Please Help

[hopkigg]

Please can anyone help me, i have a 3ft tank with a bgkf, 2 kribensis and a cory in. I know the bgkf will need to be moved soon, he was only in there as he was being attacked in my other tank. I am trying to get a 6ft tank. But anyway we have been doing 25% water changes every 2 to 3 days and the levels are still looking bad for this tank. Amonia is 1.0, nitrite 0.50 and nitrates were 80. One of the kribensis is starting to look really pale and has lost nearly all his colour.

We have the same problem with a 4ft tank. The fish in there are 3 juvenile bala sharks, 1 rainbow fish, 1 african knife fish, 1 polypterus, 2 common plecs, 2 corys, 1 angel fish, 1 silver dollar and 1 gold gourami

I know there are compatability problems, again will be sorting this out once i get the new tank, but anyway the levels are also high in this one. We are also doing 2-3 daily water changes and have put fluval lab series nitrate remover in the filter to hopefully reduce nitrates as they were 160, they are now between 40 and 80. Amonia is 0.25 and nitrite 0.25. We have an external fluval 403 in the 4ft tank and an internal for the 3ft, there is a combination of real plants and fake in both tanks.

My husband stupidly washed the filter out yesterday and washed the sponge out with tap water which ive heard is a big no no, could this be the problem with the 4ft tank.

Anyway sorry for rabbiting on, is there anything i can do to get these levels down as really dont want to lose any more fish.

 

[sic0198]

When the media was washed it removed the beneficial bacteria.

 

[rdd1952]

Washing the filters in tap water isn't good but it sounds as if you had the problem before that since you were already doing water changes. How long has the tanks been set up, what sizes are they and what fish are in them?

 

[sic0198]

Were they cycled prior?

 

[hopkigg]

Washing the filters in tap water isn't good but it sounds as if you had the problem before that since you were already doing water changes. How long has the tanks been set up, what sizes are they and what fish are in them?

The 4ft tank has been set up for years but the 3 ft has only been set up for a few weeks. It was our old tank but then we bought the 4ft. However when we noticed that the bgkf and kribensis were looking poorly, we quickly set it up again.

I listed all the fish in the first post, hope this is ok. We took the water in to the lfs a about a week ago and the levels were fine apart from the nitrates but now all the levels are bad. I am assuming it was because my husband washed the media, but what can i do about it now as i really dont want any fish to die

 

[hopkigg]

Oh and i guess they were cycled, we inherited them about 2 years ago from someone who didnt want them anymore

 

[drobbyb]

This places you in the middle of a fish-in cycle. Don't panic, you can get through this! If you are going to get through this with as little losses possible, you need to keep both nitrite and nitrate under .25 ppm. If you don't already have one, you are going to need a liquid based test kit. They aren't too terribly expensive and they last for a while. You should start daily testing and perform waterchanges to keep those levels under .25 ppm.

 

[hopkigg]

This places you in the middle of a fish-in cycle. Don't panic, you can get through this! If you are going to get through this with as little losses possible, you need to keep both nitrite and nitrate under .25 ppm. If you don't already have one, you are going to need a liquid based test kit. They aren't too terribly expensive and they last for a while. You should start daily testing and perform water changes to keep those levels under .25 ppm.

Yeah i have just bought the api freshwater master test kit so will do daily checks and try and keep the levels under .25ppm. Should i feed the fish less until levels are sorted. At the moment, each tank gets 1 small pinch of flakes and half cube of bloodworms daily.

 

[rdd1952]

Until you get rid of the ammonia and nitrite, you need to up the water changes to about 50% and can do 2 or 3 daily until you get the ammonia issue cleared up. As mentioned, for now, you want to try to get ammonia and nitrite below .25 ppm and keep it down with the water changes until the bacteria catch up.