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I have a 10-gallon tank that I started around 2 months ago with 2 dwarf Gouramis, 2 wagtail platys and 2 ghost shrimp. 2 and weeks ago a platy and 2 ghost shrimp died. I took water to my LFS and the worker told me the water was so bad and I needed to do a 100% water change right away. The reason was overfeeding.

The same day I went home and changed all the water. I added A.C.T. (Aquatic Culture Treatment) filter bacteria. As always the new water was treated with water conditioner. All my fish are in better health now with no signs of stress. Last weekend, I bought another 10-gallon tank and moved 1 dwarf Gourami and platy to cycle the new tank because I had some aggression between the Gouramis.

I am feeding the fish a lot less now since I learned I was overfeeding. Today, I went to my LFS and purchased an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater master test kit. I did a PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate tests. I wanted to share the results with you and get some advice on what I should do.

These results are from my first 10-gallon tank that I restarted 2 and weeks ago.

PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0.0 PPM
Nitrite: 5.0 PPM
Nitrate: 5.0 PPM

The manual for the test kit showed me that the PH and Nitrite are too high and suggested using chemicals to adjust them. I read in this forum that it is not good to use chemicals and I agree.

Are the PH and Nitrite high because the tank is cycling?

I was so concerned about the Nitrite level that over the course of the 2 and weeks of restarting the tank I did three 25% water changes. Each time I did this I added A.C.T. filter bacteria and treated the water with water conditioner.

Was that excessive water changing?
How often I should change water in a cycling tank?
Do I need to slow down on the water changes so that the cycling process ends more quickly or do I need to continue to do frequent water changes because the Nitrite is still high?
I read that the Nitrite is supposed to peak at a somewhat high level and then gradually come downbut how long does this last? Is it harmful for the fish?
Please help! I dont want anymore-dead fish. I feel so bad about the mistakes I have made already.

Thanks,
Right000


[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-06-24 19:54][/span]

Your ok on the water changes keep doing them at 25% until u get 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. Your nitrites are at a talorable level. But do a water change if they get any higher. Your tank will take longer to cycle but u don't want to risk higer nitrite levels. Keep your water changes to twice aweek or if your nitrites spike at all.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-06-24 20:10][/span]

Nitrites are because the tank is still cycling, but since you have nitrates your cycle is probably almost over
I would wait until your cycle is finished before changing water, since it seems almost complete

Also, I don't think the fish died because of only leftover food(that creates ammonia when the leftovers rot), but also ammonia from rotting poo and ammonia from gills

Do you gravel vac at all, or just scoop out water for changes? If not, you need to make it a priority to get a small gravel vac, and suck up all the waste/food for future reference

Well you're hopefully almost done the cycle, doing any water changes, gravel vacs or filter maintence will reduce the ammount of bactaria and will make it a bit longer.
Each persons cycle is different, so unfortunatly we cannot give you an estimate on how much longer it will take. Run all your water tests daily, that should tell you ( good for getting the test kit btw, I don't like relying on the LFS to give me test results).


As for the ph, it's not exceedingly high, chemicals have been known to cause ph to swing which is really not good. The best thing to do is either stock according to the ph, or since you already have stocked the tank, lower it using more natural methods.
The tannins (what turns the water tea colored) from driftwood, and peat will help to lower it. You should be able to find peat filter inserts @your LFS. CO2 will also lower the ph, so if you were thinking of live plants maybe consider upgrading the light in the tanks and adding CO2.
Since you have the AP master kit, run Kh and Gh tests. The KH will let you know how easily your ph will change. Like with all things reguarding the tank, you want to make any changes slowly and gradually.

^_^

Where is your water coming from? Check the Ph of water at the source. I always find it interesting to use the test kit on the water coming out of the tap.

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for all the advice. I am still experiencing problems. Yesterday, I tested the water and the Ammonia was at .25 ppm, Ph 7.8, Nitrite 5.0 ppm, Nitrate 5.0 ppm. Keep in mind that my Nitrites may be even higher than 5.0 ppm since that is the highest number that my water testing kit goes up to. I purchased one of those water testing 5 in 1 strips made Jungle to compare with the master testing kit that I have been using. On the strip it showed that there was no ammonia and nitrites of 10.0 ppm or higher! I don't know which test is accurate. My fish do not appear to be in any stress---but the fish (platy and shrimp) that I lost in the beginning did not appear to be stress until they were found dead.

And yes, of course I gravel vac. I graveled vac and changed a portion of the water yesterday (25%). I added A.C.T. bacteria filter to the water when changing the water. I do use tap water but is always conditioned with AquaSafe or those Fizz tabs. I tested the tap water from the sink and it showed no traces of ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates.

I am getting frustrated and confused as to how to improve the water conditions. I am thinking about adding some live plants. Do you think that will help? Any suggestions on what type of plant to introduce. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreicated.

Right...

You are on the right track with your cycling. Number one rule is to not get frustrated. That is when the mistakes happen most often. As long as the fish do not seem stressed, that is a good thing. The Nitrite spike portion of the cycle takes longer than the Ammonia spike portion of the cycle. Sometimes up to double the length of time, keep that in mind.

Have you tested the pH out of the tap? A pH of 8 is alittle high. What kind of substrate are you using and do you have any ornamental rocks/shells in the tank? If so, types if you can tell us.

I tested the Ph of my tap water and it is between 7.8 and 8 ppm. I guess that explains why my Ph is so high. Should I discontinue using the tap water for changes and buy water from the local fish store? The local fish store sells pretreated water for aquariums for .25 cents for 5 gallons. I have been treating my tap water, but maybe the treatment does not impact the Ph level.

Also, I have basic aquarium gravel on the floor of the tank about 1 1/2" deep slightly slanted toward the back. I have one bubble stone that is almost the length of the back wall of the aquarium. I have 2 plastic aquarium plants, 1 silk aqarium plant, a small cave decoration, and a coral reef-type decoration. All the decorations were bought with labels that specified that they were safe for freshwater aquariums.

I have not added any natural plants or rocks. I was debating replacing or adding real plants, but I don't know much about live plants and their care yet. Again, I would like to thank everyone that has given advice. I really appreciate and respect your thoughts.

I wouldn't stop using your tap water simply because of the pH. Babel gave you good advice on how to lower your pH naturally or as she stated you could just choose fish that are more conducive to the higher levels of pH.

As she stated, run the tests for gH and kH and go on from there.

Also, ask the local fish store that you do the most business with what the pH is in their tanks.

I'm not a guru on live plants in aquariums (I wish I was!) . Babel is. Maybe she'll pop back in here and give you advice on which plants are most advantageous for you to use.

Guru on live plants , wish I was too! looks like someones missed all my "why aren't my plants growing" posts !

In any case...even if they are somewhat troublesome, not all of them are. More often than not they're easy, it's when you try to make them happy that they become troublesome (another case of live and let live.)

Hornwort is a floating plant very very easy to grow. Additionally it quickly absorbs excess ammonia/nitrates (not only dropped nitrAtes from 40 to 20ppm in 24 hours, but also saved one of my tanks when the filters stopped over the weekend )

That's a not so great pic of hornwort, you also see in the corner on the driftwood blue green algae or cynobacteria. Hornwort is a low to high light plant so depending on your watts per gallon (wpg) this is most likely your best bet

A hardy not so fast grower or consumer, but also a low light plant is java fern

it gets tied to driftwood or rocks and roots itself so it doesnt' care what type of substrate it has.

If you have 2+wpg you could get some water wisteria. It's also rather easy and undemanding. It will grow floating sometimes but it does grow roots so will go in a substrate as well
.
It's almost as fast a consumer of nutrients as hornwort, not quite as easy since it does like highter light levels

The three I listed are ones I've had rather little trouble with. I don't have the time (or resoursces both monitary and knowledge ) to really spend tons of time on the plants...however theres no time like the present for you to get some in your tanks. Java fern sould easily be found @all LFS's and LCPS (mine came from petsmart for 3something per plant) tie it onto some wood or a rock and your set with that. Hornwort might be somewhat harder to find. I'm not sure I've actually seen it for sale in the LFS's dispite how easily it grows. Mine came from the local lake and a fellow board member.

^_^

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Babel...

Should she treat the plants with anything to make sure there are no "nasties" transported into her tanks?

thank you guys so much. I think my tank finaly cycled