Water Test Results Interpretation Please

[stubedoo]

Hi,

My friend has a very mature 160litre tank, and has just replaced his filter in it.

I advised him that he should either run two filters for a while, or if he wasn't up for that take some media from the old filter and stick in in the new one.

He chose the later option, and his tank has been running nearly a week now with the new filter. Anyway today I went round to test the water for him, and got the following results:

Ammonia 0.4ppm
NitrItes 5.0ppm (possibly higher) Edit: Was similar to the 1.0 colour and the 5.0 colour, but in my eye seemed nearer 5.0.
NitrAtes 7.0ppm
pH 7.3

Should he be worried about these levels, especially the nitrites. He hasn't had any dead fish, or observed any unusual behavior, but thought I'd check.

 

[waterdrop]

This could be a very dangerous situation for the fish. Your friend could have what is referred to as "Old Tank Syndrome" where neglect of normal maintenance (if I'm right, indicated by the lack of a cycled filter, but this could be wrong..) in which case the fish may have become acclimated to excessively high levels of various trace things in the water.

If so, then the usual prescription of massive water changes to deal with the nitrite could possibly kill the fish very quickly. Instead this may be one of the rare circumstances where some additives will be needed to reduce/remove the toxicity and very small water changes will need to begin.

I'll defer to some of our more experienced experts who will hopefully come along with the best recommendations on the current store shelves! Also, your location may help them with knowing what should be available to you where you live.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

would be helpful to know what the water readings were before the filter change over?

why did he change the filter, did it break or was it an upgrade?

it could be old tank syndrome as per WD's diagnosis or it could be that he didn't move enough filter media over and is now fish-in cycling.

the fact that the fish appear fine in water which is toxic enough to kill them indicates old tank syndrome though.

whats your opinion on the tank as a whole, is it sensibly stocked and well maintained or not?

in BTTs sig you'll find a link to a pin on OTS so have a hunt and a read.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi stubedoo

Here's the link I sometimes give members to check if a tank has Old Tank Syndrome.

http/freshwater-aquarium-fish.com/index....8&Itemid=47

If the tank doesn't match that profile, it's probably best to go with the obvious; the tank is cycling. Do lots of water changes to get the ammonia and nitrites down before the fish begin to show the effects of them. It takes 100% of the beneficial bacteria that was in the old filter to overcome the wastes 100% of the fish will produce. If he used less, you are seeing the effects of that. He might have also killed off some of them when he made the change if he over washed, washed it in tap water, or exposed the filter media to air during the change over.

In any event, he needs to do a lot of water changes since he is, in effect, doing a "Fish In" cycle.

 

[stubedoo]

Okay first off... the NitrIte level was quite difficult to read as the colour looked very similar to the 1.0ppm and 5.0ppm(max level of the kit). It looked a lot less like the 2.0 colour. Personally I thought it looked more like the 5.0 colour, but I could easily be wrong. What would be seen as a dangerous level? Is 1.0ppm that bad?

The tank is fairly heavily stocked, I think there was about 30 in when we last couted varying from tiny albino corys to one big catfish.

would be helpful to know what the water readings were before the filter change over?

He didn't do any, he doesn't have a test kit.

why did he change the filter, did it break or was it an upgrade?

Upgrade - the old one was... well old and noisy and wasn't working that well apparently.

whats your opinion on the tank as a whole, is it sensibly stocked and well maintained or not?

Actually very well maintained. Water changes are done on a weekly basis, although without using dechlorinator. He did go away for two weeks over xmas and the tank had some problems, not least because the heater was unplugged while he was away meaning the temp dropped to 20C.


I should add he has put a lot of new fish in the tank over recent months, a few this week since the filter change and none have died to my knowledge except a few eaten by the bigger fish. This leads me to think he is going through a Fish-In cycle, although I'm only guessing.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi stubedoo

Nitrite and ammonia should always read 0. Any at all is likely to hurt the fish, but not necessarily kill them right away. It could cause damage to their gills that could show up later.

 

[waterdrop]

Well if its been well maintained with weekly water changes for the most part then we might be able to rule out the Old Tank Syndrome after all. I'd like to defer to MW and IW though and perhaps BTT for this diagnosis as they have more experience.

Its beginning to sound like too many new fish added too fast and thus a mini-cycle as you've deduced. If we decide its indeed a mini-cycle then large water changes (with dechlor and rough temp matching) will be in order as IW says. Since the new stocking has outstripped the bacterial colony sizes, manual dilution is needed via water changes. As IW says, no reading of ammonia or nitrite(NO2) is ever good and 1ppm of nitrite can and will cause permanent nerve damage due to the suffocation effect after large numbers of fish blood hemoglobin molecules have been turned to brown mush by the nitrite (yup, that's what actually happens!)

Now, again, ruling out OTS is extremely important because if we're wrong, the first big water change could kill a lot of fish!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Stubedoo,

Whilst OTS could be a problem, i'd suggest probably not in this case. The tell-tale symptoms of OTS are a large build up of nitrate and a low pH, neither of which are suggested here. You also say he / she performed regular water changes which substantiates my doubts even further.

A build up of ammonia is a symptom of OTS but is usually a symptom of the later stages. This is because the nitrates build up so high over time that it pushes the pH down and down. Once the pH gets down to around 6, the bacteria will stop eating (commonly called a stalled cycle), and if allowed to get down to around 5.5, the bacteria can even start to die off. This would obviously cause a build up of ammonia as there would be no (or at least less) bacteria converting it, however the fish don't suffer so much from it in these circumstances as at that level of pH, the ammonia tends towards ammonium which is far less toxic.

Taking this into account along with the fact that you suggest he / she didn't move over all the old filter media AND has stocked lots of new fish recently, I would agree with Inchy that OTS isn't the correct diagnosis here, and it is far more likely to be a mini-cycle.

As said above, lots of water changes is the way to go.

Good luck and keep us updated

BTT

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah absolutely agree, too many fish at once coupled with a reduction in mature filter media and possibly a broken older filter meaning some bacteria may have died off on the old media anyway = fish in cycle

you know the drill!!

 

[waterdrop]

Good, we've got confirmation from a coupla' experts to support our ruling out of OTS, so either you've already begun the water changes or you're ready to. If the dedication is there, you could still "hedge the risk" by performing a steady series of 25% to 30% gravel-clean-water-changes on a daily basis (starting immediately of course) (rather than 50% and rather than more than one on first days) which would keep the initial change from being quite so drastic. What you'd watch for would be any sign of the fish begin -worse- after the water change (unfortunately though, OTS doesn't usually result in much of any sign.) That's most likely being overly cautious though, to worry, and I'll bet the water changes are going to fix it.

~~waterdrop~~