Nightmare Start To New Tank

[FishBlast]

If nitrate is raising slowly, it means both bacteria are working as long as other 2 stay at 0. Maybe something is eating up the nitrate, but it's ok if they stay 0 over a week.

 

[MrsG]

If nitrate is raising slowly, it means both bacteria are working as long as other 2 stay at 0. Maybe something is eating up the nitrate, but it's ok if they stay 0 over a week.

I think you are right, the fact that the other 2 stay at sero but nitrates rise must mean I have a cycle. Will keep popping in a little food and testing and hopefully things should be okay for next 2 weeks. If so then I'll try again.

 

[CezzaXV]

How are you introducing the new fish to the tank? Drip acclimatising them is the best way to do it. Floating in a bag and adding tank water periodically is okay. It would explain it if you've just been adding them straight to the tank as is.

What temperature is your water at? What sort of temperature were they in in the shop?

Since you've got 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite (and assuming these readings are correct), it seems you've got a cycle going, so that wouldn't appear to be the problem here. I'm just shooting in the dark to try and figure out what the problem is.

 

[MrsG]

How are you introducing the new fish to the tank? Drip acclimatising them is the best way to do it. Floating in a bag and adding tank water periodically is okay. It would explain it if you've just been adding them straight to the tank as is.

What temperature is your water at? What sort of temperature were they in in the shop?

Since you've got 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite (and assuming these readings are correct), it seems you've got a cycle going, so that wouldn't appear to be the problem here. I'm just shooting in the dark to try and figure out what the problem is.

Yep I have been floating the bag, adding small amounts of water every 20 mins or so until there is as much if not more tank water than shop water in the bag. With the fish from Pets at Home I then took the fish out of the bag to put into the water and got rid of the bag water. I don't know what temperature they were in the shop but my tank is about 22-24 degrees.

The Danios I had before were in an unheated tank for 4 years. I have been assurred that Danios adapt.

I was using test strips to test initially but for the past couple of weeks I have been using a proper master kit so assume tests are ok.

I can't put any fish in for a couple of weeks anyway due to the white spot so I'll take that opportunity to monitor and make sure I do have a cycle.

Any other suggestions gratefully received.

 

[MrsG]

Little update. I'm feeding the tank with a little food twice a day as suggested and I'm testing. Yesterday ammonia was 0 nitrite was trace and nitrate 10-20 so am doing a water change today and will keep monitoring. Hopefully I can keep that bacteria going and have a good colony by the time the tank is clear of white spot.

 

[OldMan47]

If there are no fish at all in the tank, the ich will be gone in less than a week. The ich parasite only lives for a short time in the substrate then it must find a host to continue its life cycle.
Since this thread is over 4 days old, since you lost our last fish, you could theoretically restock right now with no problems. I think I would approach things more judiciously. You still do not have the "smoking gun" that killed off your tank so try instead doing a huge, over 90%, water change. At that point you should have no remaining contaminants in any quantity in your water. We only measure nitrogen compounds but they are far from the only thing in our tank water. We simply do not measure the rest. The 90% water change is intended to be a reset for what you cannot measure. After that, try out a small group of zebras in your tank. The temperature should be held low, maybe 23 to 24C, since zebras do not do well at high temperatures and see how things go.

 

[MrsG]

If there are no fish at all in the tank, the ich will be gone in less than a week. The ich parasite only lives for a short time in the substrate then it must find a host to continue its life cycle.
Since this thread is over 4 days old, since you lost our last fish, you could theoretically restock right now with no problems. I think I would approach things more judiciously. You still do not have the "smoking gun" that killed off your tank so try instead doing a huge, over 90%, water change. At that point you should have no remaining contaminants in any quantity in your water. We only measure nitrogen compounds but they are far from the only thing in our tank water. We simply do not measure the rest. The 90% water change is intended to be a reset for what you cannot measure. After that, try out a small group of zebras in your tank. The temperature should be held low, maybe 23 to 24C, since zebras do not do well at high temperatures and see how things go.

Thanks for the reply. I've been continuing with adding a little food each day and testing. currently Ammonia is showing small levels (0.25) nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 10-15 and rising slowly. I put the temp up to get the cycle going and get rid of white spot so I think I'll do the big water change you've suggested, keep monitoring and then look at getting some new zebras next week.

Quick question re the filter. I wasn't sure which outlet to use when I first set it up so went for the spray bar. Initially I had it so that the spray bar pointed across the top of the tank at water level but that seemed to create too much flow. Filter is not adjustable. I've now got the filter on the left wall at the back with the spray bar facing the rear wall, out of the water slightly pointing downwards (about 30 degrees). Is this enough to oxygenate the water?

 

[OldMan47]

An ammonia level of 0.25 ppm is not trivial. It is at the limit of what we accept for a tank that has fish in it.