Hi!

We have had our tropical freshwater tank set up for about 15 weeks now.

The water was sitting perfectly at 0 for all levels until we introduced a couple of new fish last week. Since then we have been unable to keep the nitrite down.

We had 3 clown loaches, 3 khuli Loaches, 3 burmese loaches and a stick-nose plec in a 100ltr tank. As mentioned previously the water had been stable for at least a couple of weeks previous.

Last weekend we introduced 3 glass catfish to the tank and the nitrite rose to 1.0. I have since removed the catfish and put them in my tank in work but now we can't get the nitrite to drop again.

This morning it was at 1.0 and I did a 20% water change using amQuel. A test early this afternoon showed that the level had dropped to afround 0.25. This evening I tested again as all my fish are hiding away, which isn't normal for them. The levels were back up at 0.50.

Anyway advice of steps to take would be greatly appreciated as I tend to worry alot about the health and happieness of all my fish.

Should I do a small water change daily using amQuel or even every other day?

Thanks so much in advance for any help!

You have alot of bottom dwellers.
Your tanks overstocked, clown loaches need large tanks of 90 gallons.
How often do you preform a gravel vac and water change.

i would do a water change right now,you need to get these levels down asap
your tank should have hed a nitrate reading of sorts, but you say all readings where 0, did you cycle the tank??
i have no idea what amQuel is, but i would just do daily 20-30%water changes adding back declorinated water of a similar temprature to the water you take out. you havent cleaned the filter lately have you?
and on another note, i dont think your tank is big enough for those fish, but i spose it depends on the size of them at the present time, but they wont last in there,they willneed a bigger one, i have 4 clown loaches in a 4ft and they will need a larger tank at some point and given that you have plecs and other loaches in there too, you may want to start planning lol.
do you keep a diary for your tank? ie, test readings, poss causes of rises and what you did, maybe a good idea so if you have future problems you can go back and see what you did to rectify the situation
shelagh xxx

ps to the forum