Help - It's All Going Horribly Wrong

[neesymac]

Help Please!!!!!

Right on Saturday i changed my tank from sand to gravel and all went well. I did a 1/3 water change at the same time.

However...........I got some duff advice from a Local fish shop (not my normal one i have to say) and they told me only to do water changes every 4 weeks.

It has since transpired that my ammonia & Nitrate levels have spiked. I have been advised to do small water changes every day and maybe not feed the fish for a few days but i go on holiday on Saturday and don't want to come home to dead fish. Can anyone please give me some advice?

Water levels as of last night are
Ammonia 0.50 PH 7.6 (normal for my tank) Nitrite 0 Nitrate 40.0

Tank is 125 litre tank and it is stocked with 3 Bleeding heart tetra, 6 blue tetra, 2 guppies, 1 platy & 1 neon tetra.

Also what would you call a small water change for my tank and how soon do you tank new readings after a water change?

Sorry for the long post i just wanted to give you as much info as possible

 

[neesymac]

I have my latest stats from tonight and they are as follows
PH 7.6
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrate 20.

Is it ok to carry on with my daily water changes and not feed them again for another day and then start to feed when the nitrate & ammonia have gone back to normal??

 

[Bullrock74]

In my experience, ammonia at 0.25 ppm is not high enough to cause most fish problems. It does depend on the fish, though. Some are quite delicate, but most are much tougher than you might think.

 

[Boids-n-more]

not sure about your fish but my cichlids wouldn't blink at those lvls . if you are worried do some 25% to 50% water changes now and again before you go. How long will you be gone for.

 

[neesymac]

I go on holiday for 2 weeks so i will do a big water change before i go and a smaller one tonight.

I must admit the amonnia level is coming down

Thanks for all the advice

 

[d3tained]

I had the same problem.Did waterchanges 25 % for 4 days and now my levels back to normal.This was caused by removing gravel that contains allot of bacteria.You will find your tank did a mini cycle again.

 

[neesymac]

I had the same problem.Did waterchanges 25 % for 4 days and now my levels back to normal.This was caused by removing gravel that contains allot of bacteria.You will find your tank did a mini cycle again.

Thanks d3tained

Now i know why my levels were fine before doing the change from gravel to sand and then they spiked.

I will carry on with the water changes today and tomorrow and i will ask my friend to do a water change while i am away

 

[Tsi_User]

I had the same problem.Did waterchanges 25 % for 4 days and now my levels back to normal.This was caused by removing gravel that contains allot of bacteria.You will find your tank did a mini cycle again.

Agreed, when I re-did our 6 gallon with our 3 neon tetras, 3 glo-lites and ADF the amonia went up to .25 for two days and then settled back down to a normal level

 

[neesymac]

Thanks for all the advice - my levels are dropping now so i hope everything should be ok

 

[d3tained]

Hi, No problem.

My Mini cycle completed fully last night after about 1 and a half week.Yours should do the same.

Just keep a close eye on it then it will be fine.