My First Reading Never Cycled And Have Fish!

[loadsaaaTOP]

Hi guys ive just taken my first readings. Filled the tank and put fish in right away...read below...anyway here they are ph 7-7.2 ammonia 1 nitrite 0 and finally nitrate 0. Seems quite good bar the ammonia. Shud i change the water?

 

[rdd1952]

You need to start doing water changes to get the ammonia down below .25 ppm and continue them as needed to keep both ammonia and nitrite there until the cycle is complete. What size tank is it and what fish do you have?

Edited to correct a senior moment.

 

[backtotropical]

You need to start doing water changes to get the pH down below .25 ppm

RDD means ammonia, not pH. A pH of 0.25 would be a disaster.

Silly RDD1952!

To clarify, yes do water changes. Do as many as it takes to keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm.

 

[rdd1952]

Oops!!! My bad. That's just a senior moment.

 

[OldMan47]

A senior moment and 5 years my junior. That scares the heck out of me.
You have not started your cycle yet. The ammonia needs to be reduced to less than .25 ppm. When your cycle starts to take place you will need to watch the nitrite level. It also needs to be kept at less than .25 ppm by doing water changes. Eventually you will start to see nitrates being produced. because they are less hazardous than ammonia or nitrites, you only need to keep them at less than 20 ppm by doing water changes. At this point you will have arrived at an equilibrium situation where you will only need to do small wkly water changes.
In the meantime, don't be surprised if it takes more than one 50% water change every day to keep up as things start to change. Just be sure to treat all new water with dechlorinator and match the temperature of the new water to the water in the tank. If you stay calm and do the water changes as needed, you can get through this otherwise stressful time.

 

[shelaghfishface]

totally agree with oldman, from personel experiance,failure to keep an eye on my nitrite has cost me lots of fish,tho not at all intentinal it was a stupid mistake to make,and i shall hand on heart never add fish to a tank again that im not 110% sure is fully cycled, (fishless of course), its not worth the heart ache, please stay on top of testing and water changes, for your fishes sakes
good luck xx

 

[loadsaaaTOP]

new readings after doing a couple of 50% changes,

ammonia seems to have dropped towards zero, maybe slightly above.

Nitrite is up at 1!! after being fairly low since i put my fish in.

A couple more deaths im afraid. My fighter has left me as has a neon but thre was no sign of it....i think the fighter ate it!!

Ive got 3 neons, 4 guppies, 2 angel, 3 mollies, 2 algae munchers! 65 litre tank

Should i just keep doing water changes?

 

[corey01]

your tank is overstocked! im afraid you cant keep the angel's in there as they will grow far to big..your mixture of fish also require diferent P.H.

 

[OldMan47]

Keep up the water changes. You need to get the nitrites under 0.25 ppm.