Help Needed With Water Levels

[IsThatDave]

My water levels today are

Ammonia 0.4MG
Nitrite 1.5MG
P.H 7.5

8 weeks ago i filled my tank up and added 4 pots of bactinettes to the filter and put 5 zebra danios in the tank, then after 4 weeks when my readings were constantly at zero i started gradually adding more fish.

Today the levels seem high even though i only done a 25% water change a few days ago and i used a gravel vac to remove the crap from the tank.

My fish seem fairly happy and are eating ok and playing etc but i am worried about the levels and also whether it is really affecting the fish.

First thing in the morning i will be doing a 25% water change to see if that helps.

Any suggestions regarding this?

 

[scorphonic]

Well my immediate guess is that you introduced too many new fish in a short period of time. What is your idea of gradually adding more fish?

A water change will be good, hopefully if you keep on top of the values and continue your water changes you will be grand.

 

[Christine1014]

hmm... definitely sounds like at least a mini-cycle. Water changes about the only thing that will get you through it. Personally, I'd do bigger changes than 25% with an ammonia level that high... probably 50% in the morning, then check the levels again mid-afternoon and see you're doing. do another change then if you're registering any ammonia or nitrite.

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Salt will temproarily reduce the toxicity of nitrite. If you have NO south american fish, this is an option. Also the lower the ph the less toxic ammonia is. You could slowly lower it to around 6.8 where ammonia will be a lot less toxic. All this you can do while doing water changes and waiting for the mini cycle to be complete.

 

[rdd1952]

Also the lower the ph the less toxic ammonia is. You could slowly lower it to around 6.8 where ammonia will be a lot less toxic. All this you can do while doing water changes and waiting for the mini cycle to be complete.

I would definitely not mess with the pH. Water changes will lower the levels easily enough. Trying to doctor the pH with chemicals will put the pH into a constant wing which is much worse on the fish than water changes. Just do a few 25% WCs to get the ammonia and nitrite under .25 ppm. If the tank was cycled and you doubled the fish load, it should only take about 24 hours for the becteria colony to double itself and take are of the toxins.

 

[IsThatDave]

I've done a 40% water change today and the water levels are still the same, I have not got any aquasafe left so tomorrow i will buy some more and do another 40% water change.

 

[rdd1952]

Have you tested you tap water? If water changes don't lower the levels, then it's quite likely you have ammonia and nitrite in your tap water.

 

[IsThatDave]

Have you tested you tap water? If water changes don't lower the levels, then it's quite likely you have ammonia and nitrite in your tap water.

Hi, No i haven't, i will test it now you mentioned it, didn't think that was possible, what can i do if that was the case?

 

[rdd1952]

If there is ammonia and nitrite in you tap water, there really isn't much you can do. Once your tank is cycled, there will be enough bacteria present to handle some and process it after a water change. The .4 ppm of ammonia could be in the water but I doubt that it would hae that much nitrite in it.

 

[scorphonic]

Isn't it not illegal to have ammonia or nitrites in our tap water?

 

[rdd1952]

I guess it could be in some countries but it definitely happens. And then it could be well water and it could have a lot of stuff in it that a municipal supply wouldn't have.

 

[scorphonic]

Very true!!

Your pretty good with water conditions from what I can gather...so I'd like to ask you a question.

Marine tanks require top class water and my sisters house which is in the middle of nowhere wants to set one up...but the house water is supplied by a well. Would an RO unit be sufficient in getting this water to "top grade?" and what chemicals would I expect to find in the well water.

I know that well water is found to cause Parkinsons disease in some people so there must be something in there that is "nasty".

 

[IsThatDave]

After doing a 40% water change today i have done a 50% water change and my levels are

Ammonia 0.2mg
Nitrite 1.5mg
P.H 7.5

I've managed to get the ammonia done quite a bit but the nitrite is not going down, i will probably do another 40%-50% water change tomorrow and see what happens.