Am I Nearly Ready To Add Some Fish?

[excitednewfish]

Hi All,

Just thought I would update anyone who is interested, also I'm hoping for advice.

I had my water tested last sat and the results were bad Amonia 0.6 Nitrite 0.8 and Nitrate 50.

I had my water tested again today and I think the levels are improving Amonia 0.5 Nitrite 0.3 and Nitrate 40.

My LFS said to do another 25% water change to lower the Amonia levels.

I have removed around 30% of my tank water, now I'm just adding the fresh tap safe water gradually as not to cool the water too much. (is this ok)

The LFS said that in about three days all should be safe to add some more fish.

I have not lost any more fish and I still have One male cherry barb, Two golden cloud minnows and 1 lonely Zebra danio which are all swimming nicely and looking good. Apart from the Zebra keeps chasing the minnows all the time!


Do my tests seem ok?

Many thanks

 

[fatheadminnow]

LFS is wrong, again, no surprise there. You need to wait until your ammonia and nitrite are a 0 ppm, BEFORE you add more fish.

A .5 ammonia and a .3 nitrite is not good at all. Ammonia at or above .25 ppm will give your fish permanent gill damage and shorten the fishes life, and nitrite at or above .25 ppm will give the fish permanent nerve damage, and this too will shorten the fishes life.

You are in a fish-in cycle, and need to do water changes daily to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down until you colonize enough bacteria to take care of this for you.

-FHM

 

[drobbyb]

LFS is wrong, again, no surprise there. You need to wait until your ammonia and nitrite are a 0 ppm, BEFORE you add more fish.

A .5 ammonia and a .3 nitrite is not good at all. Ammonia at or above .25 ppm will give your fish permanent gill damage and shorten the fishes life, and nitrite at or above .25 ppm will give the fish permanent nerve damage, and this too will shorten the fishes life.

You are in a fish-in cycle, and need to do water changes daily to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down until you colonize enough bacteria to take care of this for you.

-FHM

Agreed.

 

[excitednewfish]

LFS is wrong, again, no surprise there. You need to wait until your ammonia and nitrite are a 0 ppm, BEFORE you add more fish.

A .5 ammonia and a .3 nitrite is not good at all. Ammonia at or above .25 ppm will give your fish permanent gill damage and shorten the fishes life, and nitrite at or above .25 ppm will give the fish permanent nerve damage, and this too will shorten the fishes life.

You are in a fish-in cycle, and need to do water changes daily to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down until you colonize enough bacteria to take care of this for you.

-FHM

Agreed.

Many thanks.

I have had my water tested again today and Nitrite is 0 and so is Ammonia. Can I now add fish and if so how many for a 64 litre tank?

Currenly have I male cherry barb, Two minnows and 1 zebra danio.

 

[waterdrop]

The test for the end of a Fish-In Cycle is to be able to go two full days with ammonia testing at zero ppm and nitrite(NO2) at zero ppm as tested by a liquid-reagent based test kit, without having to do any water changes. The normal process after observing that is to then "watch it" (daily testing) for the rest of whatever's left of the week and plan to get two or three inches of fish body on the weekend. Its important to be able to observe that the LFS is testing with a liquid test kit and that they are reading off the actual numbers to you, of ammonia and nitrite, and not just saying that "things are fine."

~~waterdrop~~

 

[excitednewfish]

The test for the end of a Fish-In Cycle is to be able to go two full days with ammonia testing at zero ppm and nitrite(NO2) at zero ppm as tested by a liquid-reagent based test kit, without having to do any water changes. The normal process after observing that is to then "watch it" (daily testing) for the rest of whatever's left of the week and plan to get two or three inches of fish body on the weekend. Its important to be able to observe that the LFS is testing with a liquid test kit and that they are reading off the actual numbers to you, of ammonia and nitrite, and not just saying that "things are fine."

~~waterdrop~~

Yes, the lfs give me a full printout of the levels and instructions on what to do if the levels are wrong. Many thanks for your advice.
Alos I seem to have algae growing on the tank-Is this ok? What sould I do about it?
Also my tank has a sort of soil? damp? smell when I open the lid- is this ok?

 

[OldMan47]

The algae growing are actively removing some of the nitrogen wastes from your water. It is not the same as being cycled but will help a little.