I'm back again after endless months, maybe years with no solution to my 40 gal freshwater, 2 Clown Loaches high ammonia and now high nitrites. Read every forum, tried every suggestion, no success. Life exists of water changes and chemicals to detoxify. If i could give this whole thing to someone in maybe a better water area I would gladly.
Nitrites and Ammonia
- Thread starter Fishstickss
- Start date
Geez, you're a long way away without helping your fish...I'd like to hear what's happening in your tank right now...for years or months. Get us up date with how things are now.. You sound like maybe you need some water changing advice/nagging...I'm happy to oblige if that what you need...Tell us all about your tank
It is not rocket science, your tank is not properly cycled. Why this is the case would take more info to determine.
If you have a bit of spare cash, I can most likely help you fix things pretty fast the money isn't for me it is for what you ill have to buy to fix thins. But it requires that you follow the instructions I provide. I will also need a bunch more info just as fishorama indicated above.
I keep clowns. I just lost my oldest and biggest which I had for 20+ years and it was 4 inches when I got it. I have 10 more in a 150 gal. I am pretty well versed in the biology of the cycle and have actually written several cycling articles for another site.
One must do water changes for ammonia levels when are toxic. Just any level in any tank is not necessarily so especially in the short term. For nitrite one should not do water change. Chloride which is a part of salt actually blocks the nitrite from being able to harm fish. So small amount of salt (based on the nitrite level) will do the trick. The amount is salt is so low and present for such a short period that almost any FW fish will be able to handle it just fine.
Finally, so far I have only cycled about 200 tanks. I actually do not cycle tanks any more/. I set up a bio-farm and cycle filters. I am also very familiar with what is often called ther silent cycle which uses live plants to deal with most of the ammonia.
If you have a bit of spare cash, I can most likely help you fix things pretty fast the money isn't for me it is for what you ill have to buy to fix thins. But it requires that you follow the instructions I provide. I will also need a bunch more info just as fishorama indicated above.
I keep clowns. I just lost my oldest and biggest which I had for 20+ years and it was 4 inches when I got it. I have 10 more in a 150 gal. I am pretty well versed in the biology of the cycle and have actually written several cycling articles for another site.
One must do water changes for ammonia levels when are toxic. Just any level in any tank is not necessarily so especially in the short term. For nitrite one should not do water change. Chloride which is a part of salt actually blocks the nitrite from being able to harm fish. So small amount of salt (based on the nitrite level) will do the trick. The amount is salt is so low and present for such a short period that almost any FW fish will be able to handle it just fine.
Finally, so far I have only cycled about 200 tanks. I actually do not cycle tanks any more/. I set up a bio-farm and cycle filters. I am also very familiar with what is often called ther silent cycle which uses live plants to deal with most of the ammonia.
Many questions to ask here. For starters, how does the water you use for water changes test? What is your water source, tap, city water, well water?
What is in the tank, substrate, plants, wood, rocks? When you clean the filter what do you do? Do you clean all the media at the same time? When you clean the glass how do you do it, what do you use? Tell us what you feed your fish and if uneaten food is left over in the tank. List all the fish and how big they are.
Answering these few questions will go a long way towards us being able to help you.
What is in the tank, substrate, plants, wood, rocks? When you clean the filter what do you do? Do you clean all the media at the same time? When you clean the glass how do you do it, what do you use? Tell us what you feed your fish and if uneaten food is left over in the tank. List all the fish and how big they are.
Answering these few questions will go a long way towards us being able to help you.
We definitely need more information... I'm having a hard time thinking why you would be running into issues if your tank has truly been established for months as you say..... You may have issues the first few weeks with a new tank but shouldn't be months, are you doing to many changes, how often?
Have you tested the water coming out the tap , could buy bottled water to do the changes if it was the tap water , had to do it a few times when water was all messed up, also seachem prime will help with high ammonia and nitrites you can't overdose your fish unless you use extreme amounts
Safe to say we'll never know. The original poster posted the question 7 months ago and never returned.
