Water Stats...advice Plz! Update Help Plz!

[iluvguppies]

Hi there,

Due to bad advice fm lfs now over 3 weeks into fish-in cycle. Tank 65l planted mainly with fake plants and stocked with 6 young neon tetras and 5 young guppies. We lost 4 fish after 3 days in (all within a day or 2) but haven't lost any since...in fact one guppy had babies which are now in another tank. Temp steady at 25-26C. Last week our water stats were:

Ammonia 0 (constantly over the last week)
Nitrites down to 1(fm 5)

One of the fish was injured/ill so I've had fungus/finrot interpet med in tank for the last 6 days of this week..I use stress coat and awas doing daily water changes till meds added (lfs said it was stressing fish and not to do so many; just 2x per week).

I followed this advice for 3-4days..doing just one water change in that time and I bought a live plant just before adding meds (removed carbon filter).When i tested water yesterday stats were:

Ammonia 0.25 !!!!!
nitrites between 0 and 0.25 (midway i would say)

so I immediately changed water (30%) and again today. Stats are now:

ammonia between 0.5 and 1 but closer to 1
nitrites 0

What is going on??? ......is this normal??? things were slowly improving and now it's all over the place. Is this because of the meds or lack of waterchanges for a few days???

Please help!!

Fish are all fine (Female wasn't ill she was injured by over enthusiastic male). She is now fine.


Thnx for any advice

Nikki

 

[arobinson1984]

You seem to have a general idea of what you are doing.

In a fish-in cycle, especially in smaller tanks you will need to do larger water changes, more like 60% whenever ammonia or nitrite levels rise above 0.25ppm

Do you have a gravel vac? Its als essential that you give the gravel a good deep clean at least once a week as excess food and waste will rot in the gravel causing ammonia

Andy

 

[drobbyb]

Also some meds can harm your bacteria.

 

[iluvguppies]

thnx for fast reply and advice.

Since I found this site I've learned a lot about it and next time will know to do a fishless cycle.
When I was doing my daily water changes(which were at 50%) and since then I've always done my changes by using a gravel vac and cleaning gravel at same time.

Are these levels to be expected? or have I messed it up by missing some changes?
I will go back to doing 50% daily changes when levels are high and until levels are consistantly 0; as I want to do what's best for the fish.

Nikki

 

[iluvguppies]

bump for more advice plz!!

 

[mattlee]

i think 50% water changes daily will not give you a true reading as you will be just diluting the ammonia instead of the bacteria doing its thing. try doing a larger water change (80/90%) and leaving it for a couple of days but test the water everyday for ammonia and nitrites and see what happens. i would also get a nitrate test kit (api- liquid).

 

[arobinson1984]

You seem to have the general gyst of it.

Keep up with the 50/60% water changes / gravel vac and make them more frequent if it is indicated that it is needed by your water test.

Always aim to keep the ammonia and nitrites below 0.25ppm and it can often take more than 1 water change a day, especially on smaller tanks because the levels tend to rise faster.

Andy

 

[iluvguppies]

water stats today (after 50% water change/gravel vac 12hrs previously):

Ammonia 0.25
nitrites 0.25
nitrates 10

BTW, I use an API master test kit. Why do the nos for ammonia and nitrites keep changing..is this the bacteria getting established still and there not being enough of each type to get the nos to 0?

Many thnx

Nikki

 

[iluvguppies]

bump

 

[OldMan47]

It sure looks like its time for another 50% change. Do one every 12 hours if need be to keep your poison levels in line. Don't worry about covering up real progress. As you make real progress on the cycle, your tests won't indicate a need for a water change quite as often, or it will only show a water change needed because of nitrites and ammonia will look fine. That would not be a good time to let up on the water changes.

 

[waterdrop]

Completely agree, you just have to be very steady about the water changes no matter how long it takes.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[iluvguppies]

At the moment I'm doing water changes once (sometimes twice) a day, using a gravel vac to suck up all the muck. I'm testing the water 12hrs after changing it then testing again straight after I've changed it. The w/c are between 25-50% each time. Is this ok?

Found lots more fry in the tank last night.....all 3 female guppies are pregnant and one already had babies the first day we got them, only to get pregnant again! There are still 2 more to give birth, I think. We've managed to separate the males from the females by using a spare tank from a friend it has a filter, etc and I used gravel, some ornaments and a bit of sponge from my current tank to seed the bacteria. They seem to be doing well and I'm carrying out the same routine with that tank as well (waterchanges, etc).

The latest results (12hrs fm last waterchange) are:

ammonia 1 !!!!
nitrite 0.5 !!!!!
nitrates 20

I'm puzzled because last week, finally, ammonia was constant at 0 and nitrite which had been at 5 slowly came down to 0.25 over the week. Now both are up again but nothing else is different within the tank.

Anyway, thanks for the advice and I will keep persevering with the w/c etc. Any idea how much longer this will take until the levels drop to 0???

thanks and regards,

Nikki

 

[drobbyb]

Not to be a whistle blower but you should be prepared. Those females are going to continue producing babies, even though they are seperated. The females have a way of storing sperm for months.

I would look at maybe a LFS or a friend taking they fry off your hands once they are large enough.

 

[iluvguppies]

Hi

I'd read something about that and was hoping to be able to give babies to lfs once big enough, if they do such a thing, although later this year we are having a 7 1/2ft tank installed so it won't be such a problem then, lol.

Does anyone know how long they can keep using this stored sperm for? ie 2/3/4 pregnancies?

Thanks,

Nikki

 

[iluvguppies]

Just done a 30% w/c and then tested water.The results were still not good:

Ammonia still 1
Nitrites still 0.5

My question is would it be ok to do a really big w/c say 90% or is that too much for the fish to handle...it's just that the bacteria don't live in the water but the poisons do (that's right isn't it?) and a large change should make a difference...would it last a bit? should I then carry on with 25-50% w/c daily or what?

ANY SUGGESTIONS WELCOME

Sorry for being a pain with all these questions

Nikki