Iam New, Hullo. And I Have A Few Questions

[doktor doris]

Hiya chaps,
I just joined this forum so hullo everybody.

I have accidentaly got into keeping tropical fish again.

I'd better explain. I bought an Axolotyl a few months ago, and every now and again I feed him a guppy or 2.
My mother has loads of fish, so she gave me a few guppies to put in the tank with Mudkip(my axie), he ate one or two but then the tank was full of guppy fry.
I enjoyed the guppies so much I moved mudkip to another tank, and then bought some neon tetras, glolight tetras, zebra danios and a pygmy cory.

All has been fine, until today.

2 neons were dead and stuck to my filter, and the cory was laying on his side on the bottom.

I moved the cory into a small tank that I keep fry in, and took a sample of my water to a shop that tests it for free.

The ammonia and pH were fine but the nitrates and nitrites were a little high.
So I bought some bacteria in a bottle and squeezed my mums filter into bag which I poured into my tank.

Is there anything else I can do?
Do you think the high levels of nitrates and nitrites killed the neons and made the cory ill?

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your help.

Cheerio

 

[OldMan47]

Once the filter squeezings from your mother's filter has been taken up by your filter, try a 50% water change in the tank. The bactreria in a bottle will have been useless but the filter squeezings will have given your filter a leg up in dealing with the ammonia and nitrites coming from your fish. The large water change will help the fish that you still have survive the night but you may need another large change again tomorrow too. Keep a close eye on your fish and they will tell you by their actions when they are in trouble. When they are, do a 50% water change and you should see them perk right up. Ideally you need to get a liquid reagent based test kit, the kind with the little test tubes, and keep your nitrites and ammonia at less than 0.25 ppm, but close observation of the fish can also be your guide to water changes if you can't afford the test kit.

 

[doktor doris]

Once the filter squeezings from your mother's filter has been taken up by your filter, try a 50% water change in the tank. The bactreria in a bottle will have been useless but the filter squeezings will have given your filter a leg up in dealing with the ammonia and nitrites coming from your fish. The large water change will help the fish that you still have survive the night but you may need another large change again tomorrow too. Keep a close eye on your fish and they will tell you by their actions when they are in trouble. When they are, do a 50% water change and you should see them perk right up. Ideally you need to get a liquid reagent based test kit, the kind with the little test tubes, and keep your nitrites and ammonia at less than 0.25 ppm, but close observation of the fish can also be your guide to water changes if you can't afford the test kit.

Thats great.

Thanks ever so much for your advice.

Inconvienience means nothing to me if it will help my fish, so the big changes will be done.

thanks again mate

Oh another thing chief, are the tetra brand dipping test kits that check for 6 things, I believe there are enough for 25 tests in the box, rubbish?
They are jolly cheap. Is that why you suggest that liquid test kits are better?

 

[OldMan47]

The liquid type test kits end up being cheaper in the long run but are more expensive to buy at first. The paper strips are just barely better than nothing at all and can give dodgy results. The liquid type kit will give you a value that you can use but the up-front expense with them can be a bit steep.