Question About My Tank

[WANTTOBEARACER]

My tank levels are
ph 8.0
ammonia 0.0- 0.25
nitrite 5.0
nitrate 10 - 20

I have been doing water changes for about 3 weeks now and got the ammonia to settle down now the nitrite and nitrate are going crazy just wondering if i should put my fish in a different tank and do a 90% water change, My tap water is perfect levels and i have lost 2 fish today out of no where. What should i do?

 

[fatheadminnow]

Just keep going on with what you are doing.

Try to keep the Ammonia and NitrIte level down at or below .25 ppm.

Within a couple of weeks, you should see your NitrIte level start to drop.

Also, don't worry about your nitrAte level unless it gets up near 50+ ppm.

-FHM

 

[arobinson1984]

Yes keep doing water changes, you'll prob have to do 2-3 a day with an hour inbetween each one until your nitrIte levels are below 0.25ppm because at the min they are WAY too high at 5ppm.

Do a 50% water change, wait an hour, test, if need be do another 50% and so on again.

You will be better doing 3 x 50% changes than 1 x 90%, less stressful for the fish.

Andy

 

[WANTTOBEARACER]

Thank you for your help, Is there a way to post pics on here?

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yeah,

Make a PhotoBucket account.

Then upload all your photos you want to photobucket, and then from there you can put them on this forum here.

-FHM

 

[Bobtastic]

It might be an idea to check you water stats from the tap, just to check if it has any nitrites/nitrates in it.

If you're doing a fish-in cycle you really need to keep the Ammonia and Nitrites as low as you can to prevent gill and nerve damage to the fish. That might me that you have to do multiple daily water changes. I think I had to do daily 30-40% water changes for the first couple of weeks of my fish-in cycle.