2 Ten Gallons To A 29 Gal. Water Readings :(

[dwilli36]

Had 2 ten gal tanks. Fully cycled. Had them for over 6 months. One had 5 red tail rasboras, 3 appleSnails, The other 3 black skirt tetra, 3 red eye tetra , 2 apple snails. Got a new 29 gal tank , so I put gravel and water in from both tanks and all fish and snails. Per rule of thumb 1 in. of fish per gal. of water I should be ok. I also put the 2 mature bio sponges from old tanks in with the new bio sponge in the filtration system. My water readings are as followes--Ammonia-4.0 , Nitrites-0.25 , Nitrates-40 , Ph- 8.0. ( Always had high ph - well water is very hard). And always had high Nitrate readings as well. Feed fish twice a day and only what they can eat in 5 minutes. Readings were taken 22 hours after new tank was done. Any help on water readings would be highly Appreciated . I thought with everything from old tanks transfered to the new one readings would be allright. I even used the product called CYCLE by Nutrafin. I also have 6 plants in there 4 are hornwort , can't remember other 2. Sorry about the this being so lloonngg, but wanted to give as much details as I could.

 

[Tropicoll]

Welcome!

The only thing that is worrying me is that you have transferred the water and substrate from the old tanks but you don't mention any filtration.

Do you have a filter? The bacterial cultures that breakdown the Ammonia and Nitrites created by the fish live in the filter and if that filter is new - and thus un-cycled - there will be no bacteria in the filter to process them.

Can I suggest that you do a 50% water change to try and bring down that ammonia reading. Test again about an hour after changing the water and if it's still high do it again. You will need to keep doing regular water changes (25% ish) daily for a few weeks.

Do you have a heater or heater(s) in the tank?

If I am correct in that the filter with your 29 gallon tank is new then you'll be doing what's called a fish-in cycle. Not recommended, but sometimes unavoidable unfortunately. Have a read of http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=175355 which will give you info on the correct procedures.

I know it's a long shot but you don't by any chance have the filters still running in the old 10 gallons do you? If so they will have a bacterial culture and you could put them into the new tank to help the cycle along. I don't think it's worth bothering if they've been sat on the bench for 24 hours as the cultures in the filter media will be dead.

Please don't worry about asking seemingly silly questions, there aren't any. I haven't been keeping for long myself and someone will hopefully be along soon with more advice.

EDIT: You might want to cut the feeding down a little until the bacteria build up.

You say the readings were taking 22 hours after the tank was set up, how long before your post was that?

I hope this helps.

Collin

 

[rabbut]

With an ammonia reading of 4, you need to do more than a 50% waterchange or you will start to loose fish realy quickly I'd do a waterchange as large are is proctically possible for you (arround 90%, leaving just enough water to cover your fish) ASAP. Though waterchanges of this size are not normally recomended, this is an emergency and the ammonia reading justifys it. Make shure the new water is about the right temperature and has a similar pH.

What test kit are you usuing (make and type (liquid, strip or tablet))?

How long has it been since the transfer? Must have been a while, or there is some overfeeding going on, as 11 small fish in a 29g would not produce that much ammonia overnight Either way, cut feeding back to once every other day

Having transfered your old filters across also, the tank should have been fully cycled from the get-go Obvioulsly something has upset the filters and this is caursing your problem With nitrite present already, I suspect you will get a mini-cycle rather than a full-blown fish-in cycle. Whichever happens, you need to follow standord precedure for a fish-in cycle, i.e. do as many waterchanges as needs be to keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25

All the best
Rabbut

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with rabbut. If your readings are correct (and you may not have a good enough test to know) then you need probably multiple large water changes as a measure to possibly save your fish. After to do the first large one he describes, you can repeat with ones (say 70% or 50% for followup ones) as soon as an hour after the previous. Without a good liquid based test kit, you won't have good feedback to know what your water changes are accomplishing, so after the first two I'd drop to one large one a day until you have the kit and know how to use it correctly.

Many here like the API Freshwater Master Test Kit or the Nutrafin Mini-Master Test Kit. The ammonia and nitrite(NO2) readings are the essential thing at this point for you. Post up your well water results also, once you get the new kit.

It may be that your overall setup will settle down in a day or so and the old bacteria will kick in and everything will turn out better, so don't give up hope. If not, then a water change pattern will keep your fish alive for the weeks while the bacteria re-grow and the members here will help you figure out that pattern from your test results.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

If I read the original post right, it sounds like your old sponges are laying around somewhere in the 29. You need to get them into the water flow path for them to do any good. The 90% water change may still not be enough but your readings will guide you on how many more and how big the rest need to be. You need to end at 0.25 ppm or less and a 90% will likely only move you to around 0.4 ppm which would still be too high and would need another 50% change to get it down.

 

[dwilli36]

Welcome!

The only thing that is worrying me is that you have transferred the water and substrate from the old tanks but you don't mention any filtration.

Do you have a filter? The bacterial cultures that breakdown the Ammonia and Nitrites created by the fish live in the filter and if that filter is new - and thus un-cycled - there will be no bacteria in the filter to process them.

Can I suggest that you do a 50% water change to try and bring down that ammonia reading. Test again about an hour after changing the water and if it's still high do it again. You will need to keep doing regular water changes (25% ish) daily for a few weeks.

Do you have a heater or heater(s) in the tank?

If I am correct in that the filter with your 29 gallon tank is new then you'll be doing what's called a fish-in cycle. Not recommended, but sometimes unavoidable unfortunately. Have a read of [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=175355"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=175355[/URL] which will give you info on the correct procedures.

I know it's a long shot but you don't by any chance have the filters still running in the old 10 gallons do you? If so they will have a bacterial culture and you could put them into the new tank to help the cycle along. I don't think it's worth bothering if they've been sat on the bench for 24 hours as the cultures in the filter media will be dead.

Please don't worry about asking seemingly silly questions, there aren't any. I haven't been keeping for long myself and someone will hopefully be along soon with more advice.

EDIT: You might want to cut the feeding down a little until the bacteria build up.

You say the readings were taking 22 hours after the tank was set up, how long before your post was that?

I hope this helps.

Collin

I have an external filter , so when I was transferring everything I put the bio sponges (where good bacteria live) in new filter next to new sponge. When I was moveing everything I put the cultured sponges in a bucket with my fish. It probablytook about an hour and a half to transfer everything. I am doing a water change. Will post readings. Thankyou for your peply.

With an ammonia reading of 4, you need to do more than a 50% waterchange or you will start to loose fish realy quickly I'd do a waterchange as large are is proctically possible for you (arround 90%, leaving just enough water to cover your fish) ASAP. Though waterchanges of this size are not normally recomended, this is an emergency and the ammonia reading justifys it. Make shure the new water is about the right temperature and has a similar pH.

What test kit are you usuing (make and type (liquid, strip or tablet))?

How long has it been since the transfer? Must have been a while, or there is some overfeeding going on, as 11 small fish in a 29g would not produce that much ammonia overnight Either way, cut feeding back to once every other day

Having transfered your old filters across also, the tank should have been fully cycled from the get-go Obvioulsly something has upset the filters and this is caursing your problem With nitrite present already, I suspect you will get a mini-cycle rather than a full-blown fish-in cycle. Whichever happens, you need to follow standord precedure for a fish-in cycle, i.e. do as many waterchanges as needs be to keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25

All the best
Rabbut

I am useing an API fresh water master liqued test kit. Am doing a waterchange. When I 1st tested water it was about 22 hours after transfer. Thankyou for your reply.

 

[rabbut]

Those sponges do fit in the basket tightly don't they? If not, most of the water will flow arround them, thus very little water will be filtered through the mature media Ensure they are tightly packed

All the best
Rabbut

 

[dwilli36]

I did a 60% water change today . Readings are as follows , Amonia-1.0 , Nitrite-0.25 , Nitrate-2.0 , Ph-8.0. Will do another partial water change . Sponges were a tight fit.

 

[LauraFrog]

Keep doing water changes, you've got to bring that ammonia down as it's currently four times the safe fish in cycle reading. The further you can bring it down the better.

It does seem unlikely that those fish would have produced so much ammonia in such a short time though, especially with mature media that had previously been handling all their waste. 4.0 is a LOT of ammonia. Is there an ammonia reading in your tap water? This is odd.