What Have I Done Wrong !

[LJEV]

I tested my fry tank tonight and was shocked at the results No3=100 No2=3.3-33 (bright red on tetra test) Ph=7.5 these are the only tests I have as I`ve ran out of the amonia one
Tank is a small 30ltr which all I had in was about 20 guppy fry which were various ages from 2 days - 3 weeks old
Tank had a 4 week fishless cycle before fry went in and results last week were No3=10 No2=0.3 Ph= 7.5 (the fry had been in a week at this stage)did a 10% change last week and then just tested tonight and got the high results. Taken fry out ( all still alive) and put them in trap in a different tank so no pending danger to any fish. But whats gone wrong, surely it cant be overstocked whith just 20 fry ?

 

[mattlee]

have you overfed them? any uneaten food needs to be removed every day at least once

 

[Gilli]

Sounds as though the tank wasnt fully cycled - usually takes between 6-8 weeks.

 

[LJEV]

have you overfed them? any uneaten food needs to be removed every day at least once

I feed them twice a day but the food is powder so its not easy to clean or even see waste. I havn`t been cleaning it every day prob twice a week

 

[LJEV]

Sounds as though the tank wasnt fully cycled - usually takes between 6-8 weeks.

I tested water every week of the 4 week cycle and they were always spot on.
I know this is wrong but my first tank a 50ltr I only cycled for a week before I put 5 fish in then 5 the week atfter and absolutely no probs whith that one, been running 4 months now, so cant understand the 30l tank

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Were you adding ammonia to make a ~4ppm concentration in the tank every 24 hours and then monitoring the ammonia/nitrite/natrate results to determine when the tank was cycled?

 

[LJEV]

Were you adding ammonia to make a ~4ppm concentration in the tank every 24 hours and then monitoring the ammonia/nitrite/natrate results to determine when the tank was cycled?

simple answer is no I had no idea I had to do that I basicaly filled with water put heater and filter in and added weekly an antibactol addative that came with the tank to build up bacteria.

I was just about to post another question. How do you get the levels back on track

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

In short, you need to do at least one massive water change.

If I have read your above posts correctly and the tank with the bad readings is empty, empty it completely, using a siphon pipe to vacuum any rubbish in the tank floor.
If fish are in the tank, leave them just enough water to keep them covered. This will strss them, but they will thank you with their lives when you add fresh dechlorinated water.
Open up the filter and VERY GENTLY "rinse" the filter pads/sponges in the removed water, before re-assembling.
Add similar temp, dechlorinated water promptly, so that the filter pads/sponges do not dry up and kill the bacterial colony.
Give the tank ~1 hour an then re-check the nitrite readings, be prepared to do another massive water change if readings are more then 0.25mg/l.

 

[LJEV]

In short, you need to do at least one massive water change.

If I have read your above posts correctly and the tank with the bad readings is empty, empty it completely, using a siphon pipe to vacuum any rubbish in the tank floor.
If fish are in the tank, leave them just enough water to keep them covered. This will strss them, but they will thank you with their lives when you add fresh dechlorinated water.
Open up the filter and VERY GENTLY "rinse" the filter pads/sponges in the removed water, before re-assembling.
Add similar temp, dechlorinated water promptly, so that the filter pads/sponges do not dry up and kill the bacterial colony.
Give the tank ~1 hour an then re-check the nitrite readings, be prepared to do another massive water change if readings are more then 0.25mg/l.

Thanks I`m off to do that right now

 

[Timmy_Bee]

have a read up about the fish-in cycle. In short, you need to control the ammonia/nitrate/nitrite levels by doing large water changes on quite a regular basis until your filter is mature

 

[roadmaster]

In short, you need to do at least one massive water change.

If I have read your above posts correctly and the tank with the bad readings is empty, empty it completely, using a siphon pipe to vacuum any rubbish in the tank floor.
If fish are in the tank, leave them just enough water to keep them covered. This will strss them, but they will thank you with their lives when you add fresh dechlorinated water.
Open up the filter and VERY GENTLY "rinse" the filter pads/sponges in the removed water, before re-assembling.
Add similar temp, dechlorinated water promptly, so that the filter pads/sponges do not dry up and kill the bacterial colony.
Give the tank ~1 hour an then re-check the nitrite readings, be prepared to do another massive water change if readings are more then 0.25mg/l.

+one. Might also consider taking some filter material from your cycled?50 litre and place it in the filter of the tank with the high nitrites after you perform the large water change.
Really will help your tank develop bacteria faster = happy fishes.

 

[LJEV]

I did a full water change last night added some media from another filter also added some antibactol solution that helps speed up bacteria growth and results today ( 18 hours later ) are Nitrites = 0 Nitates = would say less than 10 ( first test marker is 10 ) PH =7.5. Does this mean it'll be ok to put fish back in or will not enough bacteria have built up yet. What I mean is , is it only reading nitrites 0 because of the full water change and not because the bacteria has built up enough to kill it.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If the tank you moved the fish to is coping fine with the extra bioload, you have the opportunity to "fishless cycle" this tank that created toxins. There are detailed posts on this process within this site, but in essence you do daily readings of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and add enough ammonia every 24 hours so that the ammonia concentration reaches ~4ppm. When your bacteria are able to process 4ppm ammonia per 24 hours down to zero for a seven consecutive day period, your tank is "cycled" and should keep those 20 guppy fry happy, providing you do ~10% water change every few days and do not overfeed them.

 

[LJEV]

thank for the help
I think in essence the problem was self inflicted ( over feeding ) :stupid:
Hopefully everything should return to and stay normal now.
So in answer to a diferent post Bifster made YES it is good to do tests on the water

 

[roadmaster]

I did a full water change last night added some media from another filter also added some antibactol solution that helps speed up bacteria growth and results today ( 18 hours later ) are Nitrites = 0 Nitates = would say less than 10 ( first test marker is 10 ) PH =7.5. Does this mean it'll be ok to put fish back in or will not enough bacteria have built up yet. What I mean is , is it only reading nitrites 0 because of the full water change and not because the bacteria has built up enough to kill it.

Test kit will tell you.