What Should I Do?

[Athena]

Ah, well that makes more sense than refusing you fish 'cos of the PH reading. Shame they didn't tell you these results in the first place.

It's not just the nitrite of 1.0 but also the ammonia reading - coupled together it's not fair on the fish. Those that are already in the tank will have been exposed to these toxins slowly and many will tolerate it (although could get diseased if exposed long-term as toxins weaken their immune system and can damage their body) but adding new fish to that water quality isn't a good idea, as it would shock/stress the new fish too much too soon.

So, good on your LFS for being responsible, in that sense. It's not a major panic situation - just simple daily water changes (about 25 - 30%) to lower the ammonia and nitrite down to zero and then regular testing for a few weeks to make sure it remains stabilised before adding any more new fish.

Only add a few new fish at a time (if tetras, not more than 3 or 4 in one go) and leave 2-3 weeks between additions to allow the filter bacteria to adjust after each extra bioload to the tank.

Regards - Athena

Edit - having just read your post with your stock levels, you will need to change a bit more than 30% each time (I thought you only had a few tetras in your tank, sorry). Obviously the more fish are in there, the more ammonia they are producing. I do think 80% twice daily is a bit OTT but each to their own LOL - water changes in themselves can be stressful to the fish and cause deaths. I think once you have that test kit you will have a better idea how often and how much water you need to change rather than any of us throwing figures at you willy nilly.

 

[heatwave]

Ah, well that makes more sense than refusing you fish 'cos of the PH reading. Shame they didn't tell you these results in the first place.

It's not just the nitrite of 1.0 but also the ammonia reading - coupled together it's not fair on the fish. Those that are already in the tank will have been exposed to these toxins slowly and many will tolerate it (although could get diseased if exposed long-term as toxins weaken their immune system and can damage their body) but adding new fish to that water quality isn't a good idea, as it would shock/stress the new fish too much too soon.

So, good on your LFS for being responsible, in that sense. It's not a major panic situation - just simple daily water changes (about 25 - 30%) to lower the ammonia and nitrite down to zero and then regular testing for a few weeks to make sure it remains stabilised before adding any more new fish.

Only add a few new fish at a time (if tetras, not more than 3 or 4 in one go) and leave 2-3 weeks between additions to allow the filter bacteria to adjust after each extra bioload to the tank.

Regards - Athena

Edit - having just read your post with your stock levels, you will need to change a bit more than 30% each time (I thought you only had a few tetras in your tank, sorry). Obviously the more fish are in there, the more ammonia they are producing. I do think 80% twice daily is a bit OTT but each to their own LOL - water changes in themselves can be stressful to the fish and cause deaths. I think once you have that test kit you will have a better idea how often and how much water you need to change rather than any of us throwing figures at you willy nilly.

Thankyou Anthena ...

I did think 80% water changes twice a day was OTT. Im gonna do a 40% change now & do a daily 25% for a while whilst paying my LFS regular visits.
The biggest container i have is only 20 litres so i will have to fill this up twice. I originally kept my full 20 litre container overnight to warm up a little but as i have 2 fill it up i wont be able to boost the temperature.

Will the fish be ok?

 

[Ashers]

ermmmm.... Use a hot tap?

 

[heatwave]

ermmmm.... Use a hot tap?

... as daft as it sounds i never gave that one a thought. Done now tho ... fingers crossed all goes well!

 

[Vidster]

Some people refuse to use hot water from the tap due to metal (copper), deposits from the hot water tank. I have to admit that i do use the water from the hot tap though.

 

[fluttermoth]

A good dechlorinator will lock up heavy metals like copper anyway, so nothing to worry about there
Just check what it says on the bottle to be on the safe side.

 

[coldcazzie]

The amount of water you change should be dictated by the amount of toxins in the water.

If you have a nitrite reading of 1 ppm, then doing a 25% water change will remove 25% of the nitrite, making the reading 0.75ppm, which is still above 0.25 and still deadly.

The point SkyPolak is trying to make is that you need to do HOWEVER MANY water changes you need to do to keep your ammonia and nitrite levels at 0. Multiple large water changes will be much less stressful to the fish than being burned and being unable to breathe - the results of ammonia and nitrite poisoning.

If you have a level of 1.0ppm nitrite then an 80% water change will take it down to 0.2ppm, which is still not ideal, and quite close to the 0.25 limit. If you immediately did another 80% water change you'd be much closer to the 0 level and could leave it overnight until you can test again in the morning. As soon as either ammonia or nitrite levels reach 0.25 you need to do a large water change - as large as possible (ideally leave an inch or so of water in the bottom for the fish to swim in and change the rest) - and then test again another 12 hours later.

You should also cut back on your feeding - feed the tiniest amount possible only every 3-4 days to reduce the amount of ammonia the fish produce.

You have quite a lot of fish in there at this early stage... if you're not happy with the amount and size of water changes you are going to have to do then maybe you could take some of them back to the shop until your cycle is complete, and then add them back in a few at a time? If you cut back to about 3 fish they would be producing much less ammonia and therefore the levels would take longer to climb - giving you more time between changes.

My question is this - you've been on the forum a while before you got your tank, and you were asking about stocking etc - did you actually read up on cycling the tank and how you could go about this? I'm not trying to be bitchy or confrontational - I'm genuinely curious. If not you should go to the beginners section and read up on it. If you did read up on fish in cycling, then maybe you should go back and reread it because I'm not sure you've understood the concept fully.

I know it can be difficult to know who to believe - after all, the people on the forum are just random people on the internet who you don't know and unlikely to ever meet, whereas the man in the shop is someone you see every time you go in and he seems genuine enough when you talk to him, and sounds like he knows his products...
The thing is - he's got a vested interest in you going back again and again and buying more stuff to fix the problems he's diagnosing, because it gets more money in the pocket of the business. And if your fish die, what do you do? Buy more from him. We gain nothing from advising you, except the knowledge that your fish arent' suffering. We're simply saying these things because they are best for your fish.

 

[SlyPolak]

THANK YOU CAZZIE!!! I wasnt going to respond back because they thought my water chsange recommendations were "OTT" but since his fish are in dire need of fresh water I thought they were normal. As long as you try to match the temp. as close as possible (I use my hand) and add the appropriate amount of dechlor. the fish will be fine... atleast tons better being a little stressed in freshwater rather than breathing in garbage... I dont think 80% is that bad... if I cant do my weekly regime of water changes and have to skip a week (rarely) to go out of state for work or my kid then the first thing I do when I get back home is do a HUGE water change on all my tanks (80% +) and have never lost a fish because of this. They actually seem to appreciate it and lively up, the feeding is something I could of also mentioned eariler...Heatwave your fish are cold blooded, that means they need much much less amount of food and much less frequent feedings... If I decide to set up a new aquarium and seed it with mature media from one of my existing like I have very recently with my mbuna setup I feed every other day but in tiny amounts for the first few weeks just to be on the safe side...... and again I have never lost a fish due to this..............

Cazzie that is also something I was wondering about, I have seen heatwave on here several weeks ago advertising his new aquaria saying that he hasnt even filled it up with water yet.. I am not trying to put you down or anything man but did you even read up on cycling? or did you just choose to fish in cycle but didnt read up on that either because that is a little of an overload on fish from the start...

GOOD LUCK