Fishy Cycle and Water Changes?

[Alpha7Bravo]

Hi all,

I am doing a fishy cycle and I am now seeing very high nitrites. I have been doing lots of water changes to keep them down and I want to make sure I am doing the changes correctly. Do I treat the tank w/ dechlorinator or do I treat the water before I put it in? A basic guide on how to do a water change would be great. I looked through the stickied posts and didn't see anything, but I may have missed it.

Currently, I have 2 blue danios and a guppy. I had another two danios, but they died quickly after introducing them to the tank when I started it about a month ago. The guppy isn't doing too well now that the nitrites have started to spike and I hope that the water changes will save him.

Thanks for any help in advance.

[Rbishop]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598

[SirWired]

Treat the tank with dechlor before adding the water if it makes your water changes easier. NOTE: The dechlor I use, Prime, instructs you to treat for the ENTIRE tank vol., no matter how much you are changing. Since it is so cheap (Prime is pretty much the cheapest out there per gal. treated.), this isn't a big deal.

As you are doing FREQUENT changes, keep in mind that one 75% change is the same as two 50% changes, as far as fixing your chemistry goes. Keeping that in mind will save you a lot of work.

SirWired

[Ghostshrimp55]

What do you mean by "frequent?" How many changes a week/day are you doing for what sized tank? That will help a lot in helping us to help you out. What are your ammonia/nitrite readings?

[Alpha7Bravo]

Since I noticed the nitrites being high I have been doing between 25%-50% daily. The nitrites will drop from 10 to 3(which is still too high). My ammonia levels are within "safe range" and hardly registering on the test strips. Now that I have done some more research I know that I need to do larger water changes until it drops to almost nothing and that I need to get rid of the test strips and get the liquid test kit. Hopefully it isn't too late.

When doing a water change should I take the fish out or can I keep them in? I have been keeping them in.

[twig]

i think that is a lot of water to move out daily ...

I'd drop it to a 15% daily with a double dose of prime to 'bind' the nitrite. Prime binds nitrite for 24 hours from what I heard.

[CaptnDan]

i think that is a lot of water to move out daily ...

I'd drop it to a 15% daily with a double dose of prime to 'bind' the nitrite. Prime binds nitrite for 24 hours from what I heard.

OK, so this binding effect doesn't really remove the nitrite, it just kind of hides it, right?

So 24 hours later, you have the nitrite that has built up from the normal cycling process, plus the previously bound nitrite being released...

Does this result in a nitrite spike?

[Alpha7Bravo]

I came home from work this morning and my guppy, who was previously at the top of the tank gasping for air is now in swimming around on the bottom to middle of the tank. He is not as active as he usually is though. The two danios are flying around the tank normally though one's gills are a bright red color.

I tested the tank again and the nitrites were back around 10 and ammonia was around 0.25 according to the test strip(I will be buying a liquid test kit today). I did a 30% water change at this point. I have been using Stress Coat as my dechlorinator. Can one overdose using Stress Coat?

Thank you very much for your assistance!

[SirWired]

Keep up with 50% daily changes. Remember that it takes almost three 25% changes to equal a single 50% change.

About Stress Coat: If the bottle doesn't say it takes care of Nitrites, it probably doesn't. In any case, removing Nitrites w/ water changes is almost certain to be better for the fish that dumping a whole lot of chemicals in the water. Remember that EVERYTHING you put in the tank besides fresh water adds to the osmotic stress of the fish. Some things are certainly more harmful than others (obviously Ammonia is worse than dechlorinator).

Oh, and when you run out of Stress Coat, switch to Prime. It is FAR cheaper per treated gallon. (One 5ml capful is enough for 50g.)

SirWired

[Alpha7Bravo]

I grabbed a bottle of Prime today and a liquid test kit. Here are my readings. If they seem ridiculous, someone please tell me because I may have done the test wrong. I did follow the directions exactly though.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 10
Nitrite - 2.0
PH - 6.6

I'll try the Prime during this next water change and see what kind of difference it makes.

Thanks again.

[SirWired]

Those NitrItes need to come down, preferably to .5 or below... Your NitrAtes are well within the acceptable range, probably because the only thing that produces them is the NitrIte eating bugs, which obviously aren't totally up to snuff yet.

Keep an eye on your pH. If it drops, have your LFS do a GH/KH test to check your water hardness. Your water MAY have insufficient buffering capacity to hold a stable pH. If it stays level, don't worry about it.

SirWired

[Alpha7Bravo]

I did the water change with Prime about 3 hours ago. I tested for NitrItes again and I get a reading between .25 and .5. I'll be watching the PH, but it seems to be remaining around 6.6 normally.