Hello all iam new to keeping tropical fish , I recently bought a 54l tank , I had it running for a week with no fish in it ,I now have 5 harlequin fish and have had for 8days yesterday I changed 20 % of the water and today done water tests ph 7.6 high range is 8.2 ,0 ammonia ,2.0ppm nitrite but off the scale nitrate reading iam worried about this can any one help thanks in advance
New tank
- Thread starter Garymc
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Thanks for replyDo a big 75% water change while you wait for more responses
Retired Viking
Fish Connoisseur
Have you tested your tap water?
That's a good point @Retired Viking. My tap water is 20 Nitrates.
I tested the tank water before I had fish init and the nitrate was 0ppm maybe I should try test again
Just tested tap water reading 20ppm nitrate do you think this is a problem thanks
Keeping nitrates low in the tank when you have nitrates in your tapwater can make it difficult to keep nitrates low enough in your tank, yes, but that isn't your main problem at the moment.
Right now, your tank isn't yet cycled, but it has fish in it. You need to do large daily water changes, and test the water daily. Anytime ammonia or nitrites are anything other than zero, do a 70% water change. You're likely going to need to do water changes daily for a while.
We can deal with higher nitrates later, since nitrates are less toxic to fish, but ammonia and nitrites will kill fish quickly if they're not kept at zero. Like, overnight quickly, so it's very important to keep on top of testing and water changes, not put anything off until the next day.
Don't feed your fish for a couple of days - they'll be fine for a few days without food, and more food in the tank means more fish waste and more ammonia, which your tank isn't able to handle right now. What kind of filter do you have on the tank? Do you have any live plants?
Right now, your tank isn't yet cycled, but it has fish in it. You need to do large daily water changes, and test the water daily. Anytime ammonia or nitrites are anything other than zero, do a 70% water change. You're likely going to need to do water changes daily for a while.
We can deal with higher nitrates later, since nitrates are less toxic to fish, but ammonia and nitrites will kill fish quickly if they're not kept at zero. Like, overnight quickly, so it's very important to keep on top of testing and water changes, not put anything off until the next day.
Don't feed your fish for a couple of days - they'll be fine for a few days without food, and more food in the tank means more fish waste and more ammonia, which your tank isn't able to handle right now. What kind of filter do you have on the tank? Do you have any live plants?
First of all thank you for helping ,I have just changed water cleaned all gravel , I also lost a fish over night , I have a easy crystal filterbox 300 by tetra all water has been treated and I will test again this afternoon thanks again for your help
Also I dont have live plants just plastic
If you can get hold of some fast growing live stem plants like elodea, hornwort or water wisteria, they will help by using up ammonia,without converting it to nitrites or nitrates. Plus, fish really do enjoy having live plants in a tank
You might find it easier to order online then
Ok didn't no you could thanksYou might find it easier to order online then
Hi again I've just tested water seems alot better I wont feed for a couple of days and keep testing thank you again
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