soldieroffortune1974

What is the nitrate reading?

The only safe zone for nitrite is 00ppm.

4 hours isn't long enough to get an accurate reading after a water change. I would test every 12 hours,keep a log. When the readings are 00 with nitrates readable,your cycle is done. How long that takes,well there's no definite answer there. For some it has taken a week,others it has taken 3 or 4 months.

1 thing to keep in mind,it's not the amount of water going through the filter,that effects anything. It's the amount of time the bacteria is in physical contact with the ammonia,nitrites in the water. It takes 6-8 minutes for a colony to remove .01ppm of ammonia and 8-10 minutes for bacteria to remove .03ppm of nitrite. Since the water is constantly circulating,and the bacteria doesn't have access to them for a solid lenghth of time,it takes many,many,many circulations to reach the time the bacteria removes the ammonia and nitrites.

You can place some filter media in a glass,fill it with water.Test the parameters,then retest after 10 minutes.The amount of nitrites,ammonia will be less,then test every 10 minutes,and record how long it took to remove them. <-----an easy and accurate experiment to test how much bacteria you have. The less time,means you have a larger quantity.A longer time means you have a smaller quantity. An easy way to judge how much is in the aquarium overall.

CO2VA

The only thing I have at the present time are the test strips for testing Nitrate. I have grown not to trust them. If they are accurate the Nitrate level is somewhere between zero (0) and ten (10). According to the test kit those levels are within the safe zone. All my other tests are accomplished with a liquid test kit. I need to get a liquid one for the Nitrate test.

CO2VA

Two days ago my Nitrite rocketed. I did 100%+ water change until all my readings where normal. The day after all indications were normal again. I tested the water today and I have the following readings:

Ammonia - .25
Toxic Ammonia - .3 (initial Ammonia reading above corrected for pH & Temp)
Nitrite - .2
Nitrate - 5
pH - 7.4
Temp - 73

At this point should I perform a percentage of water change or wait?

soldieroffortune1974

Add some Prime or amquel+ to detox the ammonia.You are either in a mini-cycle or there is ammonia and nitrites in your water supply.OR you have a dead fish somewhere. I wouldn't change the water,AS LONG AS you use some type of conditioner as mentioned. If you find a dead fish,remove it and the ammonia and nitrites should drop.If you can't get Prime or Amquel,do a 50% water change,but check your water supply 1st,you may need an alternate source of water.

CO2VA

The water supply is fine. no high levels of nitrite or nitrate. I have vacuumed the gravel very well over the last week or so and did not find any remains of fish. I will use the prime, it is what I have and I have confidence in it. Other than that and a 50% water change I do not know what I can do. I would have expected the bacteria to take car of the Nitrites Nd only high level of Nitrate but I have never seen that happen.

CO2VA

Mass Extinction - the other day I did a 20% water change out like I usually do. The next morning the fish are doing fine. Four hours later all 11 are dead. Only two survived. Water tests showed all values within acceptable limits. Transferred remaining fish to bucket, broke down the tank and washed everything. Reset up tank and starting over. Still cannot figure out what caused the loss.

Lucy

Oh wow, I'm really sorry.
Exact numbers would help rather than 'within acceptable limits'

It's unusual to have such a great amount of deaths in a tank at once.
Is it possible you had forgotten dechlorinator or had soap residue or used hand lotion?

CO2VA

chlorine 0, nitrite .1, nitrate 10, amonia 0, Ph 7.4, temp 73