Water Test Results and Dead Neons

[DeadlyMixer]

Ok so as i said in the previous thread i rapidly (within about 24hrs) lost all 10 of my neons.

I didnt have anything to do any water testing at all at the time. I now have some results.

pH = 7.6
High Range pH = 7.4
Ammonia = 0.25
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0

Sadly i dont have a test for the water hardness still. Let me know if you think i should be making a trip to the LPS to get a test.

Any suggestions on what went wrong???

 

[steelhealr]

HI..sorry to hear what happened. Seems the ammonia killed them. Neons can be very sensitive to ammonia, in fact, any fish can..it is poison. If you still have ammonia present with 0 nitrite and nitrate, either the tank isn't cycled or something caused an ammonia spike way above what the bacteria in your tank can handle. How long have you had the tank/been cycling? SH

 

[DeadlyMixer]

I've had my turtle in the tank for about a year. However i only just decided a few days ago to try and create an environment where my turtle and some neons can live together. The water had a 100% change the day before the fish were introduced as a turtle does not need to be cycled.

At the same time as getting the testing kit i got a nice new external filter. So i'll do some cycling and keep an eye on things with the tank. If i can drop and stabalize the ammonia then i'll look at trying to add neons again.

 

[Mr Miagi]

I think the ammonia, like stealhealr said, is what killed your neons. A 100% water change sounds like the culprit. Id recomend a change of 50% everyweek for a fortnight if you wanted to do a big clean out. That much changed in a day will kill bacteria and harm your fish. (Maybe not the turtle, but deffinatley fish)

PS, hehehe, from NZ eh! Good to see! My parents are from there!

 

[DeadlyMixer]

Yeah i know i shouldnt have done such a big change but it was an impulse buy when i did the change i didnt know i was getting fish and didnt already have any. like i said i'll work on the condition of the tank water and then look at trying again. Any suggestions on the best way to get the level down and keep it down without waiting foreva!!

 

[webcat5]

Turtles carry diseases that will not affect them, but will affect the marine environment that they are in.

Cycle is a product that will add beneficial bacteria to the water and drive down your ammonia.

 

[rdd1952]

I wouldn't think the 100% water change would have any affect on the neons since they weren't in the tank yet. It also would have had a negligible effect on the bacteria colony since the bacteria are in the filter media and substrate, not in the water. More than likely the problem is that there is always only enough good bacteria present to handle the bio load of the current residents of a tank, the turtle. When you added the neons, you created a rather large mini cycle since you added 10 at once and also as already stated, neons are pretty delicate. Products like Cycle will help but your best bet is to get some hardier fish and only add 4 or 5 at a time, a week or 2 apart so that the good bacteria can keep up. I tried Cycle on a new tank and couldn't tell that it did anything at all. If products like Cycle aren't handled correctly by the LFS (ie, kept refrigerated if necessary or expiration date ot past), they are pretty much useless.

Edit:

Any suggestions on the best way to get the level down and keep it down without waiting foreva

When the tank is back to only the turtle, the levels will be fine as there should be plenty of good bacteria to handle his load. After all, he was already there and I assume your tank parameters were fine.

 

[DeadlyMixer]

Had to do a about a 25% top up yesterday due to when i was removing the fish. Tested the water again today and the results are still the same as yesterday should i be doing another 25% or waiting.

I normally feed Hazel (the turtle) out of the tank in a feeding container. This way she poops in the other container too. I was thinking maybe if i changed to feeding in the tank and got everything stabalized. Then i could add the fish and go back to my profered method of feeding and it would kinda work like a fishless cycle just using turtle poop an food as the ammonia. Do you think this could work??

 

[rdd1952]

I'm totally unfamiliar with turtles but I would think you need to continue with the water cahnges until the ammonia goes down. Since you are feeding the turtle outside the tank, maybe there isn't any bacteria present to lower the ammonia.

 

[DeadlyMixer]

Thought i should update with todays water readings and see what everyone has to say about them.

pH = 7.6
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0

I havent done any water changes since yesterdays reading..... is it really possible that the ammonia is gone?

The turtle hasnt been in the water or pooped in it since the first water test was done.

From what i understand my tank cant have cycled in 3 days!!!

 

[WILDER]

Are you sure them test are right as it can't of cycled in three days, do you have an ammonia test.

 

[DeadlyMixer]

Yeah i just tested the water again this morning and i was gettin an ammonia reading of 0.25 again so im guessin i looked at the colour wrong or sumthing. Did another 25% change an we'll see what colours of the rainbow we get tomorrow.



Well as i had a bad feeling would happen today i still got the same boring colours of the rainbow. I did another 25% water change. Should i really be doing 25% changes all the time like this. Im starting to get a little green slimy friend on the bottom and bricks. Why wont the good bacteria grow?