2 possible problems, 1 simple question

[xrenegadex]

ok....i'll start with the one that is confusing me.

the ammonia in the tank is dropping...slowly...but dropping. It started at 3.0 and is now about 2.0 (ppm) over the course of a week. the nitrite is starting to climb however. From 0 to almost .5 ppm. Is this normal??? I don't have a nitrate test, so i don't know what that is. The pH is holding steady at 7.0
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2nd question. I have a guppie and a neon that are floating at the surface almost constantly. The neon does swim around alot, abd so does the guppy, but near the surface.

the guppie had fin rot from a bacteria and i treated it, the tail is slowly growing back, but she's moving slowly and, like i said, staying at the surface. is that bad?
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simple question....is there a household item i can use to increase the kH? cause it's only about 50 ppm. And if i understand that, it should be near 150.


thnx for any help peeps

 

[glolite]

Uh oh!!! Did you wait before adding fish to your tank? Sounds like it is cycling. Do a 20-30% water change asap. Ammonia will kill your fish very quickly and nitrites too but slower. You need nil ammonia and nitrites before adding any fish. Keep doing water changes daily until the readings are nil. You may loose the fish but we all have to begin somewhere so don't despair. Wait about four weeks before adding more fish.

 

[Alurny]

Sorry to hear of your problems. Good luck with trying to minimise the damage hope things go well.

 

[xrenegadex]

the fish that are in the tnk have been there....they survived the other problem i had in my first post. there is a guppy, a neon, a baby irr. shark, 4 ghost shrimp, and a small cray fish. The only thing i added in the past week and a half was the shrimp. the ammonia's been droping since i added them.

can you answer the other two questions

 

[SPLiSH]

Hope your fishies make it.........

Read this article about cycling, it'll help. Cycling

Good luck!

 

[Alurny]

[/QUOTE]How to Save the Day (and the Fish) with an Un-Cycled Tank

OK, so you didn't do Fishless Cycling or you did scrub out your matured tank and now your fish are dying and nothing's breaking down that ammonia and nitrite. What do you do now?

Here's what I do to give my fish the best chance:
1. Immediately do a 10-15% water change with dechlorinated water and continue to do this at least once daily until your tank is cycling (i.e. ammonia and nitrite are at zero).

2. Test the water daily for ammonia and nitrite until the values are holding at zero for several days running. If levels are high, do an immediate, extra water change.

3. If at all possible, get some matured filter media and/or gravel from a matured tank and put it in your tank, suspended in an old stocking. This will hopefully impregnate your new tank with the beneficial bacteria. One lady successfully used floss from a relative's fish pond to colonise her new tank! (you have to be careful that what you use is clean and free from pathogens, of course).

4. Keep good aeration in the tank both to help the fish a little and to oxygenate those beneficial bacteria.

5. Avoid using medications, if at all possible, as many medications kill off beneficial bacteria. Your fish may well get ick, fungus or other infections due to the stress of the ammonia and nitrite but the priority is to get that water quality as good as possible.

6. If you have delicate fish in the tank, such as plecos, corys or other bottom dwellers, tetras, pencilfish etc. try to re-home them temporarily, such as asking the Local Fish Shop to look after them until your tank is cycled (after all, chances are that they got you in this mess in the first place).

7. Live plants can directly use ammonia, so if you can, put some cheap aquatic plants in the tank, such as elodea or giant vallis.

8. Don't feed your fish at all if your ammonia readings are high, and only feed bare minimum rations every other day, until the tank cycles. This will cut down on the ammonia the fish produce. Since fish are cold blooded creatures and don't need the calories of a mammal they can go several days without food anyway, and the occasional fast is good for them. Your fish may not be very hungry anyway so do be careful not to feed more than the fish can eat and clean up uneaten food immediately, before it rots and produces even more ammonia.

9. Only clean the gravel superficially, of obvious dirt and uneaten food. You want the bacteria to colonise it and actually start to grow. Also, don't swap out your filter at this point - if it gets blocked, just clean it enough to unblock it, in used tank water

 

[sylvia]

Did you try to fishless cycle?

Either way your fish are not doing well if they are staying near the surface. This is a sign of ammonia/nitrIte poisoning.

Personaly I consider the fish a priority so do a very large water change to bring all the levels down and then do water changes every 3 or so days to keep the nitrItes down during the spike.

The ammonia going down/nitrIte spiking are both good signs and mean your tank is beginning to cycle. The nitrIte spike unfortunately, can kill your fish. I am actualy quite surprised your neon is still alive!

You shouldn't tamper with the kH. Your fish will do fine without you changing it. I don't know what would increase it though there are products at most LFSs. HOWEVER, these don't usualy help your fish. A constant kH is much better than one that is constantly fluctuating. Like pH, it is best left alone.

Lastly, read the link in my signature.

 

[xrenegadex]

ok...i'll do small water changes daily.....

is nitrite more deadly than ammonia?

if it isnt.....my neon survived an ammonia reading off the chart...and the chart when to 6.0 ppm...and he was in that for several days....along with the cray fish....

now about the guppie......is there anything i can do to help her grow her tail back



and when you said chemicals kill bacteria....does that include tonics...such as metafix???

 

[xrenegadex]

now only the guppie, who almost lost her tail from bacteria fin rot, is at the surface, but the tail is still in bad shape. i'm using melafix to help with that....am i doing the right thing?

 

[sylvia]

Yes that's fine. Melafix doesn't harm your biological filtration and is good for helping wounds heal. Do make sure you have adequate aeration though - as melafix tends to decrease the amount of oxygen that can get in your water. Ammonia is more poisonous than nitrIte so you have one very hardy neon - still, a seccond stressful experience might kill it so do watch your parameters.

 

[xrenegadex]

this would be the 3rd time that it spiked and he lived

 

[WILDER]

But the spikes would of taken it toll on the fish and weakened it's immune system opening the fish up to desease.

 

[xrenegadex]

he's never been sick.....always active, very bright colors, eats well...

i put a second filter on the tank, one has activated charcol, the other (smaller one) has ammo-chips to help take the ammonia donw more

are snails good for a tank?

 

[WILDER]

Clown loaches love snails, snails are not always good in the tank as they will eventually over populate it.

 

[sylvia]

But they are great scavengers and will also eat algae. If they ever get out of control you just need to put a piece of lettuce in the tank over night and collect the snails off it in the morning - then dispose of them as you please.