thing has released some more into the water column. Is this one of the tanks where you also used the coal? I'm not knowledgeable enough about these things, just throwing things out there.

 

[Tyler777]

Sorry to hear you've lost more fish, this must be really frustrating. Keep up with large daily water changes while you're dealing with this. The plants won't be causing the spike but is there any chance there's still any of the soil left anywhere? Did you put any of it under your substrate? If so it could be that the cories doing their thing has released some more into the water column. Is this one of the tanks where you also used the coal? I'm not knowledgeable enough about these things, just throwing things out there.

Yeah we had 15 female bettas now we have only 5 left that's how bad this whole thing got. And each koi female betta cost us $40 .
But regardless the cost we just love those girls my wife even named each of them n when we lost the queen B " Aurora " we lost it. She would rule the tank n protect the new comers specially if they were smaller than the rest. When another female bullied the small ones or new ones Aurora would chase her over the tank nnput her in her place showing who was the boss. She was a great mama for the tank.and yes this is the same tank with the coal.
Corys are doing great with no problems whatsoever nitrates or no nitrates

 

[Tyler777]

No I didn't test the tap water but I'm doing it right now n will post the result in a few

Ok new test from tap water n yes I guess tap water comes with nitrites. Weird thing is that I fill my other tanks with the same water n the other tanks are fine n nobody is dying

 

[Tyler777]

Ok new test from tap water n yes I guess tap water comes with nitrites. Weird thing is that I fill my other tanks with the same water n the other tanks are fine n nobody is dying

Ok mistake again thanks to my phone. I meant tap water comes with Nitrates not " Nitrites "

 

[Fishfunn]

Yeah we had 15 female bettas now we have only 5 left that's how bad this whole thing got. And each koi female betta cost us $40 .
But regardless the cost we just love those girls my wife even named each of them n when we lost the queen B " Aurora " we lost it. She would rule the tank n protect the new comers specially if they were smaller than the rest. When another female bullied the small ones or new ones Aurora would chase her over the tank nnput her in her place showing who was the boss. She was a great mama for the tank.and yes this is the same tank with the coal.
Corys are doing great with no problems whatsoever nitrates or no nitrates

Your fish could have Columnaris which will cause fast deaths like that. Where did you buy them? I learned the hard way: only buy fish from a reputable LFS and not from big chain stores like Petco, Petsmart, etc. Ask your LFS if they quarantine and pretreat their fish before selling.

Hopefully, you properly acclimated them before adding them to your tank.

With new fish, the best thing to do is quarantine them and watch if they have any diseases. If they do, then treat them to prevent disasters in your main tank. Columnaris on the other hand, is lethal and has a very low survival rate so only buy from a reputable LFS.

If you get Columnaris, the aggressive strain, it will wipe out your fish in a matter of a few days.

The only treatment for Columnaris is Seachem Kanaplex. Columnaris is a gram-negative bacteria that Kanaplex targets.

 

[Tyler777]

Your fish could have Columnaris which will cause fast deaths like that. Where did you buy them? I learned the hard way: only buy fish from a reputable LFS and not from big chain stores like Petco, Petsmart, etc. Ask your LFS if they quarantine and pretreat their fish before selling.

Hopefully, you properly acclimated them before adding them to your tank.

With new fish, the best thing to do is quarantine them and watch if they have any diseases. If they do, then treat them to prevent disasters in your main tank. Columnaris on the other hand, is lethal and has a very low survival rate so only buy from a reputable LFS.

If you get Columnaris, the aggressive strain, it will wipe out your fish in a matter of a few days.

The only treatment for Columnaris is Seachem Kanaplex. Columnaris is a gram-negative bacteria that Kanaplex targets.

Well the koi bettas comes from a lfs n the guy knows his thing. But some of them came from petsmart which we all know they don't know their thing.

 

[Fishfunn]

Well the koi bettas comes from a lfs n the guy knows his thing. But some of them came from petsmart which we all know they don't know their thing.

It only takes one who is infected to spread like wildfire to the others. The aggressive strain of Columnaris will go through the whole tank fast.

Petsmart just receives fish and puts them in the tank for quick sale. They are not interested in quarantining fish before sale. They just throw out the dead ones and sell the still-live ones.

 

[Tyler777]

It only takes one who is infected to spread like wildfire to the others. The aggressive strain of Columnaris will go through the whole tank fast.

Petsmart just receives fish and puts them in the tank for quick sale. They are not interested in quarantining fish before sale. They just throw out the dead ones and sell the still-live ones.

True bout petsmart. Thank you for sharing your advice with me