Opinions Please

markandhisfish · Jan 1, 2009

yesterday i had what i can only describe as a "blip" in my tank had just done my weekly gravel vac / water change on monday then yesterday i noticed my kribs and firemouths were very pale sou out came the test kit ( api liquid drop kit ) and ammonia was ( in ppm ) at 1 and nitrite was at 0.5 so i did 50% water change re-tested stats were as they should be ie both at 0 food was withheld . tested this morning ammonia was 0 nitrite was between 0 and 0.25 couldnt water change as no dechlor left and lfs shut food again withheld . tested again just now ammonmia and nitrite both at 0 all fish lively and colourfull. ive got a new L81 whiich went in on tuesday and with these being sensitive fish anyway im in the line of thinking that this would of been bad enough on its own so i really do want to try to get it feeding asap. i have since found some dechlor i didnt realise i had so if need be i have enough for around a 30% change.

bearing in mind what it says above im caught in a dilemma of feed or not feed. what do you rekon i should do for the best?

minxfishy · Jan 1, 2009

Your stats are back to normal, if it was me, I would feed, try to get the food to the nugget as best you can.

markandhisfish · Jan 1, 2009

cheers minxy thats what i was thinking just wanted a 2nd opinion .

markandhisfish · Jan 2, 2009

well god knows what that was all about fed as normal yesterday tested this morning stats still holding normal again.

andywg · Jan 2, 2009

Given that the majority of nitrogenous waste is passed out of the fish's body at the gills as a result of osmoregulation (which will continue to happen whether you feed or not) rather than the end of the digestive tract I would never worry about stopping feeding just because there might have been a small spike in the levels.

markandhisfish · Jan 2, 2009

what type of thing can cause these spikes? the thing that really baffled me was that when i tested water from tank ammonia and nitrite were both present but durin the water change once the spraybar was above the waterline i took 2 test tubes direct from spraybar ie the water returning to the tank and those tests were ammonia 0 and nitrite around 0.25? any ideas. at 1st i thought maybe some of the n bacs had been lost during the waterchange i did monday but i ALLWAYS dechlorinate the water before its added to the tank.

andywg · Jan 2, 2009

It is more likely to be a false test. The tests we can afford are far from a decent level and will fail positive (meaning they will read what isn't there rather than ignore that which is).

Too many people place too much emphasis on the results of cheap tests.