water conditions... fish dyeing?

[misscrosson]

Alright... I just did a water change, and re-tested the water...

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.8

Tomorrow I'm going to the pet store to pick up afew things... any suggestions on what I should get?

So far I'm picking up:

-Salt
-More water conditioner
-Nitrate test

Also, when adding salt... should I add it directly to the tank water... or in the filter?

 

[phanmc]

Dissolve the salt in a glass before adding it to the tank, doesn't matter if you add it directly to the tank or filter afterwards.

Keep on doing water changes (I'd do around 40-50%) until your nitrite levels drop below .5 and don't let it climb over, eventually it'll disappear on it own.

Since your fishes are already in a weakened state, I'd reduce the feedings to once every 2-3 days rather than the full week.

 

[misscrosson]

Yeah, I only fed my fish once today... and didn't yesterday... probably won't tomorrow either...

 

[iamgroovy]

Amquel Plus is a great water conditioner it takes care of chlorine and chloramines. It also helps neutralize Ammonia, NitrItes, and NitrAtes. The label says it will not interfere with your biological filter. I've used it and not had any problems. However, you can't do to many water changes.

Good luck!

 

[misscrosson]

Alright... I just did a 25% water change on my tank.. I also added the right ammount of salt...

I did my tests... and actually got my nitrate test done too... bought it today.. here are the results...

Ammonia - 0.6
Nitrite - 1.6
Nitrate - 50

 

[Holly9937]

WOW, definately need to do another/larger water change 1.6 is really high. I'm finding it hard to belive that overfeeding is causing this high and long of a spike... How do you maintain your filter? What kind do you have?

 

[misscrosson]

I just leave it alone... I have an aqauclear

 

[jaylin]

Change that water ... the nitrites are way bad right now. So are your nitrates. You're totally toxic. Your fish hate you right now.

I'd do bigger than a 25% change. Make sure you condition your water though. Also, it sounds to me like you've probably got some crud built up in your filter. Take out your filter media when you change the water and swish it around really well in some of the old tank water (not tap water). That should knock some of the crud out.

 

[misscrosson]

Alright... I did an 80% water change... ughh... so totally took me 2hrs to do... but, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do...

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.3
Nitrate - 20

Are these tests better?... also, how do I go about keeping the levels low?... I cleaned the filter out with the old water...

 

[khombre]

Alright... I did an 80% water change... ughh... so totally took me 2hrs to do... but, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do...

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.3
Nitrate - 20

Are these tests better?... also, how do I go about keeping the levels low?... I cleaned the filter out with the old water...

more water changes and less feeding i guess..
try to get ur nitrites down to 0