Another Newbie Again

[catbirdie]

>>>>So are there any fish in the 29 gallon now?

>>>>The problem with the guppy and platys sounds like what is caused by long term ammonia or nitrite exposure.

****Yes, there are 3 guppies and six baby platy's in the 29 gal. They are acting alright for the moment.

**** I double filtered the H2O last night which when tested before adding to the tank, the ammonia was eliminated, but the nitrites were still high. I did do a 3/4 water change with that water.

****When I tested the 29 gal tank this morning, the ammonia reading was 0, the nitrites still high at 2.0 and the nitrates 10 ppm.

 

[KittyKat]

[…] They do level off and become safe. […]

Safe for ammonia and nitrite are only 0 ppm readings. Anything above is not safe.

So are there any fish in the 29 gallon now?

Yes, there are 3 guppies and six baby platy's in the 29 gal. They are acting alright for the moment.

I double filtered the H2O last night which when tested before adding to the tank, the ammonia was eliminated, but the nitrites were still high. I did do a 3/4 water change with that water.

Was the talk water nitrite before the water change higher than the new water nitrite?

When I tested the 29 gal tank this morning, the ammonia reading was 0, the nitrites still high at 2.0 and the nitrates 10 ppm.

So the 5 gallon and 10 gallon have 0 ppm ammonia and 0 ppm nitrite?

 

[catbirdie]

>>>Safe for ammonia and nitrite are only 0 ppm readings. Anything above is not safe.

***I know I'm trying...

I double filtered the H2O last night which when tested before adding to the tank, the ammonia was eliminated, but the nitrites were still high. I did do a 3/4 water change with that water.[/quote]

>>>>>Was the talk water nitrite before the water change higher than the new water nitrite?

****No it's the same. Today's testing btw, was still 0 ppm ammonia, but the nitrites are still the same (high). I added Amquel plus this morning, I didn't do a water change again, because of the high level of nitrites in my water. Is it possible that I lost some of the beneficial bacteria along the process so it's not breaking down the nitrites well? There was a time I was vacuuming a lot of the gravel but have since learned that the good bacteria is also in there. I'm trying to figure out how to lower the nitrites now at this point since we have the ammonia down thank goodness. Like I said, I'm hesitiant to do another water change.. I'd like it to cycle.

I tested the 29 gal tank this morning, the ammonia reading was 0, the nitrites still high at 2.0 and the nitrates 10 ppm.

>>>>>So the 5 gallon and 10 gallon have 0 ppm ammonia and 0 ppm nitrite?

****yes.

 

[KittyKat]

Water changes themselves rarely affect a cycle in any way, but if your tank water has better readings than or same as tap water, the water change won't do any good.

So the 5 gallon and 10 gallon have 0 ppm ammonia and 0 ppm nitrite?

yes

I still think that the nitrite problem is nothing to do with the fry and everything to do with your pH: I have had 10-100 times more fish in a tank that size without problems (granted, under different conditions, but the point is that a decent filter should be able to handle your 10 odd adults and 10-50 fry that it would have had originally), but if your pH is 6.0, it is perfectly plausible that the bacteria are not doing anything more than just surviving..

/me goes to check how pH affects nitrite -> nitrate bacteria.

 

[catbirdie]

>>>>I still think that the nitrite problem is nothing to do with the fry and everything to do with your pH: I have had 10-100 times more fish in a tank that size without problems (granted, under different conditions, but the point is that a decent filter should be able to handle your 10 odd adults and 10-50 fry that it would have had originally), but if your pH is 6.0, it is perfectly plausible that the bacteria are not doing anything more than just surviving..

/me goes to check how pH affects nitrite -> nitrate bacteria.

****OK well, I'm not sure what I should do. My latest thought was to go purchase the spring water that tested 0 ammonia and nitrite and do a large water change to maybe get the tank on track and somewhat cleaned up. What do you think? I also see that I have baby snails in there. I'm not sure what to do about that..and if this would affect the situation at all.

 

[KittyKat]

I'd ignore the snails unless they become a problem. Have you tried adding 5-10 bunches of plants to that tank?

 

[catbirdie]

>>>>>I'd ignore the snails unless they become a problem. Have you tried adding 5-10 bunches of plants to that tank?


Yes, I added plants after you told me to earlier. That right away cleaned up the ammonia at the time. Then the tank started to develop high levels of ammonia and nitrites without the water changes. That's why I assumed it was from so many babies as every time I looked there were more. It was after the levels were high I started to do water changes which worked for the 10 gal so not sure why it didn't take this time.. .even though the levels were bad.. I'm missing something here.

I moved the guppies and a couple of fry out of the 29 gal last night as it needed to be done. They are now in the 40 gal. The only life left in the 29 gal are the two adult snails and their babies... I have two tiny fry in there I plan to take out later. The levels this morning now are: ammonia .25ppm which went up, .50 on the nitrites which went down, 5.0 on the nitrates and 6 on the pH.

I need to get that 29 gal back to healthy working order, so that's my quest for now. How would you proceed with that with jusst the snails in there?

 

[KittyKat]

Are the plants looking healthy? Do you vacuum the gravel during water changes? Have you cleaned the sponges recently? Always in old tank water? What ornaments do you have in there?

 

[catbirdie]

Are the plants looking healthy? Do you vacuum the gravel during water changes? Have you cleaned the sponges recently? Always in old tank water? What ornaments do you have in there?


Yes, the plants are fine, I vacuum the gravel when I do a water change, The sponges get cleaned in old tankwater, the ornaments are the usual, nothing new, not overcrowded. The levels today are Ammonia 1.0 ppm which went up, Nitrite 1.0 ppm Nitrate 5.0 and pH 0.

Going to clean today, do a water change as I will need to replace water anyway from the cleaning and, put some Amquel in and see. You had mentioned a while back to me that a dead snail might make ammonia readings rise, that's why I was wondering if the snail births could be affecting the tank. Maybe there are some little ones in there that are dead. Will clean up and see how the tank tests tonight and tomorrow.

 

[phishyphil]

Welcome Sir

Live plants all the way

 

[KittyKat]

What species are your snails? Live snails are low bio-load, as are small dead snails (ramshorns, MTS, physa, etc).. but a dead apple snail (or similar) is a huge bio-load. If you have any apple (mystery) snails in there, do check all of them. If you're not sure whether one is alive, take it out and sniff it: dead apple snails stink enough to make some people want to be physically sick.

pH.. 0?

 

[catbirdie]

>>>>What species are your snails? Live snails are low bio-load, as are small dead snails (ramshorns, MTS, physa, etc).. but a dead apple snail (or similar) is a huge bio-load. If you have any apple (mystery) snails in there, do check all of them. If you're not sure whether one is alive, take it out and sniff it: dead apple snails stink enough to make some people want to be physically sick.

pH.. 0?

Hi KittyKat... typo I guess should have been 6.0
I didn't know this post was there as I didn't see the notification in my mail box, sorry. They're apple snails.. and there were tons of them. A lot has taken place since I last wrote in. I had to get the remaining fish out of there and the snails. So I moved them all to the 5 gal.. where they currently are. So there are 2 apple snails,and several platy fry in the 5 gal which is fine so far and I'm keeping a keen eye on it because of the snail birthing situation. As far as the 29 gal, well, that tank got very compromised. Since there was no life left in it, we cleaned out the entire tank, but left the filters in. All the babies seemed to happen all at once. The tank looked cleaned, but no matter what I did I couldn't get the pH up. On the liquid test kit it just read the lowest level of 6.0. Even after 90 % water changes. I figured bad bacteria or something was shooting the pH down.. so with it empty of life, we took out the gravel and rinsed out the tank. Was gucky .. and I didn't expect that as I do keep up with the cleaning...and yes it smelled well, lets just say "off".. We put it back together last night. Tonights readings on that tank I have 0 ammonia, a high nitrite (as you remember my water is high nitrite so probably 5.0, 5.0ppm on the nitrate and the pH is 7.6. I really need to get this tank operational as I have a lot of fry here and to get back in that tank. I put some Amquel in the 29 about 5 hours ago.

The biowheel and thd filters are in there. I did clean the old filter in the tank water not the tap water. I'm expecting the tank to be alright as far as the nitrite levels going down like they always do with a water change or new tank start up. I don't know how the readings will react because I have the old filters in there but I left them so because of info in past posts.

I'm glad you wrote me about the snails... this I think wiill explain a lot of what happened here. Any thought or suggestions in getting things back to working order? Again, sorry didn't know I had a message here.

Welcome Sir


Live plants all the way

******Hi phishyphil, thanks for the welcome ....we've got plants

 

[KittyKat]

A dead apple snail would definitely explain the problem, if one was causing that much chaos in a 29 gallon, think of what would have happened in a 5 or 10 gallon (which is why I recommend you keep all of your apple snails in the 29). Nitrite should drop to 0 ppm in the next day or two. If it doesn't, you should consider adding household ammonia to the tank so that the bacteria have some food.

 

[catbirdie]

>> think of what would have happened in a 5 or 10 gallon (which is why I recommend you keep all of your apple snails in the 29).

***** I hear you there. Can I keep the apple snails in the 5 gal without fish or is it too small a tank for them? If so, how many could I keep in a 5 gal and would it be balanced enough w/o fish? The goal being to keep snails separate from fish as you said this chaos I would like to avoid again.

Catbird


>>>Nitrite should drop to 0 ppm in the next day or two. If it doesn't, you should consider adding household ammonia to the tank so that the bacteria have some food.

***Right, OK!

 

[catbirdie]

I checked the tank tonight, nitrite still high but the pH is down to 6.0 again. I also wanted to mention that the bio wheel (HOTB) is not spinning as it should. Last few days I've had to take it out and just put it back in and then it works fine for a while. This could mess things up too couldn't it? usually it spins just slow and will stop for a minute or two.. but I have two other tanks with the HOTB wheels and they work fine. Right now it's spinning like a top, I was working on it earlier. I'm keeping an eye on it. If it slows down again to occasional stopping do I need to replace this unit? What do you think about this pH business? Would you put any fish in there if the pH remains low like this?