confusing chemisty

S

susiejames101

sue
Nov 14, 2004
39
0
0
uk
Hi
Ive a 5 week old tank which currently has a pleco in it ( for the past 4 weeks ) and a small congo puffer (2 weeks) We had the water tested weekly by the LFS until they said the water was suitable to bring the puffer home. I was advised that I only needed to check the nitrite levels!!
The puffer was very chirpy and settled quickly and started eating live bloodworms after day 1. I cleaned out any uneaten worms each time!
The nitrite was rising slightly so I waterchanged every 2 days. We then got some bio-spira and I did a big water change and added the bio spira to the tank, The nitrite levels didn't go over .2 but after a week had crept upto .3 so I decided that it had hopefully been in there long enough to culture and changed the water to reduce the nitrite.
The nitrite keeps creeping up again and last night the puffer seemed a bit lethargic ( strangely AFTER the water change) so this morning I went out and bought all the testing kits but am not sure i understand the results!!
pH 7.0
Ammonia 1 mg/l
Nitrite 0.2 mg/l
Nitrate 10 mg/l

I have done 2 water changes today to try and get the ammonia levels down and the fish seems a little happier, but I am very confused as to how I can have ammonia and nitrate at the same time , Have I missed the point somehow!!
We are very fond of our fish and really need some advise as to the best way to progress and get the ammonia and nitrite to 0 !
Thanks
Sue
 
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Nitrate is the end result of ammonia break down, but it's can also come from other sources (like your tapwater). Ammonia levels are detectable when the bacteria colonies are inadequate to the load--Adding more Bio-Spira might help, but I'd couple them with water changes to keep those levels low. Puffers are very intolerant of poor water, and prone to parasitic infections (both interanal and external), so it's important to keep the tank as stable as possible--matching temps and all.
 
I am pretty sure the nitrate has come from the cycling because when we had the full spectrum of tests done several times at the LFS, the nitrates were just showing trace levels!
I am wondering if the filtration that came with the tank isn't sufficient and if i need to add another filter too,
I had been avoiding cleaning the filter because i didn't want to disturb any bacterial colonies forming but when i was water changing the tank today I did clean it in the old tank water and the water was really dirty after so I hope the clean will have made things better and not worse!!!!
Unfortunately I can't get any more bio spira till after christmas so I guess its back to the water changes for now!!
Sue
 
We went to our favourite LFS today and explained the problem, the guy gave us a cultured filter sponge and said that shoudl hopefully get things sorted pretty quickly! He also said it is very difficult to get accurate ammonia levels as it fluctuates a lot throughout the day. My kit measures both ammonia and ammonium and its really hard to read the value of the colour change as the green doesn't really match any of the levels properly like the other tests do!!
I was told to only water change every other day , although my gut feeling is to keep changing water while i have ammonia and nitrite present, but at the same time I don't want to cause any more problems and maybe its better to lett he tank settle a bit, any thoughts gratefully recieved, I am getting a bit anxious and obsessed by water testing and water changing now !!!
 
You can't hurt anything by doing more water changes. The filter sponge you got today should help fix this quickly. You need to do water changes enough to keep ammonia and nitrIte levels down to protect your fish. It won't hinder your cycle at all. Just be sure the water you add is the same pH and temp and you'll be fine.

You also did the right thing to clean the filter in old tank water. You shouldn't disturb your bacteria doing it that way.
 
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