What's Going On?

[pablothebetta]

I found a load of my shrimp near the surface of the tank this morning which was unusual. So I tested my water and to my suprise I found ammonia and nitrite readings! The tank has been cycled + up and running since last October, so I don't know what's happened. I re-scaped my tank yesterday and added another two assassin snails, but didn't fiddle with any media or anything.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Corydoralover]

could it be that one or more of the snails has died and is leaking amonia into the system?

 

[mattlee]

when you changed the tank layout its possible that you have disturbed the substrate. this can cause lots of debris to enter the water flow and into the filters, things like uneaten food, poop and dead plant matter etc.

keep an eye on the water parameters and do the relevent water changes over the next couple of days or so and it will settle back down

 

[pablothebetta]

Thanks for the replies.

I don't think one of the snails has died, corydoralover, but that would have made sense.

when you changed the tank layout its possible that you have disturbed the substrate. this can cause lots of debris to enter the water flow and into the filters, things like uneaten food, poop and dead plant matter etc.

keep an eye on the water parameters and do the relevent water changes over the next couple of days or so and it will settle back down

There was quite a bit of debris was in the water, I must have changed around 50-60% of the water to try to get rid of it. What sort of w/c schedule should I be looking at?

 

[mattlee]

just keep testing the water and do water changes to suit the levels of ammonia and nitrite.

looking at the colours in your pic of the tested water i would do a large, say 80-90% water change straight away. then leave it an hour and test again. if there is any ammonia or nitrite showing then do another water change. remember a 50% water change will half the levels of toxins in the water so if you get a reading of say 0.5ppm of ammonia a 50% water change will reduce it to 0.25ppm so a bigger 80-90% change is more suitable and less hassle for you too.

keep testing until you get 0ppm for both and keep an eye on the parameters over the next 2-3 days. it also may be worth feeding slightly less until the filters are taking care of the bioload again.

 

[pablothebetta]

just keep testing the water and do water changes to suit the levels of ammonia and nitrite.

looking at the colours in your pic of the tested water i would do a large, say 80-90% water change straight away. then leave it an hour and test again. if there is any ammonia or nitrite showing then do another water change. remember a 50% water change will half the levels of toxins in the water so if you get a reading of say 0.5ppm of ammonia a 50% water change will reduce it to 0.25ppm so a bigger 80-90% change is more suitable and less hassle for you too.

keep testing until you get 0ppm for both and keep an eye on the parameters over the next 2-3 days. it also may be worth feeding slightly less until the filters are taking care of the bioload again.

Thanks. I'll do a large w/c asap as suggested. Should I keep doing w/cs daily for however many days it takes until I get 0ppm for both? For example, if I did an 80% change asap, then if an hour later there's still some in there, do another large change and if that got it to 0, leave it until tomorrow. If the levels are still there, should I do the same and then stop the w/cs when it's been 0ppm for a few days? Sorry for all the questions, I've never really had this before so I'm not 100% certain on what to do.

As for feeding, there's currently only shrimp & snails in there (I was going to add a betta within the next week or so, but it looks like this has been delayed now). Should I put any food in there for them or just allow them to scavenge?

Any idea how long this might take?

 

[mattlee]

yes keep changing until you get 0ppm for both ammonia and nitrite, maybe test later tonight and repeat again if needed.

test again in the morning and again do water changes if needed and do this for 2-3 days until you get 0ppm on every test basically.

the shrimp will be fine to scavenge but it will do no harm just to pop a bit of something for them, just cut back from what you normally feed them. add half of the normal food amounts or feed once instead of twice a day.

 

[pablothebetta]

I used to have corys in there, so I just put a pinch or two in for them once a day and left the shrimp to scavenge anything left over. Should levels go back to normal in 2-3 days or so? Thanks for all the help, its greatly appriciated

 

[mattlee]

I used to have corys in there, so I just put a pinch or two in for them once a day and left the shrimp to scavenge anything left over. Should levels go back to normal in 2-3 days or so? Thanks for all the help, its greatly appriciated

yeah it may even return to normal sooner but just keep one eye on the parameters just incase

 

[pablothebetta]

yeah it may even return to normal sooner but just keep one eye on the parameters just incase

Well I changed around 70 % of the water, but a test soon afterwards (not an hour or so later) said that levels hadn't really dropped that much - is this due to not waiting? Unfortunately I've been unable to do another w/c since then - I'm guessing I'll have a few to do tomorrow...

 

[pablothebetta]

Two water changes of around 80 % over the last two days seem to have got rid of the nitrites but left a little ammonia. My shrimp seem to be behaving normally now though, which I'm taking as a good sign - they're no longer on the algae scrap, heater or filter near the surface like they were before.

Should I leave the w/cs now and let it settle out? This was based on last nights test results so could it have already sorted itself out?

Thanks for all the help

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Personally, I would keep doing daily water tests and suitably large water changes if you are still getting ammonia or nitrite readings. The only exception would be if you are using a product like Seachem Prime, in which case you could add upto 5x the standard dose (so upto 25ml per 200 litres) to temporarily detoxify ammonia or nitrite for upto 24 hours.

 

[pablothebetta]

Personally, I would keep doing daily water tests and suitably large water changes if you are still getting ammonia or nitrite readings. The only exception would be if you are using a product like Seachem Prime, in which case you could add upto 5x the standard dose (so upto 25ml per 200 litres) to temporarily detoxify ammonia or nitrite for upto 24 hours.

I think its interpet tapsafe that I use, should I do the same thing?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I'm not familar with that one, unless it says it will temporarily lock ammonia, you will need to do big water changes as and when necessary.

 

[mattlee]

keep up with the water changes and it will sort itself out eventually.