Fancy Goldfish Nitrite

[linux442]

Hi all,


as explained in my previous posts, I have three goldfish in a 20l tank which i know is very small. two of them fry( 3-4 cm) an the bubble eye one is around couple of 8 cm.


i have taken an extreme care of them by checking the amonia, nitrite every day and do water change every 2 days and gravel cleaning every day while i sort a bigger tank which should be by mid may, as per people suggestion i am getting a 190 liter tank and want to add a lion head to the addition so 4 in total in a 190l tank as their permanent home

now, my question is, i am checking ammonia using the api kit and it is always almost 0-0.5ish(always zero i think but due to my color blindness and the difficulty to read from the chart then i say 0-0.5) but the nitrite no matters what i do is always 0.25 which is purplish color.

I have done a water change, have 5 live plants in there but still stays at that level. any suggestion why is this?


i have bought a ph and nitrate kit so i can monitor those two as well, any suggestion on what else i should have ?

i have the interpet mini filter in there and have replaced it with the carbon filter that came with the aquarium .


overall if there are any suggestion on what i have discussed above, please do so and it will be appreciated.

especially in regard to the nitrite value


thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

There's two possibilities; either the bacteria that eat nitrite haven't turned up in your filter yet, or your filter is too small to house the requisite number of both ammonia eating and nitrite eating bacteria.

The only thing you can do is more water changes; with goldfish in a tank that small, I'd be doing 80 or 90% (leaving just enough water for the fish to swim upright) every day.

Carbon won't do you any good; it does not adsorb ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. You'd be better off with another sponge in there instead of the carbon.

Goldfish really aren't fussy with regards to pH; anything between 6 and 8 is fine. Nitrates you want to aim to keep them at less than 20ppm more than what comes out of your tap (so, if your tap water comes out at 40ppm, you want to keep it under 60ppm in the tank).

 

[linux442]

well, i have the below filter

http/www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00169TISE/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

it has two dual mechanical foam which i guess hosts the bateria and one chemical foam, i can replace the chemical foam with another mechanical one so I would have three foams to suck dirt i, in addition to hosting bactiria.

how often do you need to wash these foams? i know it has to be done in the same water that was drained from the aquarium as fresh water can kill the bactrias due to its chlorine and ..

 

[fluttermoth]

I wouldn't replace the foam. It probably won't be working as a 'chemically' any more, but might well be holding some beneficial bacteria by now.

You need to wash the sponges, as you rightly say only ever in old tank water, when they start to clog. Give them a gentle swish and squeeze to get as much of the loose 'mulm' off as you can, without being too thorough about it; you don't want to dislodge too many of the good bacteria (although they do 'hang on' to the sponges quite strongly).

 

[OldMan47]

Do not replace the foam in your filter. It is presently the only biological filter that you have left since you have replaced the original filter in your interpet with new carbon.

Plants: Unless you have plants as dense as these ones, the plants will not be doing you very much good, but it will certainly do no harm.
This is what I call heavily planted.

In the long run, that 190 litre tank will certainly be big enough to house your 4 goldfish. At present you need to deal more directly with present conditions. Keep as much established filter media as you can and do water changes as needed to prevent extreme chemical poison excursions.

 

[linux442]

Thank guys,

i appreciate the comments

one question, can chemical foam host bacteria? generally would you recommend a normal sponge which hosts bacteria or chemical ones ?

by replacing i meant to leave the two active one in there and just replace the chemical foam with another proper mechanical foam but if chemical also hosts bacteria then fine

do you know the name of the bacterias that eat ammonia and the ones that east nitrite and can they coexist on the same foam ?

thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

Chemical sponges can certainly hold bacteria. Most people doubt there effectiveness as chemical media anyway; those are usually used up very quickly, and the sponge will work as a normal sponge.

The ammonia eating bacteria are usually thought to be Nitrosomonas and the nitrite eating ones Nitrobacter, but there could be other bacteria involved; and possibly even Thaumarchaea, which aren't even bacteria at all!

They all exist on the same sponges; that's how people can take a part (normally around a third, so as not to disrupt the nitrogen cycle in the 'donor' tank) of their media and use it to 'seed' the filter in a new tank.

 

[linux442]

so does this mean, a chemical foam should not be replaced .
for instance i have a u4 and the manufacture recommends that is is changed every 2 weeks or so and the foam every 6 month and half of the bio every 6 month

to be honest i don't see a reason why a sponge and the bio stuff should be changed. in regard to the chemical foam i think because in 2 weeks it releases all of its chemical carbon stuff or absorbs enough ammonia that it can not do any more thus need replacing, correct?

 

[fluttermoth]

No, don't replace any of it, except the carbon bit, which I would take out and replace with another sponge if I were you.

Manufacturers always say that, so they can get more money off you

 

[linux442]

would the carbon not hold bactria ?

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, it would.

The trouble with carbon is that it can absorb useful things, like medications, if you ever have to use them, so you'd have to take it out for that. If you were using it as biological media, you'd be losing a possibly significant amount of bacteria from your system, just at the time when your fish would need it most.

It's also possible that carbon can strip useful trace elements and minerals from the water; running carbon filtration has been implicated as a potential, partial cause of 'hole in the head' disease in cichlids, for example.

It's really best kept in the cupboard for specific applications; like removing traces of medication after the course has finished.

 

[OldMan47]

We have lots of experience here that tells us that both the ammonia and nitrite processing bacteria, or maybe it is really archaea for ammonia, can indeed exist on the same surface (there is some scientific debate about it being bacteria or archaea for ammonia processing). In fact we find that removing almost any media with a decent surface area is a bad idea when you are battling ammonia or nitrites. I am sorry to need to tell you that 5 live plants falls into the range of near zero plants in my mind. Have you looked at that picture that I posted? I have well over 20 plants in just the front row in that tank. That planting level is what it really takes to make a big difference to ammonia and nitrite concentrations in tank water. The chemical sponge that you have is already a surface being used by the right bacteria. Leave it in place to help you out.