Water levels going screwy - help needed please

emilyekk

emilyekk

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Apr 28, 2009
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My 55 gallon seemed good to go a few days ago so I finally introduced the two julii cories from my 10 gallon.


I left them alone for a day or two days (can't remember off the top of my head) and tested again, water levels were perfect - last night I introduced the remaining two cories from the 10 gal (2 albinos). They seem SO happy and are acting perfectly.


Just went to check the water though and this is what I've gotten:

Nitrate - 0-5 (probably like a 3)
Nitrite - 3.0
Hardness - 75 (soft)
Chlorine - 0
Alkalinity - 0
PH - 6.2


Sooo, what happened? My water is acidic, nitrites are really high (highest of any tank I've ever had actually) and unless I am reading the strips wrong my alkalinity should be around 120-180...


What happened in a night and what can I do to fix this? The only thing I've done differently was add the two cories, and I also put a cap of flourish and a cap of excel in the tank (only second day doing this), would that cause any of this? I didn't think it would affect anything but I have no idea.


Thanks for input!
 
According to D. Walstad Quote; you can add salt to make the Nitrite safe on the fish. (disscusion of nitrite toxicity in my book, p. 22) should be kept be below 0.01 ppm for chronic effects. A one-time addition of salt (1 level teaspoon uniodized salt per 10 gal) will take care of your nitrite levels quite handily. This salt concentration (about 0.015%) should not hurt plants. To make sure salt gets quickly disbursed in the tank water, I would dissolve the salt in some water and then add the resulting salt solution to the tank.

I did this on a 55g planted tank without negative effect to fish or plants. 72 hrs later NO2 readings were zero.
 
To increase KH add baking soda for the following changes
1/8 TSP : 6.0605gallons = 1dKH
1/4 TSP : 13.21gallons = 1dKH
1/2 TSP : 26.42 gallons = 1dKH
4dKH (71.6ppm) in a non CO2 injected tank should be 7.2-7.4pH your current bicarbonates at a guess with pH reading 6.2 would be about .5dKH are there any live plants in the tank?
 
A big water change will help in two ways Emily. First is that it will restore some o the buffering capacity of the water and second is that it will remove some of the nitrites which are trying to kill your fish. The artificial KH move that WkndRacer gave you should also help with the KH and pH but is not a very good solution to the high nitrites. If the pH is still low after the water changes have brought down the nitrites, you could add a bit of bicarb to raise the pH and KH to become a bit more stable.
 
Lots of people believe salt hurts cories. I would also recommend water changes instead of salt.

Is it possible for you to test the ammonia? If the ammonia is 0ppm and the nitrites are high maybe your test strips are giving you an incorrect reading.
 
emilyekk said:
...water levels were perfect...
Click to expand...

What were the perfect water lvls?

Have you checked for ammonia sense this?

Whats your tap water KH, GH?

If you haven't already. A water change would be good, while we try to figure everything out.

Have you left the test strip bottle open for any amount of time?

Most people around here can't stand the thought of a test strip. So your about to hear a whole lot about the need to get a liquid test kit. Just thought I'd warn/prepare you for that one. ;)
I've been using them for yrs now, with out any problem. But they(any tests for that matter) needs to be taken care of. Strips, even more so. They're made to react now when water hits them. So you gotta open the bottle, take out the strip, close the bottle. To avoid any contamination. As in, if left sitting around for a minute at a time with the top off, while testing. Can/could contaminate them.
I had a bottle that had been sitting around for at least a year, and they gave the same results as the brand new strips. Plus, tested them against some liquid kits after hearing all the bad talk about them here. All the tests came out plenty close to the same. So they work just fine. Just gotta take care of them.

Ok, back to the probs...
 
ANY CYCLING ISSUES TO ADDRESS? MAYBE NOT ENOUGH BENEFICIAL BACTERIAL WAS DEVELOPED. A 55GAL WITH AGED OR CONDITIONED WATER CAN TAKE UP TO A MONTH TO CYCLE. YOU CAN ASK OTHERS MORE ABOUT THIS TOPIC. (BTW I DIDN'T CYCLE WHEN I 1ST RE-STARTED THE HOBBY - THEY ALL SURVIVED BUT I WAS LUCKY - YOU MAY NOT HAVE BEEN)

WATER CHANGE IS ALWAYS GOOD BUT IS IT CONDITIONED WATER? ARE YOU USING ANY WATER CONDITIONERS LIKE PRIME OR SIMILAR PRODUCTS?

NEED TO TEST YOUR AMMONIA LEVELS ALSO (MAY BE GOOD INVESTMENT IN BUYING API MASTER KIT BUY ONLINE WITH OTHER NEEDS CHEAPER THAN LFS)

NITRITE IS VERY HI & PH IS VERY LOW I'D SAY. WOULD BE GOOD IF NITRITES WERE CLOSER TO ZERO & PH CLOSER TO 6.8-7.
 
sushiray said:
ANY CYCLING ISSUES TO ADDRESS? MAYBE NOT ENOUGH BENEFICIAL BACTERIAL WAS DEVELOPED. A 55GAL WITH AGED OR CONDITIONED WATER CAN TAKE UP TO A MONTH TO CYCLE. YOU CAN ASK OTHERS MORE ABOUT THIS TOPIC. (BTW I DIDN'T CYCLE WHEN I 1ST RE-STARTED THE HOBBY - THEY ALL SURVIVED BUT I WAS LUCKY - YOU MAY NOT HAVE BEEN)

WATER CHANGE IS ALWAYS GOOD BUT IS IT CONDITIONED WATER? ARE YOU USING ANY WATER CONDITIONERS LIKE PRIME OR SIMILAR PRODUCTS?

NEED TO TEST YOUR AMMONIA LEVELS ALSO (MAY BE GOOD INVESTMENT IN BUYING API MASTER KIT BUY ONLINE WITH OTHER NEEDS CHEAPER THAN LFS)

NITRITE IS VERY HI & PH IS VERY LOW I'D SAY. WOULD BE GOOD IF NITRITES WERE CLOSER TO ZERO & PH CLOSER TO 6.8-7.
Click to expand...

pealse no caps? thanks ;)

did you fully cycle your tan beforehand?

still, corydoras dont really have that much of an effect on bioload. it should take much longer for your params to rise so much. i would get a liquid test kit to be sure.

a 50% water change can't hurt though.

also take some of the media from your old tank and swish it around in your new tank's water to help move bacteria over, just in case something happened to the bacteria that may or may not have been in your 55.
 
Souns like it was in the middle of cycling when you put the fish in. How long did you cycle the tank before the 1st set of Corys went in? It sounds like you used test strips also since there was no ammonia reading. My suggestion is to get a liquid test tube kit (like API Master Freshwater Kit) and test Ammonia, nitrites & nitrates with that. Strips are so notoriously wrong that I wouldn't trust those results at all. In 99% of cases you can just ignore the pH, kH and gh. But like I said-with strips you're probably getting inaccurate results and in that case I would not add baking soda or anything else. Get accurate results 1st.But like I said-I think you're in the middle of cycling.
 
It was finished cycling - I've been stalking the boards for awhile and have successfully cycled my two other tanks so I am 100% sure it was ready. =D

Also - just to be sure, I moved the 10 gallon (up and running for a WHILE) filter and all the media over and have that running on it as well (I already had active media in the 55 however, so this may not make any difference but I thought it wouldn't hurt to stick the filter on anyhow).

I DO plan on getting the liquid test kit, unfortunately - I really don't even have the $30 it costs right now, so until I get paid in two weeks, I've only got the strips so that's what I have to use. :( Trying to do the best with what I have.

I don't plan on trying salt - I'm sure it would work for some, but I've read TOO many bad things, and I don't trust it.

And, off the top of my head I can't tell you what the perfect levels were - but (again, using the strips) the colors literally fell RIGHT into the "normal/perfect" whatever term they used category. I am pretty anal about recapping the strip lid so it shouldn't have been open for any amount of time except when I took a strip out.


I am going to do like a 30-40% WC tonight and see if that helps. Again, everyone's acting happy but I just want to be safe... the test strips could be messed up for all I know but I just want to be safe.


Ugh, can't wait 'til I can afford that api test kit!
 
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