Stitcher

Hi all. just joined in. Been reading here for info. Wish I knew about this site before I set up my tank,75 gal. I may have save the casualties if I had the info from here before hand. Bought a used tank & came with a couple fish. Set the tank up with gravel & filter as was to keep bacteria but tank still went through cycle. Lady I got tank from said they would be fine in new water. Not sure if it was nitrites that got them or they didn't take well to change in water & new home. Lost a Bala Shark & Dojo Loach. Replaced with new fish, 4 Guppies, Pleco, YoYo Botia & 6 Neon Tetras. Tank is doing well now. Got a test kit and started monitoring the water. 0 Ammonia, 0.2 nitrite, 10 nitrate.
I have found info here very usefull.

Tom

Welcome to Fishlore. That was good timing on your part for posting, 10:00:00PM. Can't wait to see pics.
Tom

Stitcher

Can't take any good pics right now, camera is broke and I'm shopping for a new one right now.

sirdarksol

Welcome to the forums. Basically the same thing that happened with me. I got a 20 gallon tank and fish and didn't know about the ammonia cycle. The guorami that came with the tank bravely gave his life that I could find out about ammonia poisoning before the rest of the fish gave up the ghost, God rest his soul. I now have a happy, healthy tank and a dogwood bush out back that is home to the guorami.

sgould

Welcome to the site!

Stitcher

The Shark kept swimming back & forth in the front of the tank all day non stop for a week, would not eat & seen fine, but I knew something was up. He had to eat sooner or later but he didn't. Thats how I found this site, looking for info to help him.

Tom

The way my parents got a really nice camera was going onto airmiles.com and getting a really nice one from there for a few thousand airmiles.
Tom

COBettaCouple

Welcome to fishlore.. it's too bad about the lost fish, but i think a LOT of us here on fishlore got here trying to help fish the same way you did.

What kind of testing kit did you get? What do you treat your tap water with? Do you have a heater? how long has the tank been running for you?

Stitcher

Nutrafin Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate test. My choice here is pretty limited, one IFS and Wallymart. I didn't want to buy online and wait for the kit. I needed now after reading about the water cycle.
I treat the water with a conditioner to be safe. I don't have chlorine in my water, I draw off from a dugout for my household water. I tested the tap water ; 0 ammonia ; 0 nitrites ; 02 nitrates.
The tanks been going for 2 weeks now and nitrites are going down. Todays readings were 0 ; 0.2 ; 10

COBettaCouple

That's our choices too. Sounds good in your tank.

Bonochick

Welcome! Glad you've got a tank that's doing all right now.

Jmarcus

Welcome to FishLore and good luck with you new tank

atmmachine816

Welcome to fishlore

Stitcher

Fish are doing Okay but the cycle does not seam to be going any place.
Tested the water today Had 0 ammonia ; 0.3 nitrite ; 10 nitrate. Did a 25% water change and tested the water again about 20 min later. 0 ammonia ; 0.2 nitrite ; 7 nitrate.
Is this right?? What is a safe level of nitrite for the fish? Should I do another water change now to bring the nitrite level down more??

COBettaCouple

How long was the tank running before you first tested it?

Stitcher

The tank was going for 12 days before I got the test kits. Tested on that day was;
0 ammonia ; 0.3 nitrite ; 10 nitrate. The tank got set up with a used filter & gravel.
My concern is the nitrite levels, what is to high for the fish?? I did a 50% water change last night and my readings came down to 0.1 nitrite ; 5 nitrate.

COBettaCouple

I could be wrong, but your tank might be cycled or nearly cycled and the nitrates could come down.. you could use a dose of novaqua+ if it's cycled and just has a little bit of pesky nitrites left.

Stitcher

Been searching site for answer to ??. Nitires should be 0 on a cycled tank but what level of nitrites is unsafe that I should panic and do a water change