Water Settings

[chazer]

Hi,

Can anybody please help. I have a tank with guppies and endlers and I can't remember what the water setting should be i.e ammonia,nitrite and nitrate. Can anybody please advise so I can give it a check.


Thanks

chazer

 

[helterskelter]

simple as low as possible 0 is must with ammonia and nitrite and under 50ppm for nitrates

 

[5teady_2012]

My nitrate is at 30-40ppm in all my tanks and they are fine, as for ammonia and nitrite, helterskelter answered that for ya

 

[chazer]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. My Ammonia is 0.20,Nitrite is 0.00 and nitrate is 20/25. The tank has been fine but in the last week I have had 2 or 3 death's and I hate that. Can you please advise on my reading i.e if I need to do anything. First time I have had a slight problem.


Thanks

Chazer

 

[5teady_2012]

Do small water changes until the ammonia is stableised and read 0.

Do a 15% water change everyday for 3 days, check ammonia level if still not right, do water changes again until the reading balances out.

 

[chazer]

Ok, Thanks I will do.

 

[chazer]

Hi again,

I should also have asked for the future. What would I need to do if my nitrite or nitrate readings were high.

Thanks

 

[5teady_2012]

More water changes m8, if levels are high, do more changes (small ones)

 

[helterskelter]

Doing weekly water change will help to keep it all down, it's the easiest way.

 

[5teady_2012]

Just to be more specific than my last post, ..........

do a 20% water change everyweek, and also a 10% every week...

i usually do on mine, 20%change on wednesday and 10% on saturdays - stats usually stay great on my tanks.

 

[chazer]

Ok. Thanks all for info.

 

[three-fingers]

Just going to expand a bit...ammonia and nitrite shouldn't be readable, if there's readable levels present then the bacteria in your filter aren't managing to convert them to nitrate.

Water changes generally need to be done weekly to get rid of the nitrate, and will similarly help with the ammonia and nitrite but it's important you know that ammonia and nitrite shouldn't be readable in the first place .

With the water changes it should sort itself, is it a new tank? Ammonia and nitrite reading suggest that it's either a new tank and that the bacteria in the filter aren't yet dealing with the amount of fish in it, or that something has recently killed off the bacteria. Have you changed filter pads, cleaned the filter under tap water or added new fish recently? If not then something may be rotting hidden somewhere, or you test kit may just be off (pretty common).

 

[chazer]

Hi three-fingers,

It is a tank that has been on the go for a year or more, but I think I know the problem. I committed the cardinal sin last week when cleaning the filter's, I washed them under the tap because they were that dirty. Probably take a week or two to get back to normal.

Can I ask you and all the other's who have replied another question. Often when my female guppies give birth they die a few day's later. I have had a few do that. Ok you might get 20 fry but you loose an adult female for breeding again. One of my friends had the same problem. Could it be the female was to young and struggled with the stress. Any idea's.

Thanks

chazer

 

[three-fingers]

Ah, that'll be it then .

Giving birth is pretty stressful for fish too as you would imagine, anything that would weaken the guppies could be the reason for death.

If they are inbred, too young, or living in bad water conditions then giving birth is more likely to kill them. Even for the most well-bred mature guppies in good water conditions, it's not uncommon for them to die after a few batches due to stress...that's why some people recommend only keeping one sex of guppy per tank.