rosebud

Hello to all ….This is new too me and I am having a few problems I shall break it up as much as I can… I was given a fish tank by a friend of mine around 50 Gallon 40 L (I think) Hexagon style tank with heater, pump. Lights gravel, filter ect which she used up until a few months ago once all set up I left to cycle for around a week took in a sample to my pet store and was told all was good and could add a few fish I added a catfish (bristle nose) and 3 tetras … In the meantime I had ordered one of the test kids on line which I was waiting for .The next day my friend had brought round 13 baby guppies said she was having trouble with her tank and could I put them in my tank ..As she was the one that had given the tank to me I agreed …..In between all this it was my birthday and I had been brought a Rena classic aqualife 121cm x width 51cm x height 70.5cm. The aquarium contains 346 litres. Complete with four fluorescent 30 watt lamps, two 200 watt heaters and one XP3 Rena External power filter (1350 l/h). This was set up with gravel ornaments’ and real plants and then left to cycle. my test kit arrived and I tested my smaller tank I could not believe the result the ammonia and the nitrite were off the scale nitrate reading was between 10 and 20 ph 7.6 I then went out to buy some ammo lock which I started to use I also started to do 15% water change every other day. In the meantime my big tank had cycled for just over a week and a test result was all normal and as the tetra had started looking a bit poorly I transferred all 3 tetra to the big tank where they have been for almost a week now and they look great and the results of the big tank is still o.k. I have lost my catfish from the small tank which has upset me with the ammo reading still off the scale the nitrite gone down to 2.0 nitrate 40 ph 76 i am still doing the water change 15% to 20% every other day with no change of any of the reading BUT for some reason the guppies (babies)are all fit and healthy with no signs of any stress(at the moment)I have cut their feeding down to only a tiny bit a day but I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want to add them to my big tank as I don’t want to end up with the same problem with adding to many fish at one time which is why I am having this problem please help me

bbfeckawitts

Hi,
A 10-15% water change every other day is not going to cut those readings down. The pet stores will tell you anything you want to hear to get to sell fish. Your ammonia needs to get under 1.0 for hardier species, while under .50 for not-as-tolerant species of fish. Nitrates need to stay BELOW 40 at all times as the absolute maximum. NitrItes need to be below 1.0. You need to do a 50% water change EVERY DAY to get those readings down. Ammo-Lock is not going to be good. It causes ammonia spikes.

Get Prime or Amquel+, these help to detoxify ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, giving your fish a fighting chance.

I did the exact same thing as you when starting m y tank. Unfortunatly, 1 week is not going to cycle a tank, espicially since you were adding no sourse of ammonia (i.e. fish food, pure ammonia). You need to read this to know what your tank is going thru. Best of luck, Brianna
www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

COBettaCouple

Yea, it's a shame how the pet stores lie to sell fish. I'd recommend that you get your own testing kit and test the water yourself. You can trust yourself more than them.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113074