Please Help, I'm Confused!

[excitednewfish]

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could help? I have just tested my tropical aquarium water and the following levels are:

Nitrate 10 and 1, Nitrite > 14, KH, 6od, PH, 7.2.

I asked the local aquarium owner what I should do if the levels were high and he said that the best thing to do is add something that he would sell me to the water.

Reading on here says to change the water, I don't know what to do for the best.

I have 3 Zebra danios, and two golden white clouds, and I male cherry barb as the female died and so did two white clouds.

Please help as I don't want to see anymore fish die.


If I need to change the water how much should I change, I have a 64 litre tank- w60, d32, h37 cm.

Many thanks

 

[excitednewfish]

Sorry I think I wrote the results wrong:

Its No3 10, N02 1, GH > 14, KH 6od and PH, 7.2.

Hopefully thats right?

 

[Harlequins]

Hi there

Do you use test strips or liquid ? ,your nitrite of 1 is too high for your fish,this could lead to your fish being poisoned,you need to do a 50/75% waterchange to lower it.

How new is your tank? what size etc?

Do you have readings for ammonia? your nitrate and ph appears ok

 

[excitednewfish]

Hi there

Do you use test strips or liquid ? ,your nitrite of 1 is too high for your fish,this could lead to your fish being poisoned,you need to do a 50/75% waterchange to lower it.

How new is your tank? what size etc?

Do you have readings for ammonia? your nitrate and ph appears ok

Hi,
I used test strips. So I do need to do a water change? As I am being told different things. Will the levels just sort themselves out if left?Tank is around two weeks old- 64 litres. I don't seem to have ammonia on the strips. Do I need to buy a seperate test?

With the water change, do I just take out half of what is in there, and then treat the fresh tap water with tapsafe and then add to the tank? Also how can I make sure that the newly added water is the correct temperature? Will this harm the fish in any way
Many thanks

 

[K-Holed]

If your tank is only 2 weeks old you'll be in the start of a cycle (unless you fishless cycled beforehand). Adding stuff to your aquarium at this point is something that is not required. You could add some ammolock as an emerency measure, but it isn't needed. Frequent large water changes will help dilute the toxins in the water as your filter beings to manage the waste from your fish. I reccomend that you read the stickies in this forum regarding fish-in cycling.

 

[excitednewfish]

Hi there

Do you use test strips or liquid ? ,your nitrite of 1 is too high for your fish,this could lead to your fish being poisoned,you need to do a 50/75% waterchange to lower it.

How new is your tank? what size etc?

Do you have readings for ammonia? your nitrate and ph appears ok

Hi,
I used test strips. So I do need to do a water change? As I am being told different things. Will the levels just sort themselves out if left?Tank is around two weeks old- 64 litres. I don't seem to have ammonia on the strips. Do I need to buy a seperate test?

With the water change, do I just take out half of what is in there, and then treat the fresh tap water with tapsafe and then add to the tank? Also how can I make sure that the newly added water is the correct temperature? Will this harm the fish in any way
Many thanks

Ok thanks, but like I said how do I get the new tap water at the required temperature level before adding it to the tank, also do I need to add tapsafe and then just add the water to the tank?

 

[excitednewfish]

Hi there

Do you use test strips or liquid ? ,your nitrite of 1 is too high for your fish,this could lead to your fish being poisoned,you need to do a 50/75% waterchange to lower it.

How new is your tank? what size etc?

Do you have readings for ammonia? your nitrate and ph appears ok

Hi,
I used test strips. So I do need to do a water change? As I am being told different things. Will the levels just sort themselves out if left?Tank is around two weeks old- 64 litres. I don't seem to have ammonia on the strips. Do I need to buy a seperate test?

With the water change, do I just take out half of what is in there, and then treat the fresh tap water with tapsafe and then add to the tank? Also how can I make sure that the newly added water is the correct temperature? Will this harm the fish in any way
Many thanks

Ok thanks, but like I said how do I get the new tap water at the required temperature level before adding it to the tank, also do I need to add tapsafe and then just add the water to the tank?

Ok, just to let anyone who is interested know that I have taken out 25% of the water and replaced it with fresh water. How long should I wait before I test the water? Or should I just leave it now and see what happens?

 

[rebrn]

hello. I am relatively new to fish keeping but from what I read you have made the same mistakes I did. You definately want to test your water daily untill your levels balance out, and continue to do 20-25% water changes daily until your levels balance out, they will not balance on out on thier own you need to continue daily water changes. Essentially you want ammonia and nitrite to be 0, nitrate to be less than 40 (you may want to double check with someone more experienced on the nitrate level, less than 40 is just what I read), and your pH to remain stable - roughly the same as your tap water). When you do your daily water exchanges you don't necessarly need to add anything to the tap water (in fact I would reccomend not to I have had fish die with in a few hours after adding water with dechloninators added). Essentially, if you let your water stand for 24 hours before adding it to the tank it will do the same thing as the chemical additives. Letting your water stand for 24 hours is easier, cheaper and in my opinion safer for your fish. Essentially get a container large enough to hold the amount of water you will be replacing fill it and let it sit for 24 hours. I have a 5 gallon tank so I know that 20-25% is roughly a Gallon of water so I have 4 - 1 gallon containers that I always keep full that way I know I will always have some water ready for the fish tank. Additionally may I recommend getting a liquid test kit, they are a little more expensive and a little more difficult to use but the results are much more accurate. The test strips I have found out are often inaccurate and can cause you a lot more trouble then they are worth due to the inaccuracy. I have an API master test kit (test ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH and High range pH) this should be all you need it was $30 from a large chain pet store. However, you can find them cheaper at stores such at discount stores or on EBay. You can also get more expensive kits that have more tests but from everything I was told unless you are keeping live plants you don't really need the more expensive kit. My guess is that your since test strips don't test ammonia levels your ammonia is high and that is why your fish are dying. Since your tank is approximately 2 weeks old you are doing a Fish-in cycle (there is a great article on this forum regarding fish-in cycling). Once you get your tank cycled I was told that you still need to test your water weekly (in this case before a water change) and change 20-25% of the water weekly. Finally, when doing a fish-in cycle you want to use a hardy fish and not to many at first. I am using a zebra danios, just one in my 5 gallon tank. I am also 2 weeks in and so far he is doing fine. So keep in mind your more delicate fish, and possibly your hardy ones, may die using a fish in cycle. If all your fish have already died (and I hope that is not the case) you may want to start fresh with a fishless cycle (both the fish in and fishless cycle articles can be found on the fourm under "new to the hobby" then "Beginners Resource Center). Hope this helps.

 

[fatheadminnow]

hello. I am relatively new to fish keeping but from what I read you have made the same mistakes I did. You definately want to test your water daily untill your levels balance out, and continue to do 20-25% water changes daily until your levels balance out, they will not balance on out on thier own you need to continue daily water changes. Essentially you want ammonia and nitrite to be 0, nitrate to be less than 50 (you may want to double check with someone more experienced on the nitrate level, less than 50 is just what I read), and your pH to remain stable - roughly the same as your tap water). When you do your daily water exchanges you don't necessarly need to add anything to the tap water (in fact I would reccomend not to I have had fish die with in a few hours after adding water with dechloninators added). Essentially, if you let your water stand for 24 hours before adding it to the tank it will do the same thing as the chemical additives. Letting your water stand for 24 hours is easier, cheaper and in my opinion safer for your fish. Essentially get a container large enough to hold the amount of water you will be replacing fill it and let it sit for 24 hours. I have a 5 gallon tank so I know that 20-25% is roughly a Gallon of water so I have 4 - 1 gallon containers that I always keep full that way I know I will always have some water ready for the fish tank. Additionally may I recommend getting a liquid test kit, they are a little more expensive and a little more difficult to use but the results are much more accurate. The test strips I have found out are often inaccurate and can cause you a lot more trouble then they are worth due to the inaccuracy. I have an API master test kit (test ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH and High range pH) this should be all you need it was $30 from PetCo. However, you can find them cheaper at stores such as Walmart or on EBay. You can also get more expensive kits that have more tests but from everything I was told unless you are keeping live plants you don't really need the more expensive kit. My guess is that your since test strips don't test ammonia levels your ammonia is high and that is why your fish are dying. Since your tank is approximately 2 weeks old you are doing a Fish-in cycle (there is a great article on this forum regarding fish-in cycling). Once you get your tank cycled I was told that you still need to test your water weekly (in this case before a water change) and change 20-25% of the water weekly. Finally, when doing a fish-in cycle you want to use a hardy fish and not to many at first. I am using a zebra danios, just one in my 5 gallon tank. I am also 2 weeks in and so far he is doing fine. So keep in mind your more delicate fish, and possibly your hardy ones, may die using a fish in cycle. If all your fish have already died (and I hope that is not the case) you may want to start fresh with a fishless cycle (both the fish in and fishless cycle articles can be found on the fourm under "new to the hobby" then "Beginners Resource Center). Hope this helps.

First of all, you are going to have to water changes to bring your ammonia and/or nitrite level down as close to zero as possible. This means, most likely, doing way larger water changes than 20-25%. More like 50%.

Second, you NEED to add a water conditioner to your water before you add it to your aquarium, unless you know for a fact that your water does not contain any chlorine/chlorimine, but still that is risky. A water conditioner is just that, it makes the water safe for the fish be neutralizing heavy metals/chlorine and what not. If there is any chlorine in your water, then there is not going to be any bacteria growing in your filter, since chlorine is added to your water supply to kill bacteria.

Have a read here:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=224306

-FHM

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum excitednewfish.
Your strip test results suggest that you do a 75% water change, not a tiny 25% change. Make sure that you use a decent dechlorinator, almost any name brand will work, and try to match the new water's temperature to the existing tank water temperature as closely as you can judge it by dipping your hand in the water. If you are not certain, use water that is a little cooler rather than warmer.
In the bigger scheme of things, a test strip is a very poor way to measure your tank's chemistry. You should be using a liquid type test kit to measure at least pH, nitrites and ammonia. Many people here are familiar with the API master freshwater test kit but other liquid type kits will work just as well. For a tank with fish in it, we try to do large enough and frequent enough water changes to always have the ammonia and nitrite below 0.25 ppm.

 

[arobinson1984]

Just to follow on from what rebrn said.

You should always add water conditioner to any fresh water added to the tank.

Leaving water to stand for 24 hours will let the chlorine neutralize but will NOT get rid of chloramine or heavy metals. If one of rebrn's fish died a few hours after a water change, it is much more likely that stress was the cause and not water conditioner.

Andy

 

[excitednewfish]

Just to follow on from what rebrn said.

You should always add water conditioner to any fresh water added to the tank.

Leaving water to stand for 24 hours will let the chlorine neutralize but will NOT get rid of chloramine or heavy metals. If one of rebrn's fish died a few hours after a water change, it is much more likely that stress was the cause and not water conditioner.

Andy

Hi All,

Just like to say a big thank-you to all for the info provided, I lost two more fish almost directly after the water change. However I still have my male cherry barb, 1 Zebra danio and two white cloud minnows. I am hoping that they will survive. Its very confusing as everone seems to offer different advice. I will try and get a test kit that has been reccommended, I am in the UK so not sure if certain brands differ, but I will ask at my local aquatic shop-even though they were the ones who sold me the test strips in the first place.
My local shop also seems keen on selling me wood to go in the tank-is this needed?

I really want to make my fishkeeping sucessful, so I will try as hard as I can to suceed, if not then maybe I will have to take up another hobby!

Would keeping goldfish be easier, or do they still need the same test etc?

Many thanks once again for all your help.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Gold fish might even be harder to keep, just because they are messy fish, which means they produce more waste. So they will be creating more ammonia.

-FHM

 

[l4dderon]

I really want to make my fishkeeping sucessful, so I will try as hard as I can to suceed, if not then maybe I will have to take up another hobby!

Don't give up, I like you have just started keeping tropical fish and have found it hard going (had a couple of Platys pass over to the big fish bowl in the sky) but I have worked hard to find out as much information as I can, plus regular water changes and tank cleaning. It is a very fine balance at the start i think and once you get that balance and routine you can sit back and enjoy your fish after all they are very rewarding, relaxing and fascinating to watch!!

I have already learnt so much and have only been fish keeping for a couple of months!!

Good luck I wish you well, keep us updated with your progress.