Nitrate & Amonia Probs

[FlyingFish]

Hi All,

Had my tank for 4 weeks and my fish for a 2 weeks and a bit. Did a water change last weekend, and just did a filter check (Nitrates etc) and for the first time the resaults are quite worrying. It showed up quite purple, around .5 and i'm wondering if this is a blip cos I've just fed them about an hour ago, or if it's serious and if so how should I remedy it quickly? I have no conditioner left, and cant get any till tomorrow. The fish are black widow tetras and I know there quite hardy, but are they going to be ok?

Please help, and kinda quickly!!

 

[FlyingFish]

Anyone?

I've searched through the forums and its not to specific.

The fish seem fine, will they be ok till tomorow when i do another water change?

 

[dwarfgourami]

Which reading is it that shows up at 0.5 ppm? If ammonia and nitrites, then I think you want to get some declorinator tomorrow and do a partial water change. Nitrates are safe for most fish up to at least 40 ppm.

 

[WILDER]

That a good nitrate reading, if you mean nitrite that bad, but you could still by cycling, can we take a look at your others stats in ammonia,nitrite.

 

[FlyingFish]

Sorry was just doing a water change.

It was the reading i got from doing "Filter Check". I think it reads Nitrates.

Did a 10% water change as i found just about enough conditioner to use it and also added some filter start. Was going to wait till tomorrow and do another test. I think it was probably down to over feeding whist cycling.


- Any advice?

 

[WILDER]

What's your tap nitrate, there is nothing wrong with the nitrate reading its very good, more interested in the ammonia and nitrite reading as they can kill fish.

 

[FlyingFish]

What's your tap nitrate, there is nothing wrong with the nitrate reading its very good, more interested in the ammonia and nitrite reading as they can kill fish.

Sorry thats what i meant: the "Filter Check" reads nitrites and the reading was .5

 

[businesslamb]

A nitrite reading of 0.5 (I assume parts per million or milligrams per litre) is way to high (it should be zero) and if it is correct your fish are in trouble. What's their behaviour like? If they are gasping at the surface then they are suffring from nitrite poisoning (a bit like carbon monoxide poisoning in humans) if they aren't now then they most likely will unless you reduce the nitrite level (you will need to test for ammonia too as this is may be high) You need to reduce the levels urgently and there are a number of ways to do this.
1. water changes (30 % or more daily) unfortunately this won't remove all the nitrite.
2. There are resins available that will absorb nitrite (and ammonia and nitrate too) I have used Nitra-zorb and it seems to work. follow the instructions and pop it in your filter.
3. Seachem prime can be used at high doses ( again follow the instructions) to "detoxify" the nitrite (it also detoxifies ammonia and is a dechlorinator)

I used a combination of 1,2 and 3 when I had a problem recently and within 24 hours thefish were back to normal behaviour and in 4 days the nitrite was back to zero.

If your fish do come through keep a close eye out for diseases afterwards as after suffering major stress they are more susceptible to disease especially to bacterial infections like fin rot

hope this helps

businesslamb

 

[FlyingFish]

the fish seem ok. They're swimming round, not going to the top at all. They just look hungry!

Didn't feed them last night and did a 10% water change as I only had a small amount of conditioner.

So should I keep doing water changes?

 

[businesslamb]

If the fish are acting normally that's good but keep checking the ammonia and nitrite readings on a daily basis to see if they are going up or coming down and keep doing the water changes if they remain above zero.