Just Tested My Water And.....

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keeton

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my Ph is between 7.0 and 7.2
my ammonia is at 0
nitrite is between 1.0 and 2.0 (cant tell difference on the card)
nitrate is at 10

are they alright i thought nitrite was suppose to be between 0 and 1, but my fish are fine and happy.

cheers
 
I'd recommend you do a 50-60% water change as soon as possible.

Although your fish seem fine, the high nitrites will be poisoning them and once it does become obvious, it will prob be too late.

Anything above 0.25ppm for ammonia or nitrIte is poisonous for fish.

Andy
 
just done a 50% water change and added tap water conditioner and cycle. how long should i leave it before i retest?
 
3 or 4 hours, the longer you leave it the quicker your fish suffocate, the nitrite behaves like CO in the fishes blood stream, stopping the haemoglobin taking on oxygen.
 
re-test straight away to make sure you have got the levels down enough then test again in a few hours to make sure its not creeping back up
 
done a retest:
PH 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite between 0.50 and 1
nitrate dropped to between 5 and 10

will wait a couple of hours then do a 40% water change
cheers
 
did the 40% water change and there still all the same. do you think if i move the gravel ALOT and disturb it all then do i big water change (50/60%) that will help?

cheers
 
Yes, you are being too "wimpy." Gravel-clean-water-change to the tune of 60-70% but just be sure to use conditioner and roughly temp match with your hand. You can do it again as soon as an hour later. Its not unusual for it to take a series of large ones to clear nitrite out.

~~waterdrop~~
 
Anything above 0.25ppm for ammonia or nitrIte is poisonous for fish.

No -- the rule isn't that simple. It is very highly pH and temperature dependent.

See [URL="http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=154313"]http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=154313[/URL]

Well yes technically it isn't that simple, but about 99% of people who keep tropical fish aren't as scientifically orientated as you and as a general rule of thumb / guideline, 0.25ppm is the figure you wanting to aim below.

Andy
 
Anything above 0.25ppm for ammonia or nitrIte is poisonous for fish.

No -- the rule isn't that simple. It is very highly pH and temperature dependent.

See <a href="http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=154313" target="_blank">http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=154313</a>

Well yes technically it isn't that simple, but about 99% of people who keep tropical fish aren't as scientifically orientated as you and as a general rule of thumb / guideline, 0.25ppm is the figure you wanting to aim below.

Andy

Well, I don't see a point is sugar coating it. In the example calculation in that thread, there was a tank that had 2.0 ppm of ammonia in it and it wasn't immediately deadly. So, if someone starts researching it a little deeper and finds out you were wrong, you lose any credibility you may have had with that person. They aren't going to trust many more things you post.

But, if you post the best knowledge, the most accurate information, then you gain credibility. And, the simple truth is that nature isn't a simple as a you posted. You cannot write a single number and call it the "poisonous" level. Because it is very temperature and pH dependent. It doesn't matter is it is "more scientific" or not -- the best information should be presented when available, whether it is complex or not. Most things in nature aren't exceptionally simple and straightforward, there is going to be a little complexity to it. I believe most people can understand complexity if it is explained to them -- that's why I wrote that thread in the first place. To explain. And, if someone ever has any questions about it, they are free to post in that thread or PM me. But, I'll never understand the point of ignoring complexity just to make something more simple when the simplification gives out very wrong information most of the time -- like this simplification to just 0.25 ppm does.

A bigger point is that there is solid scientific ground for telling people that any amount of ammonia is dangerous to a fish's health. Again, in that thread, I cited an article that demonstrated that exposure to any levels of ammonia (even small ones) damage the immune system of the fish permanently. That fish exposed to ammonia when they are younger are significantly more susceptible to disease the remainder of their life. That is reason enough to work on getting the ammonia level down to zero or as close to zero as possible. Not a magic number of "0.25 ppm", but the fact that your fish won't be able to live the long and healthy life they should.
 
thanks for the advice guys :)
i've just done a 50% water change after stirring up all the gravel. i refilled, added cycle and tap water conditioner but still have
Ph 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 10
my temp is 26 constantly.
there was some stuff flying around the tank that i couldn't get, could that be why its off? will wait an hour and do another test, if its still high i will take all rocks and pebals out and try to get more out and do another 50/60% water change

cheers
 
Ok I may have worded it slightly wrong bignose, maybe I should have put levels above 0.25ppm COULD be poisonous. This level is used by many as a general rule because it tends the be the first level after 0 that most test kits recognise. I use the API master kit and the lowest level is 0, the next level up is 0.25ppm hence it is used as a geveral guideline in order to try keep levels below that amount to be on the safe side. Obviously a zero reading is what should be aimed at.

Andy
 
like to just mention the poisening is not as bad as some make out, my dwarf puffer, a relatively weak species has been under nitrite conditions of 0.25-1.0 for the last 15 days
 

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