Hi Help Wanted **updated 30.01.09**

[Fisses]

not yet, getting a tester kit tonight, and only back on net tuesday(birthday monday so off work) so untill i get the tester kit its 50% water changes daily till i can get some results...

when i get the tester kit im going to take a water sample to my fish store(they said i can take one every day if i really want at no extra charge) so i'll see what they say as well

 

[Fisses]

Right we have some results....

Evening 23.01.09 Ammonia 0.5mg/l Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate 5ppm
50% Water Change
Evening 23.01.09 Ammonia 0-0.25mg/l Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate 5ppm
Morning 24.01.09 Ammonia 0.25mg/l Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate 0-5ppm
25% Water Change
Evening 24.01.09 Amonia 0-0.25mg/l Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate 5-10ppm
Morning 25.01.09 Ammonia 0.25-0.5mg/l Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate 5-10 ppm
Evening 25.01.09 Ammonia 0.25mg/l Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate 10ppm
20% Water Change
Morning 26.01.09 Ammonia 0.25-0.5mg/l Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate 5-10ppm
50% Water Change
Morning 26.01.09 Ammonia 0mg/l Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate 5ppm


can anyone make any sense of my results?

p.s heres some pictures(the pics with the tree thing to the right are how it looked till i chnaged it around to have the pics with the cave to the left)

when it waas very first set up:

after the bubbles have settled:

few changes:

and after a few more changes and new filter:

and a few pics of the fish:

 

[Miss Wiggle]

good that your levels are staying nice and low, slightly concerned that there's no nitrite but you sometimes don't see it with a mini cycle or we could have missed it when you had no test kit.

always positive that your getting towards the end when you get a 0,0 reading like your last one, just see if it holds for a few days before we assume your done.

 

[Fisses]

its worrying me thats thers no nitrite at all!

p.s. the AMMONIA 0 reading was straight away after the water change

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ah my bad, you may get some nitrite in the next few days but often with a mini cycle you don't see any nitrite, just hold tight and keep doing what your doing.

 

[Fisses]

edited...

the 0 ammnoia reading was after a water change, i have never had any nitrite reading but nitrate alwasys seemed to go up a notch : which i presume means the cycle is in process?

im totally confused

 

[Miss Wiggle]

whats happening is your only having a small amount of ammonia being processed into nitrite, because it's just a small amount the NBacs are processing that into nitrate before it registers on your test kits, so don't panic, the nitrate going up is a good sign.

fish-in cycles are always harder to follow than fishless because the results are diluted with all the water changes.

 

[Fisses]

thats what i was thinking, because the nitrate is going up, it must mean the processes before are already taking place.

should i carry on with water changes or risk a little bit of ammonia so that more bacteria can develop?

im stuck what to do

p.s did you think the picture of my fatty catfish ir normal as on an earlier post i mentioned a fat catfish and they said it could be dropsy??

 

[Miss Wiggle]

can't view pics from work so can't comment

no, don't let ammonia build up. in a fish-in cycle your priority is the welfare of the fish not the welfare of the bacteria. basically ammonia is being produced all the time and being used up all the time, all your removing with water changes is the excess ammonia that the bacteria can't yet use.

so don't fret over them having enough food or not, they're getting plenty. all your doing is taking away stuff they haven't eaten.

 

[Fisses]

so just got to keep ontop with water changes until the ammonia and nitrite keep showing a constant 0?

what about the nitrate? what is a normal result?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes just keep going until you get 0,0 constantly then you can go to a normal weekly water change.

aim to keep nitrate no more than 20ppm higher than your tap water nitrate but it's not a big concern, some studies show it can be 400 or even 1000ppm before it damages fish

 

[Fisses]

spot on!!

i didnt realise the nitrate could go so high! least thats something to not worry about

so keep on water changes, untill ammonia and nitrite show up 0 ppm and once theyre at 0 zalue can start doing normal wekly water changes?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes, when they first show 0,0 you don't need to do a water change that day, keep testing every day and you may find that you need a change every couple of days for a week or so then it'll just stay at 0,0, test it every day for the next 2 weeks but just do a water change once a week, after that you can drop to testing once a week

 

[Fisses]

so as the ammonia drops quicker and quicker the less water changes needed?

can anyone else help with my fat catfish thing?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

got it in one.