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Ammonia of .5 is pretty high, how much water did you then change?

Did you test for NitrItes? And how high are your NitrAtes?
 
Ammonia of .5 is pretty high, how much water did you then change?

Did you test for NitrItes? And how high are your NitrAtes?


About a 40% change a few days in a row and its now at 0 and has been fow a while.. Dont have a kit yet waiting for one to arrive but my lfs tested
my water 4 times now and said everything is perfect
 
0 ammonia is good! You may not see any nitrItes in your tank now! This stage may already have passed, which would mean that your tank would now be cycled....IF you have readings of nitrAtes!

As ongoing maintenance in a cycled tank most people do weekly water changes of 50%. That keeps the nitrAtes in check. It is also good practice to rinse your filter media once in a while in used tank-water (never use water directly from your tap, if there is any chlorine or chloramine in your water it will kill all your beneficial bacteria).

Also, have you done any weekly water changes since bringing your ammonia down? And how long has your ammonia been at 0?

When your LFS says everything is perfect, insist on finding out the exact numbers. Perfect means different things to different people, but if you have the numbers you can decide for yourself. These numbers are especially important here on this on Forum, for people to be able to help!

I've just seen the question you had regarding separating the clown loach into another tank and treating him there, so you can do the heat-salt method on the main tank. This idea sounds good to me, but I would recommend to wait and see what the more experienced fish keepers on this forum can tell you about that! :)
 
lfs are notorious for saying that water is "perfect" the best thing is to get the exact numbers. Are you purchasing a liquid test kit? This is important because test strips tend to be faulty. Also did the lfs test with test strips?
 
My lfs Tested with an electric probe thing and then some strips.. I am waiting for a master test kit from ebay it was one i had seen recomended on here..
my amonia has been at 0 for maybe 5 days now and i have been doing weekly water changes plus extra if i think i need to.
 
ok just got my test kit in the mail and my nitrite and nitrate are extremly high that could be my problem Thanks everyone for your help and advice
:good:
 
That means you have the bacteria that turn ammonia into nitrite, but you don't have many of the bacteria that turn nitrite into nitrate yet.

Lots of water changes needed to keep the nitrite as near to zero as you can get :good:
 
Ok so we had the tank set up for just over a week before adding fish. we have a ph test kit and amonia test kit waiting on the nitrite and nitrate kit. have only added a half tea spoon of salt two days ago and since then i have done 2 small water changes as my LFS told me to do..

1/2 teaspoon of salt in a five foot tank is not going to harm any of the fish. In fact, it's a good idea since they are being exposed to high nitrItes. The chloride ions outcompete the nitrItes for getting thru the gills helping to protect against something called brown blood disease. It only takes a small amount of salt to provide the benefit. Do daily water changes to keep the nitrItes as low as possible while your tank recovers from the nitrIte spike.
 
OK so i have done what everyone has told me last no=ight i did a water change an 80% ..
Turned the light off did a water temp rise to 31oC
The spots has gotten much worse ans spread over more of my tetra :(
Im, really worried and dont no what to do now
 
Yes, the heat is speeding up the cycle, that's what you want. It is important that you gravel vac very, very thoroughly.

The way the cycle works is that the parasite attaches to the fish (white spots) it matures and falls off into the gravel (cyst, which you can gravel vac) the ones you miss will mature into free swimmers (they swim around looking for a host, your fish, any fish staying more at the bottom of the tank is more at risk) those free swimmers get killed either by meds, the salt (salt pulls the liquid out of them and they die) or by you doing lots of water changes! Some meds kill ich also during the other phases of its cycle!

You are doing the right thing! Asides from trying meds, it's now: continue with treatment and wait and see! I hope you will soon see better results! :look:
 
Yes, the heat is speeding up the cycle, that's what you want. It is important that you gravel vac very, very thoroughly.

The way the cycle works is that the parasite attaches to the fish (white spots) it matures and falls off into the gravel (cyst, which you can gravel vac) the ones you miss will mature into free swimmers (they swim around looking for a host, your fish, any fish staying more at the bottom of the tank is more at risk) those free swimmers get killed either by meds, the salt (salt pulls the liquid out of them and they die) or by you doing lots of water changes! Some meds kill ich also during the other phases of its cycle!

You are doing the right thing! Asides from trying meds, it's now: continue with treatment and wait and see! I hope you will soon see better results! :look:


OK thanks heaps yes have been very thoroughly cleaning the rocks And boiled the ornaments and washesd the plants too.. Cant thank EVERYONE enough
for all your help much appreciated.
 

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