water conditions... fish dyeing?

[Holly9937]

By the way, nitrates of 50 aren't all that bad, but 20 is alot better. I would not stress about them now. Once the tank is cycled, if they are still consistently higher than 40 or so, then we can look at what might be causing it. I would also only feed every other day or so (or even less often), the fish will be fine and it will help you keep the numbers down. Rinsing the filter in tank water once a week or so will also help

 

[misscrosson]

Should I be doing water changes everyday... or every other day?

 

[iamgroovy]

Watch your numbers. Do as many water changes as it takes to keep them down.

 

[khombre]

if i were in ur position i would do daily water changes as long as there are nitrites..

but dont take my word for it, wait for other responses

 

[Holly9937]

Watch your numbers. Do as many water changes as it takes to keep them down.

Ditto

 

[Kasakato]

Water changes as par the levels.

 

[jaylin]

By the way, nitrates of 50 aren't all that bad, but 20 is alot better.

Higher nitrate levels will encourage algae growth ... So, 50 really isn't all that bad, but I'd try to keep it lower than that just so algae doesn't become a problem here as well.

 

[misscrosson]

ughh... I'm starting to give up..

I keep doing daily water changes 25% onces but.. even huge ones like... 80% every 2nd day.... and I've been testing my water...

Right now these are my results:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 50
Nitrite - 1.6

Why isn't it getting any better?... I'm started to feel that getting fish was nothing but a bad idea.... just a waste of money...

 

[nlmadison]

Just wondering ... When you pull the water for changes are you pulling it from the gravel? If there is still alot of debris in the gravel that could account for the nitrate level?

 

[Kasakato]

Yes. You want to dig the gravel vac into the gravel, and pull it out. Do this a few times, in different places. The rotting stuff could very well be giving you high nitrates.