Urgent Help Please

[morgan78]

hi everyone does anyone know how to get nitrate and nitrite down i have a 60 litre tanks which is cycled and contains 2 plecs 3tiger barbs 2 moss barbs 2 apple snails also i have just seen a little white worm wriggling about in the tank and then floating to the bottom and now its under the gravel also their is a kinda ulcers on the bottom lip of one of the moss barbs and has white spots on it ive also been watching the fish and they have been flicking and ruubing and features and the tanks filter and sides any advice would be grateful thank you ph and highrange ph is fine and ammonia is fine thankyou ...................... nitrite 5.0................. nitrate is 40 ..

 

[rdd1952]

If you have nitrite, you tank is definitely NOT cycled. Cycling is the process of building a bacteria colony to process the waste of the fish Ammonia, (waste) is processed into nitrite which in turn is processed into nitrate which you lower with regular water changes. You say the ammonia is fine but what is the actual reading?

The problems you are seeing with the fish (ulcers, white spot) are a result of the bad water conditions. You should do a 50% water change immediately and continue them every hours or so until you get the nitrite back below .25 ppm. Your tank is extremely heavily stocked for a cycling tank, especially with 2 plecos which, if they are common plecs can grow to well over a foot long.

 

[morgan78]

If you have nitrite, you tank is definitely NOT cycled. Cycling is the process of building a bacteria colony to process the waste of the fish Ammonia, (waste) is processed into nitrite which in turn is processed into nitrate which you lower with regular water changes. You say the ammonia is fine but what is the actual reading?

The problems you are seeing with the fish (ulcers, white spot) are a result of the bad water conditions. You should do a 50% water change immediately and continue them every hours or so until you get the nitrite back below .25 ppm. Your tank is extremely heavily stocked for a cycling tank, especially with 2 plecos which, if they are common plecs can grow to well over a foot long.

k thank you for that i will do that staright away

 

[shelaghfishface]

hi morgan i have just today and yesterday had exactly the same problem with my tank, very high nitrite levels, and i lost quite a few fish,i can definatley advise on the water changes,as that was the best advice i was also given,and another one was to get more air into the tank, via airstones,
after this massive disaster i certainley wont be getting new fish into a new tank, without first properly completing a fishless cycle,i have been really upset by what i have realised is my fault due to impatience,and thinking i know a lot more than i actually know.

i hope you get your tank sorted soon
shelagh x

 

[shelaghfishface]

just a second thort, have just read your other threads( 3or4) in this one you say ammonia is fine but in another you say they are very high3-4 i think it was, i would reccomend you put all the results in one thread and not diffrent ones so that people can advise you on overall results,i have always found its the first thing everyone wants to know before they can advise in anything,and faster

but im new so maybe wrong, but still makes sense ( to me it does lol)

good luck
shelagh x

 

[morgan78]

just a second thort, have just read your other threads( 3or4) in this one you say ammonia is fine but in another you say they are very high3-4 i think it was, i would reccomend you put all the results in one thread and not diffrent ones so that people can advise you on overall results,i have always found its the first thing everyone wants to know before they can advise in anything,and faster

but im new so maybe wrong, but still makes sense ( to me it does lol)

good luck
shelagh x

thanks for the information shelagh my ammonia levels are now fine tho they where up cus i had to dead snails in the tank which were rotting away fortuneley i got them out in time tanks again for the info hope to keep in touch lol .