What am I doing wrong?

[Sheila]

I have a 38 gallon new tank setup...been up and running for almost a month. I have 2 Opaline gouramis and 3 gold barbs. Yesterday, my ammonia and nitrites were at zero, so I added 2 African butterfly fish and 2 rainbow fish. I have been only feeding once a day because I'm afraid of the ammonia levels rising again. (had a catastrophe in the beginning and was sold 32 fish at once). Anyway, the ammonia and nitrite levels were done by the lfs yesterday and I purchased a master test kit at that time. Today, the fish look great and I did a water test just to make sure everything was A OK. Here are the readings: pH 8 (which it's been high and pH decreaser doesn't seem to work), Ammonia is 1.5, Nitrite is 0, GH 18 and KH 10. I was worried about the rising ammonia level and did an immediate 25% water change. What am I doing wrong? How often should I check the water now and should I perform each test? How often should I do water changes? and how much water should be changed? I want to get this right and make sure I don't lose any more fish. All advice appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Sheila

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Do as many and as large water changes as it takes to keep the ammonia down as close to 0 as possible, even if this means every day. Strange that you should have such a jump from a small addition. What kind of filtration are you running, and did you clean it out recently?

PH of 8 is fine, don't start messing with the water parameters or it will only become unstable anyway.

 

[Sheila]

As far as filtration goes, I have a Whisper 40 filter. I bought it new with the tank about a month ago and haven't changed or cleaned it. I had to do every other day 25% water changes for 2 weeks before to bring my ammonia level down in the beginning after the lfs sold me 32 fish at once. Anyway...I am siphoning just above the gravel every other time as I don't want to destroy all the good bacteria in the gravel with each water change. So is once a day water checks and 25% water changes adequate to control the ammonia levels? Please help.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

25% per day is not too much. Test for ammonia after every water change to see how much it brought the levels down, you will be able to judge whether you can change more or less water based on the results.

 

[Adrinal]

how are you preparing the water?

Some water sources use an amo lock sort of chemical which eventually breaks down. (thats how I understand it anyhow).
I took a water sample to the LFS and they practically called peta on me, saying how bad a person i was to keep fish in such poor water. Thing is, the sample was strate from the tap.

I got this reading from 3 different LFS (though not all of them wanted to kill me on the spot).

 

[Sheila]

As far as preparing the water that I add to the tank, I get it roughly the same temperature as the tank and then add Start Right to the bucket of water before putting it into the tank. I honestly can't see what I'm doing wrong. I checked ammonia again last night (after a 25% water change yesterday) and it had come down to 1.25 from 1.5, so i guess moving in the right direction. Would adding stress zyme to the water be better than the start right? thanks
Sheila

 

[Nina7777]

hey there-
IMO 25% water changes are too much. I would cut back to 10% everyday. to me it seems like you may be having amonia problems because of the large water changes every day.......the tank is not having a chance to cycle because too much water is being changed. I would try the 10% water changes and then if that doesn't work, try adding some amonia removing carbon to your filter.

Stress zyme works good also, I have never used start right so i don't know if it would be better or not. But i would try using stresscoat to remove the toxins in the tap water and then add stress zyme after.

 

[modernhamlet]

hey there-
IMO 25% water changes are too much. I would cut back to 10% everyday. to me it seems like you may be having amonia problems because of the large water changes every day.......the tank is not having a chance to cycle because too much water is being changed. I would try the 10% water changes and then if that doesn't work, try adding some amonia removing carbon to your filter.

I completely disagree. How could water changes be causing the ammonia problem?

If the current ammonia levels in a tank are toxic to fish, one should do as big a water change as possible to bring the levels down. Yes it will slow your cycle, but the welfare of the fish is more important than a speedy cycle, IMO.

If you want a speedy cycle, cycle without fish or use Bio-Spira.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Water changes will not interfere with the cycle, they will save the fish. If my ammonia rose up past 1 I would not hesitate for a second to do a 50% change and bring it right down.

 

[Sheila]

OK...did another 25% water change. I have a master test kit, but the ammonia level is difficult to be exact with because the scale goes from 0 to .25 to 1.5 to 2, to 3, then to 5. Anyway, sunday, the ammonia level was 1.5, then yesterday after a 25% water change it dropped to my estimate of 1.25, today it is definately lighter in color than yesterday, so I'm guessing maybe 1. Anyway, I did another 25% water change. My question....should I be cleaning the gravel with each of these frequent water changes or let it go? I don't want to suck up all the good bacteria down in the gravel. I have been syphoning from just above the gravel the last couple times. Anyway, would like advice. Thanks for all the great advice I've gotten so far. Sheila

 

[modernhamlet]

I'd leave the gravel alone during the cycle. You might want to vacuum once every 2 weeks, but certainly not every water change. In general, leave the filter and the gravel alone as much as possible, so the bacteria can do their thing.

 

[Sheila]

Yeah!!!! My ammonia level tonight was down to 0.25, so definately going in the right direction and nitrites are still negative. Thanks to everyone for the great advice!
Sheila