Conflicting Advice Is Killing My Fish!

I’m a new tank owner and I’m very frustrated!

I have a 10 gallon and a 3 gallon fresh water tank. The 10 gallon has a fungal infection. The 3 gallon has fish rot (possibly? Maybe?) and probably fungus as well.

The 10 gallon
Had 6 rasboras, down to 3. (Bought nov 24th)
Two were killed by a male Betta who was removed last Thursday (nov29)to the 3 gallon shame-tank.

Please clarify!! The 29th was the first partial water change to see if I could get the hang of the vacuum now that there were fish in the tank, but I was scolded by the fish shop (not petsmart!) for doing a 10% change in a tank that had been running for 3 weeks and housing fish for 1, when the tank instructions themselves had said two 10% changes per week or one 25% once a week. I will do as many or as few changes as required to have a happy, healthy aquarium! He said I should have waited 4 weeks with fish before doing any changes, and this sounds wrong!

Fungal problem:

A third rasbora died last night and had a mis-diagnosed case of fungus, which I mistook for a lame fin post-Betta bite on the 28th. He fell behind the growth of the other 3 healthier fish and died last night (dec4)

The three remaining fish each have small signs of white cotton on their pectoral fins, and I am on my third day (dec 2-5) of Pimafix that I don’t believe is doing anything.

They are not eating, and aren’t swimming in their favourite spot (a ways down from the filter where the current gives them a push).

I removed the charcoal pad from the filter when I started the Pimafix on dec 2nd. I have not changed the water because I was already told off for it, but browsing this forum listed DAILY water changes as the first line of defence when things go wrong.

I’ve been told to add salt, but don’t add salt.
Use pimafix, but pimafix is garbage.
Don’t change the water but make sure you change the water.

Water has been tested every 2-4 days since the fish went in, will post the last test results when I get home. (0 chlorine, 0 ammonia, 20 ph, I believe?

 

Is your tank cycled because that could take 3-8 weeks before fish should be added.

 

I set the tank up on the second or third of November and initially went to the store for plants, not pets, but the person I spoke to suggested that after nearly 3 weeks of just the bacteria without any actual ammonia-producing fish, not much was being done. I also don’t know how to verify if it’s fully cycled because I’ve yet to have a water test come out with a problem indicated. The tests measure chemicals, not biomatter? Is that making sense?

But I did get excited and recognize that that was my mistake. If they all end up expiring I won’t be adding any more animals until I can be 100% certain that the tank is clear of fungus, the plants are fully rooted, and I won’t kill them with silly mistakes.



Adding to my confusion: I received even stranger advice regarding the 3 gallon, because the associate at that independent shop was adamant that the Betta could go in the tank the same night I set it up as long as I acclimated him to the temperature and gave the conditioner and bacteria started a good hour before putting him in. It was a toss-up between putting him in the uncycled tank or leaving him in the cup for a few weeks. I’m not surprised that he’s doing as terribly as he is, but that’s a topic for another thread when I’m off mobile and can find the sick fish forum.

 

What are you ammonia, nitrite and Nitrate level. I doubt your PH is 20. Knowing all your numbers is the first step.

 

READ FIRST: Freshwater Beginner Important Topics
Did you read threw any of the treads in this thread? It explains a lot .

 

What are you ammonia, nitrite and Nitrate level. I doubt your PH is 20. Knowing all your numbers is the first step.

I won’t be off work for another 2-3 hours, but as soon as I get home i’ll test for the 10gal again. Thank you!

READ FIRST: Freshwater Beginner Important Topics
Did you read threw any of the treads in this thread? It explains a lot .

I did, yes! That and finding a thread about a Betta whose situation matches mine are why I signed up here.

I went ahead and made this thread because it’s a case of “I’ve done this many things wrong, I’m at this critical point, and every time I’ve tried to correct I’ve found out “whoops! Wrong move”.” I’ve made several blunders and next time i’ll know better, but before I go home and do something rash like a 50% water change or a salt dose, this newbie needs some hand-holding.

(I just didn’t expect replies to come this fast! I’ll have the water numbers soon)

 

Another point I would recommend is to listen to one or two people that have the same thoughts of what is needed. If not you will be all over the place and you may be doing more bad than good.

 

So being scolded for water changes is pretty silly. You could do a 100% water change and it won't effect your cycle by any appreciable amount. PH max is 14.

 

Yeah if your PH was 20 everything would be dead very quickly

 

Ignore all of the instructions that come with your tank, food and most that come with your filter. Ignore any advice from big box stores (like Petco) and take your LFS with a grain of salt. Those people are out to sell you more products and fish.

Your best friend and shining light to see through the bull is a good understanding of the nitrogen cycle and water quality. Assuming that you are using a good water source, a proper dosage of water conditioner and a consistent temperature, water changes will always improve water quality. If your LFS told you not to do a water change, I would seriously reconsider taking his advice.

If you are dosing a tank with medication, sometimes they tell you NOT to do water changes, because you will mess with concentration of medicine in the water. Does that make sense?

 

Little cotton-like tufts? That sounds like Saprolegnia. Search for pictures of it online and compare.

The most common experience people have with Melafix/Pimafix is that it does nothing. The next most common is that it killed their fish or put them in respiratory distress. And by far the least common: it actually worked.

 

First, welcome to the forum LSunnyC!

Joining the forum is the best move you could have made for the health of the tank and of the fish.

You gave a ton of background info to your problem, which is great! That makes it a lot easier for other members to give advice, opinions and recommendations.

Are you using test strips or the API kit with the vials?

You asked what they test for. The answer is pH, Ammonia, Nitites and Nitrates. You're correct, they don't test for "biomatter".

Usually when people post on the forum their water parameters, they follow the order of: pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates.

As far as water changes are concerned, they are usually the first recommended course of action to take anytime a fish is I'll or symptomatic.

The worse the symptoms, usually the larger and more frequent water changes are called for.

As others stated, perform at least a 50% water change when you are able to.

You mentioned you had a gravel vac. Hopefully it's the kind that has the priming bulb on it.

Also, what type of water treatment (dechlorinator) are you using?

As for salt, it's 50/50 whether you get advise for or against it. There are people in both camps.

I have used Aquarium salt with no detriment to my fish that traditionally may have some sensitivity to salt.

The symptoms of the fungus that you have, I have never encountered in my tanks, so unfortunately I can't comment on it

The pic on your profile, is that a Top Fin 10 gallon kit?

 

Welcome to Fishlore! Sorry you arrived under duress.
Sadly, for every issue or question, you will always find multiple answers. Even among the pros here. Some issues have a clear majority answer (water changes are good), but some are split (salt vs not).
Here at my contributions to your situation.
- Don’t despair. Even if you lose all of the current batch of fish (which I hope you don’t), you will have learned a lot and be better able to start again.
- Be patient. Try to understand what you’re doing in terms of interventions (eg water changes, medication, etc) before you do it. If you jump to this treatment or that supplement and so forth, the constant changes to their environment won’t be appreciated by your fish.
More specifically, have you bought/used a bacterial starter? Some, like tetra safestart (I believe - it could be a different one) require that you not do water changes for a couple weeks after setup, adding product, and adding fish. I’m wondering if that is where the “don’t do water change” advice came from?
Do you use a water dechlorinator/conditioner? Do you know what it does, and how/when to use it?
What is your water supply? Tap water? Do you have a softener? Have you tested it with your strips?
So many questions, sorry
But also

 

(Edit2: formatting switched)

3 gallon:

pH 6.5., 0 ammonia, 0 nitrate, 0 nitrate,
Did a water change when I got home because the old food was decaying (he’s stopped eating) was sure to match temperatures and condition before refilling tank (~15-25%). Took out that much because the filter doesn’t have its floss padding right now and I want the water to drip and airate a bit more to keep the oxygen moving around.

10 gallon:
Nitrate 0, nitrite 0, ammonia 0, but the pH was over 7.6 and I would’ve done the high range test but I need a bottle to dry first (kit only has 4).

Pretty spooked by that number so I did a quick 25% change with conditioner. Vacuumed out a lot more food than expected since they usually gobble it all up. Waiting on vials to dry so I can re-test the water.

Little cotton-like tufts? That sounds like Saprolegnia. Search for pictures of it online and compare.

The most common experience people have with Melafix/Pimafix is that it does nothing. The next most common is that it killed their fish or put them in respiratory distress. And by far the least common: it actually worked.

That is exactly what I'm dealing with. I thought those little tufts were old food that had sprouted! I was super grossed out this evening when I cleaned the 3 gallon and pulled up clouds of it, I reached in and wiped off a layer of gross film from the Anubis plant growing in there. I'd blame the plant but it's other half (the original was large so I split it) in the 10 isn't slimy at all.

It says it's a mould, so how do I treat it?

 

If all your numbers are 0 your tank is not cycled. Are you sure your doing the tests correctly. If you have the API master test kit did you shake bottle 2 of the Nitrate for 30 seconds vigorously.

 

First, welcome to the forum LSunnyC!

Thank you!

Are you using test strips or the API kit with the vials?
[...]
Usually when people post on the forum their water parameters, they follow the order of: pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates.

I've been relying on petsmart and the local shop for my water tests but finally bought the API vial kit this evening to stop the run around (I have 2 cats so I'm in there pretty often anyways). Thank you for telling me the format! I had the lady in the shop show me how to test the water and walk me through it with a sample from the betta tank, but it didn't occur to me that since I have two tanks, I'll need twice as many vials if I want them to air-dry between uses.

I did less than 50% changes tonight but I'm also new to the technique with the vac. Yes it does have a priming bulb and I got it to work properly as I prodded the gravel where I figured most of the decayed food/mould would be. I can do another change tomorrow, I want to make sure I get as much of that mould out of the water as possible..

Right now I'm using the Topfin conditioner and matching bacteria starter. I haven't reapplied the bacteria since setting up either tank since I'm pretty sure that's only necessary in a 100% full clean? I understand that topfin isn't the best on the market by a long shot, but since it's something I'll be buying for regular maintenance over the next few years I didn't see the harm in starting cheap and upgrading later.

It's definitely the 10gal Topfin and I'm very happy with it! It still needs more plants. More gravel. Rocks. Driftwood? Ah! I don't have the cash yet, but I will.
The 3.5 gallon is a piece of warped plastic that, once I get my next paycheque, is getting returned to the shop for the 5.5 glass tank instead. Going cheap is one thing, buying garbage with a filter that warps and pops out of place is something else.

Welcome to Fishlore! Sorry you arrived under duress.
Sadly, for every issue or question, you will always find multiple answers. Even among the pros here. Some issues have a clear majority answer (water changes are good), but some are split (salt vs not).
Here at my contributions to your situation.

Thank you so much! Fortunately when I bit the bullet and bought the starter kit I knew two things: 1) this hobby is expensive and 2) I was going to make mistakes. If this batch of fish all die I've promised myself not to replenish the tanks until I have the plants, background, texture and enrichment I want all in place that I couldn't necessarily afford all at once. My Betta's troubles started with being pulled out of a large tank that lacked coverage for him, placed in a new tank that was much too cold and with a filter far too strong, and his clamped fins are rotting now. I'm not sure what to do for the poor thing, but at least his tank has been at a solid 78F for the last 5 days and his filter is baffled so he can swim.

A good reason why I joined the forum is that I saw someone saying Bettafix is both a poor quality product but also harmful to the betta's labyrinth organ, leaving me at even more of a loss because my options are Tea Tree Oil, Melafix, or dumb luck.

If all your numbers are 0 your tank is not cycled. Are you sure your doing the tests correctly. If you have the API master test kit did you shake bottle 2 of the Nitrate for 30 seconds vigorously.

I retested after reading this, I’m not feeling great about the results.

The tubes weren’t completely dry but I doubt such a small amount of rinse water could wipe out any trace of the nitrate, could it?

 

MY opinion: - Your test tubes don't need to dry between uses, rinse them in tap water and shake the excess out. The amount of tap water and solution that might adhere to the tube is minuscule when compared to the volume of water (5ml) that you're testing.
Welcome to FishLore and good luck!

 

I retested after reading this, I’m not feeling great about the results.
The tubes weren’t completely dry but I doubt such a small amount of rinse water could wipe out any trace of the nitrate, could it?

HI & welcome to the forum, joining Fishlore is probably the best move you've made since getting in to the hobby (obsession ). Looking at your pic above suggests that your tank has not completed a nitrogen cycle, if it had you wouldn't be getting zero readings across the board. My advice would be to go back to the start & get your cycle in place, to do that I would do a 75% water change & gravel vac really well to get as much gunk out of the substrate as you can, re-fill the tank with conditioned water making sure the added water is temperature matched to the tank water. As you have fish in the tank you'll be looking at a 'fish in' cycle which is fine as long as it's done properly i.e. check your water parameters daily to make sure ammonia / nitrites are not spiking too high, they shouldn't as you now have only a small bio-load in the tank which the beneficial bacteria colony in your filter media will grow to match over a couple of weeks or so but if ammonia or nitrites get up to 2ppm then do a partial water change to bring it down again to keep your fish safe. Feed sparingly, reading your posts if you are vaccing up loads of gunk out of your gravel it suggests you are over feeding, I would also get a bacteria starter & add that to get the BB colony started, others on the site would disagree as some question the effectiveness of it but I've always used JBL Denitrol when doing fish in cycles & have never lost a fish while cycling a tank. Keeping the water in your tanks clean & with good parameters is the main step in keeping your fish happy & healthy. I'd also do similar to the betta's tank, I've always found that if fish are ill / stressed keeping the water pristine clean with all parameters spot on will help them fight off infections & heal themselves without using chemicals / meds some of which are most definitely of dubious quality & usefulness.

 

Pretty spooked by that number so I did a quick 25% change with conditioner. Vacuumed out a lot more food than expected since they usually gobble it all up. Waiting on vials to dry so I can re-test the water.

That is exactly what I'm dealing with. I thought those little tufts were old food that had sprouted! I was super grossed out this evening when I cleaned the 3 gallon and pulled up clouds of it, I reached in and wiped off a layer of gross film from the Anubis plant growing in there. I'd blame the plant but it's other half (the original was large so I split it) in the 10 isn't slimy at all.

It says it's a mould, so how do I treat it?

A pH of 7.6 is nearly perfect. Most fish are fine between 6 and 9 but nitrifying bacteria isn't happy below 6.5 and prefers mid- to upper-7s.

The treatment of choice for Saprolegnia is malachite green. It's usually combined with formalin/formaldehyde/glutaral/glutaraldehyde as ich/external parasite treatments. That stuff doesn't work well against Saprolegnia and just increases the risk of toxicity. It looks like Kordon sells malachite green alone.

Saprolegnia, Columnaris, Mycobacterium, and others exist in all freshwater aquariums/ponds and feed on organic waste. They typically don't feed on fish unless the fish are stressed and/or organics levels are excessive (which encourages large populations of these detritivores and also stresses fish in and of itself).

 

I've been in basically the same situation, so I feel your pain. We got the 10 gallon kit and got a lot of bad advice at both petsmart and petco. I found that the top fin bacteria starter doesn't really do anything, so I'd say don't bother with it. I ended up using tetra safe start to quickly cycle my tank, but it also had a goldfish in it that was producing a lot of waste. The good news is that your parameters are safe even though your tanks aren't cycled. Daily water changes are your friend right now, even though they can be pretty exhausting. If you want to step back and try again, you could see if the store will take back your fish so you can do everything the way you want before adding anything. Though I don't know that they'd take something back knowing it has fungus.

 

Stick to the advice that you get here. I learned everything I needed to learn from the nice folks on this forum. Just this year alone, I have cycled/ upgraded 4 tanks successfully thanks to the help of the folks here. Ignore what others tell you. They are either trying to sell you more fish or are simply miss informed.

Thank you!



I've been relying on petsmart and the local shop for my water tests but finally bought the API vial kit this evening to stop the run around (I have 2 cats so I'm in there pretty often anyways). Thank you for telling me the format! I had the lady in the shop show me how to test the water and walk me through it with a sample from the betta tank, but it didn't occur to me that since I have two tanks, I'll need twice as many vials if I want them to air-dry between uses.

I did less than 50% changes tonight but I'm also new to the technique with the vac. Yes it does have a priming bulb and I got it to work properly as I prodded the gravel where I figured most of the decayed food/mould would be. I can do another change tomorrow, I want to make sure I get as much of that mould out of the water as possible..

Right now I'm using the Topfin conditioner and matching bacteria starter. I haven't reapplied the bacteria since setting up either tank since I'm pretty sure that's only necessary in a 100% full clean? I understand that topfin isn't the best on the market by a long shot, but since it's something I'll be buying for regular maintenance over the next few years I didn't see the harm in starting cheap and upgrading later.

It's definitely the 10gal Topfin and I'm very happy with it! It still needs more plants. More gravel. Rocks. Driftwood? Ah! I don't have the cash yet, but I will.
The 3.5 gallon is a piece of warped plastic that, once I get my next paycheque, is getting returned to the shop for the 5.5 glass tank instead. Going cheap is one thing, buying garbage with a filter that warps and pops out of place is something else.



Thank you so much! Fortunately when I bit the bullet and bought the starter kit I knew two things: 1) this hobby is expensive and 2) I was going to make mistakes. If this batch of fish all die I've promised myself not to replenish the tanks until I have the plants, background, texture and enrichment I want all in place that I couldn't necessarily afford all at once. My Betta's troubles started with being pulled out of a large tank that lacked coverage for him, placed in a new tank that was much too cold and with a filter far too strong, and his clamped fins are rotting now. I'm not sure what to do for the poor thing, but at least his tank has been at a solid 78F for the last 5 days and his filter is baffled so he can swim.

A good reason why I joined the forum is that I saw someone saying Bettafix is both a poor quality product but also harmful to the betta's labyrinth organ, leaving me at even more of a loss because my options are Tea Tree Oil, Melafix, or dumb luck.


I retested after reading this, I’m not feeling great about the results.

The tubes weren’t completely dry but I doubt such a small amount of rinse water could wipe out any trace of the nitrate, could it?

I would test again for Nitrates. maybe it is a result of the large water changes but you should have some form of Nitrate. I get Nitrate readings consistently in a planted tank on 4 well established tanks.

 

Just wondering what accounts for the big difference in Ph between the 2 tanks? Looks like the small tank has a Ph of 6.5 and the large tank is 7.6? Or did I read that wrong... ?

 

Just wondering what accounts for the big difference in Ph between the 2 tanks? Looks like the small tank has a Ph of 6.5 and the large tank is 7.6? Or did I read that wrong... ?

I suspect that, like myself, OP has soft water that starts out at a relatively high pH. Mine starts at 8.1 but 3 weeks later it's 5.5 if I don't intervene. Nitrification consumes alkalinity and produces a bit of acid so pH will decline over time if you have soft water.

 

Regarding the drying of the vials, after I rinse mine out, I twist up corner of a paper towel and use that to dry off the test tube.

I have slowly managed to drop my vials and break them, so I am down to 2 test tubes only, all for 3 tanks!

Top Fin conditioner will work. Most water conditioners have the same main ingredients.

If you have access to Amazon, try Seachem Prime as your water conditioner. You will only need the smaller bottle. It costs more per ounce compared to other dechlorinators, but it is super concentrated. It will actually save you money in the long run. It can be also used to treat the tank during ammonia/nitrite/nitrate spikes!

Dosing for Prime as follows:

0.1 ml per 1 gallon
0.5 ml per 5 gallon
1.0 ml per 10 gallon
5.0 ml per 50 gallon

So a bottle lasts a long time.

I use plastic 1.0ml syringes (without the needle) to draw the Prime from the cap lid to accurately does. Get the one with 0.1ml markings. They are available online and from any pharmacy for under $1.

The 10 gallon TopFin kit is a good one. If you dump the 3.5g plastic tank, try to get the 5 gallon TopFin glass tank. It also has the Silentstream 10 filter like your 10 gallon tank has.

A couple of cheap DIY mods will make it a good little filter. I have the TopFin20 version of that filter on my 10g.

Here is a pic of a sponge pre-filter I attached to the end of the intake tube. They are available at Petsmart for a couple of bucks for a 2 pack.







A sponge prefilter will catch the larger muck before entering the filter. It keeps the cartridge and impeller cleaner for longer period of time. It also will be an additional place for beneficial bacteria to colonize and will keep small fish/fry and shrimp out of the filter.

It can be secured with a plastic zip tie or rubber band on the end of the tube.

You can also add a small bag of Aquaclear/Fluval bio-media for the bacteria to colonize in. That brand calls it Bio-Max. Small bag ranges from $2-5 online and at Petsmart. An example is here ().

If you use the sponge prefilter and add the bag of bio-media, you can help ensure the tanks stay cycled. When you replace the cartridges, you won't be throwing away all of the beneficial bacteria and jacking up your nitrogen cycle. You can shove the bag in the reservoir.

Here is a top view pic of my TopFin20 filter with a larger bag of it inside.

Top Fin 20 1

• Islandvic
• Oct 7, 2018

Had to insert the cartridge diagonally to make it fit.

 

Islandvic, that second picture looks like there's a kiwI on the end of your intake

 

Hi! Welcome to fish lore.

Just putting in my 2 cents here...

I have had success doing a fish-in cycle with Seachem Stability and Prime. Both can be found at almost all pet stores and usually Walmart, too.

Also - someone telling you not to do a water change during fish-in cycling was bad advice imo!

Most importantly, you do not want to kill any of the beneficial bacteria you have established thus far. Make sure you never put non-conditioned water in the tank and never rinse your filter media in it. It's best to rinse filter media in a bucket of dirty tank water. This prevents the chlorine in tap water from killing your BB.

You will know your tank is cycled once your nitrate level rises and ammonia and nitrite drop to 0 - this means BB are successfully converting ammonia and nitrite (harmful to fish) to nitrate (removed by water changes).

Good luck!

 

I have slowly managed to drop my vials and break them, so I am down to 2 test tubes only, all for 3 tanks!

Just for you!

 

Perfect, just what I need!

Thanks!

 

Never did an in fish cycle but ammonia of 2 ppm is pretty high for in fish cycle as your going to have nitrites at some time also. Prime will only detoxify the sum of ammonia and nitrites up to 1 ppm (approx) if added to the tank daily for the volume of the tank. Just my thoughts but if I am wrong let me know.

 

Sorry for being absent from this thread, but I haven’t been neglecting my fish!

Doing a full round of Pimafix on the fungus infection in the 10gal helped considerably, just my luck that the day after I did a big 50% change and inserted a fresh carbon filter, one of them showed me a stubborn patch of white on his belly. Big sigh, back to medicating!

For the Betta, I followed advice given to a few other threads on this site and gave him a hydrogen peroxide bath and yesterday salted his tank. Bang! No more clamped fins, he hammocks on his plant and eats like a champ (3 pellets in the morning).

I’m still struggling with the water test kit.

The pH changes with the water changes (100% today for the Betta to remove the salt, a 25 in the 10gal yesterday) but my ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates all stay 0.

I shake the bottles, whack them on my palm, add the number of drops in the correct order, but I just get 0, 0, 0! I could understand it today for the Betta after his 100 change, but it was the same before I changed it. The 10 gallon I just checked right now, and it’s 0 0 0 with a pH of 7.

I must be doing something wrong, but I don’t know what. There must be bacteria in the tank because my ammonia’s only nudged up to .2 once before it fell away again.

Before an afters for my boy, I was getting really scared last week! I just don’t know if I should douse his tank again or leave him alone now after 3 peroxide baths (1/day and only about 5 minutes each time, in a cup with 1cap of the peroxide.) and 24 hours in a salted tank (2tsp/gallon, which I would reduce to 1 since he’s opened up and relaxed now. The rot looked way worse!). He didn’t react well to the big water change today.

 

I suspect that, like myself, OP has soft water that starts out at a relatively high pH. Mine starts at 8.1 but 3 weeks later it's 5.5 if I don't intervene. Nitrification consumes alkalinity and produces a bit of acid so pH will decline over time if you have soft water.

How did you determine that you have soft water? KH/GH test kit? TDS meter?

 

The pH changes with the water changes (100% today for the Betta to remove the salt, a 25 in the 10gal yesterday) but my ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates all stay 0.

I shake the bottles, whack them on my palm, add the number of drops in the correct order, but I just get 0, 0, 0! I could understand it today for the Betta after his 100 change, but it was the same before I changed it. The 10 gallon I just checked right now, and it’s 0 0 0 with a pH of 7.

Unfortunately your tanks probably aren't cycled right now. But you can just test frequently to keep an eye on it and see what's going on. If ammonia goes up, you're not cycled. If nitrates go up, you're cycled.

For your pH, I'd recommend putting some tap water in a bowl and testing it, then repeating the test after the bowl sits out for 24 hours. If the pH changes, it means you don't have enough...GH or KH, I don't remember which. As long as the pH doesn't continue to change, you'd just want to leave your water out for 24 hours before you use it for a water change. If it does continue to change, you may want to look into something to raise GH or KH.

 

If all your parameters are 0 and stay at 0 you are cycled. Denitrifiers in your substrate can get rid of your nitrates if you are lucky to cultivate them. Keep monitoring to make sure they are stable but. If your ammonia and nitrites are steady at 0 stop worrying. None of my 6 tanks have any nitrates (on purpose).

 

Unfortunately your tanks probably aren't cycled right now. But you can just test frequently to keep an eye on it and see what's going on. If ammonia goes up, you're not cycled. If nitrates go up, you're cycled.

For your pH, I'd recommend putting some tap water in a bowl and testing it, then repeating the test after the bowl sits out for 24 hours. If the pH changes, it means you don't have enough...GH or KH, I don't remember which. As long as the pH doesn't continue to change, you'd just want to leave your water out for 24 hours before you use it for a water change. If it does continue to change, you may want to look into something to raise GH or KH.

The advice about the test isn't accurate. If sitting overnight and the ph goes up, you have dissolved co2 in your water and as it offgasses, ph will climb. If it goes down after sitting, it is likely another issue. It has nothing to do with your kh.

Kh is consumed during the normal processes of your beneficial bacteria. Plants will also bring it down some, as will decaying matter in your tank. To test kh, you need a kh test kit. Same thing with gh. If you are swinging downward in ph quickly, you likely have little to no kh in your water. There are ways to ammend your water for these situations. The amount of kh you need will change the way you need to treat it.

 

The advice about the test isn't accurate. If sitting overnight and the ph goes up, you have dissolved co2 in your water and as it offgasses, ph will climb. If it goes down after sitting, it is likely another issue. It has nothing to do with your kh.

Kh is consumed during the normal processes of your beneficial bacteria. Plants will also bring it down some, as will decaying matter in your tank. To test kh, you need a kh test kit. Same thing with gh. If you are swinging downward in ph quickly, you likely have little to no kh in your water. There are ways to ammend your water for these situations. The amount of kh you need will change the way you need to treat it.

It doesn't change the fact that if you let the water sit out for 24 hours, you will see whether or not the pH changes. If it does, you can deal with the source water and its issues. If not, it's something else causing the pH change.

 

It doesn't change the fact that if you let the water sit out for 24 hours, you will see whether or not the pH changes. If it does, you can deal with the source water and its issues. If not, it's something else causing the pH change.

Sorry, I wasn't disputing that aspect. Just the relation to kh. The kh won't change sitting overnight in a sterile container. The artificially adjusted ph will.

 

Sorry, I wasn't disputing that aspect. Just the relation to kh. The kh won't change sitting overnight in a sterile container. The artificially adjusted ph will.

I guess I just didn't explain it well enough. I didn't mean the kH would change, just that it if the pH goes down, it's a likely sign that the kH of the water is low.

 

Sorry, I wasn't disputing that aspect. Just the relation to kh. The kh won't change sitting overnight in a sterile container. The artificially adjusted ph will.

Agreed. There is a massive knowledge void here with regard to kh, gh, ph and pretty much chemistry of any kind other than ohhh hey your ammonia is zero nitrites 0 and natrates 10 you're good to go


Wraithen you and I need to grab a few beers.

 

Welcome aboard! You’ve gotten some good advice albeit with a little of the drama haha. The only input I have not already covered by several posts is the fix I use for fungus. Another poster mentions malachite green which is fantastic for fungus issues. Here in the US Walmart carries the Jungle brand Fungus Clear which in my experience has worked well. Best of luck and keep us updated with your progress!

 

So one thing we need is a check box for negative feedback and useless help on this forum because you have received ALOT of that.


Disclaimer: I am a submariner I don't get offended by anything but stupidity