about 6 weeks ago i purchased a 10g tank...one of those wal-mart special ones,that comes with pretty much everything.i have 5 mollies and one fry plus a pleco in the tank.i had used the media from my 29 g tank and it was pretty well cycled.however,the nitrate levels keep flacuating.yesterday they were just fine and today they were up to.25.i did a 20% waterchange and we are cool again now.my ammonia reading is normal.why can i not get rid of the nitrite?it has been an on going battle for the last month now.i did not have this problem with my 29g? the fish seem ok but i had one molly die last night.i also run 2 6inch bubble makers. what could i be doing wrong?
10g tank is driving me crazy
- Thread starter britta6867
- Start date
Well for starters you mention both nitrate and nitrite problems. Which is it. That make s big difference.
Part of the problem is that your tank is still cycling. There is sufficient bacteria to take care of ammonia but not the nitrite (assuming that is what you meant). This takes time, though I would have thought it would have cycled by 6 weeks. Right now do water changes to until things level out.
Now the other problem you have is too many fish for that small tank. A pleco from WalMart is a common pleco that can grow to be 2 feet long and create a ton of waste. You need to find him a new home. Mollies also get a little large for 5 in a 10 gallon tank but that is managable.
Also are you changing the filter media in your tank when you do a water change. If so then you are throwing out the old bacteria and starting a new cycle. It is important to not throw out the old media, just rinse it really well in old tank water you take out and reuse it.
Part of the problem is that your tank is still cycling. There is sufficient bacteria to take care of ammonia but not the nitrite (assuming that is what you meant). This takes time, though I would have thought it would have cycled by 6 weeks. Right now do water changes to until things level out.
Now the other problem you have is too many fish for that small tank. A pleco from WalMart is a common pleco that can grow to be 2 feet long and create a ton of waste. You need to find him a new home. Mollies also get a little large for 5 in a 10 gallon tank but that is managable.
Also are you changing the filter media in your tank when you do a water change. If so then you are throwing out the old bacteria and starting a new cycle. It is important to not throw out the old media, just rinse it really well in old tank water you take out and reuse it.
i do not buy pets from wall mart.ours doesn't even carry any-thank god.as far as cleaning the filter media,i have only cleaned it twice,because it was pretty bad but like you said,i rinsed it in old water.it is nitrite that i meant.it just goes up til i changed the water but two days later it is back up again but never higher than .25.the nitrite level spiked about 3 weeks ago that is why i do not understand why the levels haven't started to read zero yet.
I still assume that your tank isn't cycled for some reason and the nitrite bacteria just hasn't built up yet. Water changes are bringing the nitrite levels down but eventually they start to build back up.
The only other thing I could think of is a bad test kit. Perhaps if the nitrite readings come back you could take a sample fo the water to the LFS. They usually test the water for free.
The only other thing I could think of is a bad test kit. Perhaps if the nitrite readings come back you could take a sample fo the water to the LFS. They usually test the water for free.