Arghhhhhh Going To Cry. Help Pls

[fry_lover]

Hi Zoe

i havent read thread fully (bad me!) but in terms of this talk about Nitrite,

0.25ppm, for me and based on my reading, research and others feedback is way too high on an on-going basis, let alone 1.0ppm (i think the poster must surely have meant 0.1ppm) which i still wouldnt be happy with!!!

If i had nitrite readings of 1ppm and fish in my tank i would turn green, bust out of clothes and start growling (incredible hulk)

I dont see any place for nitrites at ANY recorded level in a healthy and correctly maintain set-up (mature set up)

forgive my intrusion Zoe, i am sure you will!

EDIT: obviously your tank is still cycling, but i just wanted throw my nitrite "speech" in thats relates to you tank when the cycle has finished. and there's nothing wrong a bit of Hulk-Humour is there Zoe?

 

[scotslasszoe]

Lol no probs at all fry.

Ty very mucho

Zoe

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hm, you have a fair amount of fish for a tank which has been cycling for only around 3 weeks. Because your water quality is particularly unstable at the moment, it may be a good idea to rehome some of the fish or let a friend who already has an established tank (if you know anyone who does) look after a few of your fish while your tank is cycling (as long as none of their fish are incompatable with yours of course).
Lowering the amount of fish in the tank will help reduce the size of the ammonia and nitrite spikes in the tank and stuff, but if you are ok with doing daily or every other day water changes or whatever etc then its really your descision whether you want to rehome a couple of the fish during the cycle or not as long as you can keep the water quality in a comfortable enough state for the fish during the cycle.

If you know anyone with an established filtered tank (or even pond) who lives close to you, you could also always borrow a little bit of their established filter media or squeeze some of the gunk out of it into your tanks filter, this will speed up the cycle a great deal if you can transfer some of the beneficial bacteria this way to your tank filter.


Keep a close eye on particular on the health of the black ghost knife fish and the neons, as both of these fish are very sensitive to water quality conditions and are not ideal fish for a new cycling tank.
The black ghost knife will eventually outgrow your current tank if its only 4ft long, so this is another thing to keep in mind for the future;

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile66.html


Keep an eye on the red tailed black shark too, although generally quite peaceful when young, it will become a lot more territorial and agressive as it matures and grows larger, these sharks vary a great deal in personality so they can be difficult to stock with other fish (red tailed black sharks are most agressive/territorial towards their own kind and will not happily tolerate each other, however they may also harrass and attack other fish which resemble other RTBS in shape, colour or pattern etc).
I would advise watching the shark every now and then and make sure it doesn't chase the ghost knife fish in particular because this is the fish the shark is most likely not going to get along with in the future, but also keep an eye on the gourami's since they are much slower swimming fish than the RTBS and although gourami's don't generally tend to be attacked by RTBS, some RTBS have been known to bully them a lot, which is bad because gourami's are much slower fish with not much in the way of defence.

I'm not totally sure, but i think the neons may also end up as meals for the ghost knife fish when it grows larger.

Do you know what type of pleco you have too? Some plec's can grow very large, there are hundreds of types of pleco's which vary a lot in their care and habitat needs, so its important to know what exact type of pleco you have .


Unfortunately cycling with fish does take a long time. It may take up to as long as 3months+ before the water quality is properly stable and the filter is established. Because you have some very water quality sensitive fish in your tank, i would advise doing a 15-30% water change whenever there is a nitrite or ammonia reading in the tank.
When the water quality has finally become more stable and you aren't getting ammonia or nitrite problems anymore, just keep to doing once weekly 30-60% water changes . You should clean the substrate in the tank once a week and clean out the filter in old tank water whenever the filter becomes so clogged up the current is weakened, just remember not to overclean the filter (like clean it so it is spotless/sparkling clean) as you may cause the tank to mini cycle, so just clean the filter enough so it will run smoothely and strong for the next week or two etc .

 

[scotslasszoe]

Hm, you have a fair amount of fish for a tank which has been cycling for only around 3 weeks. Because your water quality is particularly unstable at the moment, it may be a good idea to rehome some of the fish or let a friend who already has an established tank (if you know anyone who does) look after a few of your fish while your tank is cycling (as long as none of their fish are incompatable with yours of course).

If you know anyone with an established filtered tank (or even pond) who lives close to you, you could also always borrow a little bit of their established filter media or squeeze some of the gunk out of it into your tanks filter, this will speed up the cycle a great deal if you can transfer some of the beneficial bacteria this way to your tank filter.


Keep a close eye on particular on the health of the black ghost knife fish and the neons, as both of these fish are very sensitive to water quality conditions and are not ideal fish for a new cycling tank.
The black ghost knife will eventually outgrow your current tank if its only 4ft long, so this is another thing to keep in mind for the future;

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile66.html




Keep an eye on the red tailed black shark too, although generally quite peaceful when young, it will become a lot more territorial and agressive as it matures and grows larger, these sharks vary a great deal in personality so they can be difficult to stock with other fish (red tailed black sharks are most agressive/territorial towards their own kind and will not happily tolerate each other, however they may also harrass and attack other fish which resemble other RTBS in shape, colour or pattern etc).
I would advise watching the shark every now and then and make sure it doesn't chase the ghost knife fish in particular is this is the fish the shark is most likely not going to get along with in the future, but also keep an eye on the gourami's since they are much slower swimming fish than the RTBS and although don't generally tend to be attacked by RTBS, some RTBS have been known to bully them a lot, which is bad because gourami's are much slower fish with not much in the way of defence.

I'm not totally sure, but i think the neons may also end up as meals for the ghost knife fish when it grows larger.

Do you know what type of pleco you have too? Some plec's can grow very large, there are hundreds of types of pleco's which vary a lot in their care and habitat needs, so its important to know what exact type of pleco you have .


Unfortunately cycling with fish does take a long time. It may take up to as long as 3months+ before the water quality is properly stable and the filter is established. Because you have some very water quality sensitive fish in your tank, i would advise doing a 15-30% water change whenever there is a nitrite or ammonia reading in the tank.
When the water quality has finally become more stable and you aren't getting ammonia or nitrite problems anymore, just keep to doing once weekly 30-60% water changes . You should clean the substrate in the tank once a week and clean out the filter in old tank water whenever the filter becomes so clogged up the current is weakened.

hi Tokis. thanks for taking the time to write all this information

Well need to update fish list as have rehomed alot.

Only have

2 Blue Gourami's
1 Black Ghost Knife
2, Clown Loaches
1 Red tailed shark
1 King Tiger Plec.
10 Bueno's Aires Tetra

Black Ghost goes for shark if he gets to close, shark is fine with all fish. and Black Ghost does'nt bother any other fish at all.

I will def be upgrading tanks soon.

yea it seemed strange as i did have nitrites and no ammonia and now its back to ammonia and no nitrites

thanks again

Zoe

 

[Chrispixx]

Do you have a place (or places) for the Black Ghost to hide. They like to hide and Lee's makes a cool product that allows them to hide while still allowing you to see them. Its called a Ghost House

 

[Musho3210]

lol that thing says its great for baby whales lol

 

[rdd1952]

lol that thing says its great for baby whales lol

That must be a very small baby whale. And I've never seen a freshwater whale.

 

[Chrispixx]

So the desription of the product is off a bit. Whoever wrote it maybe they were trying to be funny. It would be good for a ghost knife though at least untill they out grow it. This way they "Think" their hidden and the owner can see them.