GH, KH, pH NO2 and NO3 levels ...Help!

[krazy_Karma]

:well: I am in need of some help with my tank, I have a test strip and it tests the 5 levels, my GH is at 30, KH is a 40, pH is at a 6.5 ( tank is tetras, mollies and Gups) and the NO₂ and NO₃ are at 0. the Amonia which I test with another kit says 1, my tank is slightly cloudy and my fish are air sucking, what do I need to do in order for my fish to be happy again?

Edited July 24, 2008 by krazy_Karma

[Guest FLIP]

Why are you posting this in live stock.

[krazy_Karma]

Why are you posting this in live stock.

Thats a good question, I didnt look is the best answer I have for you...LOL

[Qattarra]

Do a 60% water change. I would advise you to buy separate liquid tests for NO2 NO3. I don't personally like/trust those strips. If your fish are gasping to me I think it's a nitrite spike. If your tank is cloudy there is a lot of uneaten food feeding a bacterial bloom so you may have a nitrate spike. Without good tests it's not easy to tell. Please do a massive water change and see what happens. Over 90% of aquarium issues are water quality.

[krazy_Karma]

Do a 60% water change. I would advise you to buy separate liquid tests for NO2 NO3. I don't personally like/trust those strips. If your fish are gasping to me I think it's a nitrite spike. If your tank is cloudy there is a lot of uneaten food feeding a bacterial bloom so you may have a nitrate spike. Without good tests it's not easy to tell. Please do a massive water change and see what happens. Over 90% of aquarium issues are water quality.

That is just crappy, I just did a 45% water change in this tank two days ago, I dont have water I have to go buy more water...ugh

I live on a farm and have hard water so I was told for the tetras its no good, but my cichlids likie it

thanks for your help

[Qattarra]

Your answer may answer your issues. I'm guessing you cleaned your filter well and vacuumed your substrate well. I think you've assassinated your good bacteria culture. If so you have a cycle happening again. How far out of town are you? Do you know someone in town? If you're close to Gibbons you could come get water here if you'd like.

[krazy_Karma]

Your answer may answer your issues. I'm guessing you cleaned your filter well and vacuumed your substrate well. I think you've assassinated your good bacteria culture. If so you have a cycle happening again. How far out of town are you? Do you know someone in town? If you're close to Gibbons you could come get water here if you'd like.

I am a good half hour from town one way, Gibbons is about an hour and a half I think...I live between Westlock and Athabasca.

Yes I changed my filter, but left the other filter in the actual tank for 4 days, then I had this type thing happen three days ago, I got frustrated threw out the old filter, threw the plants in with the Cichlids (they never ate it), did a 45% water change, I have the cichlid tank and my goldfish tank, I did take a bit of water from the cichlid tank as the ph and the GH were a bit low anyway...but dont want to much of that water in there or I could have more troubles with two high of ph and GH.

[Moutain Dew]

Not to sound mean or anything....BUT

Do you and your friend seem to be having the same problems? I believe her name is Lana?

It sounds to me as you have taken on too much to fast. I am not sure about how long your tank has been running.

But if it is under 2 months and you keep adding fish and changing filters and adding more fish you are going to probably lose all your fish.

I have seen many good people give you the same answers and You are still looking to add more fish.

I could be very wrong but maybe you should take a step back and learn the balance your aquarium needs to stay healthy, master that then start adding to

your fish collection. As it will become a very expensive and not very fun experience for yourself and your fish.

There are many good articles on here about the nitrogen cycle which incorporates the neccesity of your filter biological/ mechanical / chemical.

1 Biological filtration is the most important aquarium filtration type because it deals with the growing of the good bacteria in your filter. The good bacteria is the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite and then converts nitrite into nitrate. This establishment of bacteria is essential to your success with keeping tropical fish. For more information please read about the Nitrogen Cycle.( http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm )

2 Mechanical Filtration

Mechanical filtration removes the free floating particles from the aquarium water. The siphoning action of a power filter that hangs on the back of an aquarium does a decent job of this type of filtration.

3 Chemical Filtration

Chemical filtration involves removing the dissolved wastes from the aquarium water. Often times this is accomplished through the use of activated carbon in the aquarium filter. Activated carbon can also help to reduce odors. Many people dislike using carbon in their tanks due to the fact that the carbon is useful for only a short period and then must be replaced. If it doesn't get replaced in a timely manner the very wastes that it removed can be released from the carbon back into the aquarium.

I use to wash my filter material under tap water and lose fish constantly because my tank kept cycling and my fish kept going through a cycling tank, until I took the time and started reading and undertanding the environment my fish needed to survive.

Just a thought sorry about the rambling...

Edited July 24, 2008 by Moutain Dew

[krazy_Karma]

Not to sound mean or anything....BUT

Do you and your friend seem to be having the same problems? I believe her name is Lana?

It sounds to me as you have taken on too much to fast. I am not sure about how long your tank has been running.

But if it is under 2 months and you keep adding fish and changing filters and adding more fish you are going to probably lose all your fish.

I have seen many good people give you the same answers and You are still looking to add more fish.

I could be very wrong but maybe you should take a step back and learn the balance your aquarium needs to stay healthy, master that then start adding to

your fish collection. As it will become a very expensive and not very fun experience for yourself and your fish.

There are many good articles on here about the nitrogen cycle which incorporates the neccesity of your filter biological/ mechanical / chemical.

1 Biological filtration is the most important aquarium filtration type because it deals with the growing of the good bacteria in your filter. The good bacteria is the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite and then converts nitrite into nitrate. This establishment of bacteria is essential to your success with keeping tropical fish. For more information please read about the Nitrogen Cycle.( http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm )

2 Mechanical Filtration

Mechanical filtration removes the free floating particles from the aquarium water. The siphoning action of a power filter that hangs on the back of an aquarium does a decent job of this type of filtration.

3 Chemical Filtration

Chemical filtration involves removing the dissolved wastes from the aquarium water. Often times this is accomplished through the use of activated carbon in the aquarium filter. Activated carbon can also help to reduce odors. Many people dislike using carbon in their tanks due to the fact that the carbon is useful for only a short period and then must be replaced. If it doesn't get replaced in a timely manner the very wastes that it removed can be released from the carbon back into the aquarium.

First, Lana is my sister, and my tank is either very close to two months or is two months, Ive not had any trouble with it till recently, have only changed the filtr once, I was told to change it every 4-6 weeks.

I have not added any fish to my tank in over 3 weeks, and its just this last week and a bit where I have had these troubles, Ive not read everyone's posts to Lana's Threads, I dont have time to read every new post, at the time I wsnt having the same issues as she is, soooo...in that respect you are wrong, thus far I was told...

do a 60% water change, then I mentioned I just did a 45% water change, that was then thought to be my problem, so guess IM just supposed to be born knowing what and how??? I have had fish before and never had these kinds of issues.

I also have not mastered this site, I do have many other animals, and children so I cant spend all day trying to search for something when I dont know it even exists.

The filter you speak of is what I have on the tank, had you asked questions you would know this, I did ask for help!

I have Carbon, but am not sure how to use it, as I said I have a filter system of one that hangs at the back of the tank, the new filter I just put in it does have carbon in it, the filter i took out did not...this new filter is where I read that it has to be removed every 4-6 weeks, I learned from someone else not to remove the filter completely but to place it at the bottom of the tank so that the good bacteria is kept in the tank and not thrown out witht he trash, which is what I did.

The reason I joined this group was to talk with others of similar interests and to learn, I have three tanks of fish, two tanks are doing very well, the first tank I got is three months old, it just has goldfish in it, that tank had large issues with amonia, so in order to save the fish I moved them to another tank I had, but took their filter and used it in this other tank, so far this is working very well, the Gold fish tank and the Tetra tanks are my oldest tanks...the big Cichlid tank is not having problems, the amonia is good, GH is good, pH is perfect.

Have you not EVER had troubles with fish or one of your tanks, and had to look else where to learn????

I dont mean to sound mean or rude.

[Qattarra]

Most fish IME are not that sensitive to PH/KH etc. What kills them and if not kill but greatly harms their immune system and their gills is high ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. You can slowly acclimatize the fish to water that is easier for you. City water needs to be treated with Prime (or other lesser product lol j/k), and would be cheaper than bottled.

[krazy_Karma]

Most fish IME are not that sensitive to PH/KH etc. What kills them and if not kill but greatly harms their immune system and their gills is high ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. You can slowly acclimatize the fish to water that is easier for you. City water needs to be treated with Prime (or other lesser product lol j/k), and would be cheaper than bottled.

Its so weird, after this happened a few days ago, I did a partical change as some of my fish were sick, so what happened was the meds i was giving told me to give for two days then do a 25% water change, which I did, then give two more days of meds and another 25% water change, which I again did, then do it for two more days, this time my water was a mess and so I did more like a 45% change, fish started to parrish, so I took the plants out cleaned them, really took the vaccum to the bottom of the tank to get the grung, things wre great for a few hours then it got all cloudy again, so I had some aqua safe I put in the tank and felt there wasnt nothing else i could do, so the next day I woke up and things were okay, bought a new filter added it, the tank cleared up within 3 days abouts, but only stayed this way for about a day and a half, so then I bought some nitra zorb, and put that in, but my fish are still sucking air, Ive also left the lights off all day and last night, they dont stay sucking air all the time but right now they are all up, it is a 20 gal tank, there are 10 fish in it, biggest fish is just over an " most are an inch.

So that is what all I have done, today I took out just two ice cream pales, added one pale from each of my tanks hoping to get some good bacteria in the tank again, both tanks are very healthy, this is the only tank I am having issues with.

I did learn that I am feeding a bit to much, which was why I was having a previous issue of Amonia

Oh and I put a food disc in the tank the other day to see if they would eat it as we are leaving for a few days, it wasnt long that the tank went cloudy after that....I hope I got every thing and didnt confuse anyone

[krazy_Karma]

Mountain Dew

I have now read the one article you gave the link for on nitrogen Cycle, it did give me some good tips on reloaded my other tank, as I said I drained all the water from it, to clean it out as I couldnt seem to get the Ammonia under control, this tank I ve had for 3 months, it has or had my Goldfish in it, I did not clean out the rocks, as I know that I need to have some of the bacteria in there to rejuv. the tank.

I will be moving my Goldfish back in this tank so I can have the other tank for my Gups, by this time that tank should be doing well so I dont loose gups, by the way I had Gups in this Tetra tank (5 of them) and they all died, I had my water tested by the pet store, and all levels tested fine at that time.

From reading the article you gave the link to me, I have learned that many of the tings I did with this first tank was done wrong, and alot of my worries (ammonia) when I first had the tank (two weeks old or so) that I shouldnt of done anything but let it run its cycle.

this did however bring me another question, I just got a large tank, it was already an establesed tank when I got it, we left water in the bottom of the tank, and I took a 5 gal jug to bring back some of the water, and another 5 gal that held the fish on the trip, the tank is 47 gal, so my question is will this tank have to redo a cycle? or did I keep just enough to keep this tank established?

[Qattarra]

You sound frustrated and I can't blame you. You'll find that a lot of people want to help.

If your fish stick to the surface they are trying to breath. There is more oxygen at the surface. If you have an airstone and air pump , add it to the tank. The extra agitation at the surface which the bubbles cause will help oxygenate your tank. From your test strips I can't tell if your readings of N02 and N03 are correct. You say your tank is 3 m/o. That is still a very young tank and the cycle you may have is even more fragile than it otherwise is anyway. A simple thing like a fish dies and the corpse is hidden behind something can cause the ammonia to rise and problems can follow.

to clean your filter, don't pay too much attention to the label. Once the filter slows down and the water passing through decreases, take the media out and swoosh it arround in a bucket of tank water. I feed this to my plants. After you remove only the excess "gunk" put it back to work. At least 70% of your good bacteria is in your filter so you don't want to remove more than you have too. I've heard it said that less than 10% is in the water so that leaves 20%+ on your plants ,rocks and gravel. When you need to add meds some of these kill the good bacteria so nows a good time to keep extra sponges in the tanks so that if you have to do meds you'll have at least a sponge in another tanks growing good bacteria to replace the ones you lose. I'm the first to admit this "cycle" was a tough one to learn and apply. I've lost fish to my own booboos. No one wants to make you feel bad , the situation sucks and we've all had out trips and falls.

The fish aren't likely to be hungry if they are stressed and not happy so I suggest don't feed them until you can get the water sorted out.

[krazy_Karma]

You sound frustrated and I can't blame you. You'll find that a lot of people want to help.

If your fish stick to the surface they are trying to breath. There is more oxygen at the surface. If you have an airstone and air pump , add it to the tank. The extra agitation at the surface which the bubbles cause will help oxygenate your tank. From your test strips I can't tell if your readings of N02 and N03 are correct. You say your tank is 3 m/o. That is still a very young tank and the cycle you may have is even more fragile than it otherwise is anyway. A simple thing like a fish dies and the corpse is hidden behind something can cause the ammonia to rise and problems can follow.

to clean your filter, don't pay too much attention to the label. Once the filter slows down and the water passing through decreases, take the media out and swoosh it arround in a bucket of tank water. I feed this to my plants. After you remove only the excess "gunk" put it back to work. At least 70% of your good bacteria is in your filter so you don't want to remove more than you have too. I've heard it said that less than 10% is in the water so that leaves 20%+ on your plants ,rocks and gravel. When you need to add meds some of these kill the good bacteria so nows a good time to keep extra sponges in the tanks so that if you have to do meds you'll have at least a sponge in another tanks growing good bacteria to replace the ones you lose. I'm the first to admit this "cycle" was a tough one to learn and apply. I've lost fish to my own booboos. No one wants to make you feel bad , the situation sucks and we've all had out trips and falls.

The fish aren't likely to be hungry if they are stressed and not happy so I suggest don't feed them until you can get the water sorted out.

I have a air stone in the tank, I had a chest but it was not opening that well this last while so I pulled it out of the tank and just put the airstone in, its not making near the bubbles the other one is making but it is sending up two steady streams of air.

Your right I am getting very frustrated, I dont remember fish being so much work on my brain...LOL

Ive not noticed any left over dead fish, normally I scoop them out right away, because I spend so much time at my tanks I know when I am missing one...however that said my neons had some babies and though i never seen them I do know that one has survived as it is now a juvie...what happened to the rest I couldnt say, I had alot of plant in this tank, so there were good hiding places for young fry.

Okay thanks now I know for my other two tanks, wont make that mistake twice, I would rather learn my mistakes with this tank as the fish in it were not that expensive, though I hate to see anything die specially at my fault, but I have to stay possitive or I will send my self to the loony bin.

[Lana Bollers]

What I did wrong with both my tanks, was listen to the people at the pet store!!!

The first tank I let sit empty for a couple of weeks before adding fish it was only a 5gal tank, thought I was doing everything right, took the filter out and rinsed it all off, however my mistake was rinsing it off under tap water, I killed off all the good bacteria, so now that tank is going through a small bloom, but now I know what I am dealing with I have done partial changes, added prime and stability to the tank and will continue to do so.

With my large tank, I set it up and was told I could add fish, so one week after having it set up I added two cichlids, everything was fine and dandy a week later I added the other fish, things were not so fine and dandy well they were for a week. At which point my tank was 3 weeks old on the fourth week it went into a wonderful bloom...NOT, anyway I have since been told that I should of waited six to even 8 weeks before adding fish...

I am trying to complete a fishless cycle with a new tank I have purchased so that when one of my tanks pukes up I have some place safe for my fish...

All mistakes that have been made were made due to being new to the fish world and simply not knowing, and not having adequate advise.

I have since joined this group hoping that I don't have any more newbie lapses and when something arrises I can look for help.

I have had so many people suggest different filters and when I went to purchase the filstar filter I was told not to buy that filter but to purchase an aqua clear, now was I wrong to do that, shoot you know what I have no idea, so now my tank has the fluval 205 and the aquaclear 70 running on it, with an airstone, my tank is clearing up. I have tested the levels and I am still having problems with the ammonia, so I am continuing to do partial water changes and adding prime and stability. I add the prime when I complete the water change and following morning add stability, we have just completed about a 30% water change last night, would not of done such a large one, but we had to move the tank a smidge away from the wall so we could put the new filter in. Tonight we will just remove 2.5 gal of water and replace with new water. so just a small change, that will let the good bacteria grow.

Because I am new to fish I was not aware that you had to let the tank cycle before adding fish, now that my tank has or is going through this bloom once it is done I believe it will be safe to add the fish I was hoping to add.

So lesson learned and I am trying to do better by my fish.

Lana