Ammonia and Nitrite high help

Bubbles

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Apr 23, 2009
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Hi

We have just done a water test on the tank we added the rescued fish and found the nitrite and ammonia have gone up.

Results

PH 7.8
Ammonia 1.0
Nitrite 1.0
Nitrate 40

The tank is 106ltrs.

There are two fluval u3 filters running.

on the 13th there was 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite.

Hubby is about to do 30 % water change should he do any more than that?

Kind Thanks
 

Bubbles

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Apr 23, 2009
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Thanks Johnny70, i have also cut back a lot on the food i have put in the tank and i will retest in the morning and go from there.
 

Doodles

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Apr 8, 2009
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Add some prime if you have any, it detoxifies ammonia and nitrite. Instructions for dosages are on the bottle.


The filters should catch up with the extra load but takes a bit of time
 

Bubbles

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Apr 23, 2009
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Hi Doodles unfortunately dont have anything apart from aquasafe, could i keep doing the 30% water changes until we can get some?

Is that seachem Prime?

Thanks
 
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Doodles

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Apr 8, 2009
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Hi Doodles unfortunately dont have anything apart from aquasafe, could i keep doing the 30% water changes until we can get some?

Is that seachem Prime?

Thanks
The water changes are fine, you do need to have some ammonia, nitrite present otherwise the filter won't catch up. I would monitor the readings, keep the ammonia and nitrite fairly low and as long as the fish aren't stressing, do water changes if either start to climb too high. Then when you can, get some prime and add that, the amount would be depending on the readings.

yep seachem prime:yes:
 
Apr 27, 2009
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Middle Earth
Not too sure maybe someone else may agree/disagree but the clowns are fairly active fish that like to rummage in substrate, is it possible that even though you might not be seeing actual detritus they are disturbing the substrate enough to kick up poop thats settled, add this to the addition of 4 medium sized fish in one go and the filters are having to deal with a big increase in Bio-Load and as Lisa states need time to catch up. Like i say not too sure on this theory
 

Bubbles

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Apr 23, 2009
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Not too sure maybe someone else may agree/disagree but the clowns are fairly active fish that like to rummage in substrate, is it possible that even though you might not be seeing actual detritus they are disturbing the substrate enough to kick up poop thats settled, add this to the addition of 4 medium sized fish in one go and the filters are having to deal with a big increase in Bio-Load and as Lisa states need time to catch up. Like i say not too sure on this theory

Hi Mate, since adding spencer to the tank i started to vacuum the gravel with every water change ( 10%) daily, but i didnt move his cave as i didnt want to stress him, i moved it today after the test reading and there was detritus, so i will be moving his cave when vacumming :wb: I feel foolish now.

Also i have a feeling i have been over feeding to try and get the rescued fish to eat which would not have helped at all :wb:

The clowns have just started to get active last night it was fascinating to watch : D
 
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Bubbles

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Apr 23, 2009
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Hi Doodles

Thank you for asking.

They are doing better i think, the pictus tend to stay under one of the internal filters though one sneaks into the BN's cave lol, even though they do have a hideout, and the clown loaches are now sometimes playing together ( they kind of do twirly swimming around each other lol hope that makes sense) and they snuffle into the gravel, which is fascinating to watch. I get my chores done quickly in the morning so i can watch them :D.
 

Doodles

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Apr 8, 2009
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( they kind of do twirly swimming around each other lol hope that makes sense)
Its called a loach dance:yes:

It is cool to watch, my zebra and yoyo loaches do it too. Glad to hear though, sounds like they have recovered very well.

Infact, i just went and got this pic to show you, its not very good quality but its the 'Dance'