loveforangels
Member
HI everyone, I'm new here, restarting the hobby. Had a tank years ago but after losing a long time fav fw angel, I gave it up. My story though isn't ideal, so please don't place judgement on me. I was at another forum & people were quite honestly very rude. I don't have time for rude, sorry.
First, I adopted/rescued these fish & this situation. And so far, it has been going great, fish are lively, healthy & all was going good until I lowered the temp in my water. After I lowered the temp, it seems all heck broke lose. Why the need for the high temp, the fish seemed to be doing better in the higher temps than the lower temps.
Here's what we've got
As for equipment
45 gal (36.5"x24"-tallx12")
Heavily artificially planted
AC 70 Filter running at 70 capacity, with bio media, poly-fill water polisher & bio cubes
60 Tetra air pump with 7" horizontal curtain
200W AT submersible heater at 85 degrees
Several artificial plants, with a couple decorations, i.e ship wreck, rock with through & through wholes & castle
Gravel is natural color, rounded edge
SeaChem's Prime, ParaGuard & StressGuard (on occasion)
Fish in aquarium (please do not judge)
3 Juvenile Freshwater Angels
2 Flame Gouramis
4 Ruby Rams
2 Diamond Tetra's
1 Turquoise Rainbow
1 F-Balloon Molly
1 Algae Eater
1 Tiny little Cat Fish (not sure exactly what he is but he's tiny)
All has been going great until yesterday, when I tested the water & my Nitrites where through the roof.. I immediately did a 50% water change... it didn't help! The fish don't seem the least bit effected by this, but I know it's not good & I don't want them suffering. I can not rehome, so I've gotta make due with what I've got. I will not euthanize the fish, sorry, can't do it!
Here's what I did a few days prior... I did lower the temp from 85 down to 80 & honestly, I'm pointing my problem towards that, aside from possibly cycling still or re-cycling as I've read huge temp changes can re-cycle a tank (mind you after the fact of already lowering temp)
Here are my parameters
Ammonia 0 ppm
PH 8.0 (do to having well water that is a bit harder but fish haven't had any issues with it)
Nitrite 5 or above ppm
Nitrate 20-30 ppm
Water that was in the tank was cycled, so I was told. But my parameters when testing from the beginning seemed to tell a different story. BUT... all the while, the fish have been doing great, haven't lost one yet until I lowered the temp, over a 24 hour period of course i.e 1 degree every 3 hours or so. After the temp came down, I found 1 fish, a M-Balloon Molly, dead All the other fish still seem to be doing great. BUT... this Nitrite issue has me freaked out!
Does anyone have any advise or do I just need to do more frequent water changes (was doing them at about 30% every 3 days)
As long as the Nitrites are around the 5 ppm, do I need to do more?
Do I need to rinse my media in a bucket of tank water (lightly squeeze)
I do wish to stay away from chemicals to reduce the Nitrites so I don't run into crashing my tank.
I appreciate any help you can offer me. Sorry for my long post... Hopefully someone here will be kinder & not jump down my throat with a situation that I honestly wasn't fully informed with from the beginning. Just wanted to rescue the fish, otherwise the gal was going to flush them, so she said & that's just inhumane!
Thanks again
First, I adopted/rescued these fish & this situation. And so far, it has been going great, fish are lively, healthy & all was going good until I lowered the temp in my water. After I lowered the temp, it seems all heck broke lose. Why the need for the high temp, the fish seemed to be doing better in the higher temps than the lower temps.
Here's what we've got
As for equipment
45 gal (36.5"x24"-tallx12")
Heavily artificially planted
AC 70 Filter running at 70 capacity, with bio media, poly-fill water polisher & bio cubes
60 Tetra air pump with 7" horizontal curtain
200W AT submersible heater at 85 degrees
Several artificial plants, with a couple decorations, i.e ship wreck, rock with through & through wholes & castle
Gravel is natural color, rounded edge
SeaChem's Prime, ParaGuard & StressGuard (on occasion)
Fish in aquarium (please do not judge)
3 Juvenile Freshwater Angels
2 Flame Gouramis
4 Ruby Rams
2 Diamond Tetra's
1 Turquoise Rainbow
1 F-Balloon Molly
1 Algae Eater
1 Tiny little Cat Fish (not sure exactly what he is but he's tiny)
All has been going great until yesterday, when I tested the water & my Nitrites where through the roof.. I immediately did a 50% water change... it didn't help! The fish don't seem the least bit effected by this, but I know it's not good & I don't want them suffering. I can not rehome, so I've gotta make due with what I've got. I will not euthanize the fish, sorry, can't do it!
Here's what I did a few days prior... I did lower the temp from 85 down to 80 & honestly, I'm pointing my problem towards that, aside from possibly cycling still or re-cycling as I've read huge temp changes can re-cycle a tank (mind you after the fact of already lowering temp)
Here are my parameters
Ammonia 0 ppm
PH 8.0 (do to having well water that is a bit harder but fish haven't had any issues with it)
Nitrite 5 or above ppm
Nitrate 20-30 ppm
Water that was in the tank was cycled, so I was told. But my parameters when testing from the beginning seemed to tell a different story. BUT... all the while, the fish have been doing great, haven't lost one yet until I lowered the temp, over a 24 hour period of course i.e 1 degree every 3 hours or so. After the temp came down, I found 1 fish, a M-Balloon Molly, dead All the other fish still seem to be doing great. BUT... this Nitrite issue has me freaked out!
Does anyone have any advise or do I just need to do more frequent water changes (was doing them at about 30% every 3 days)
As long as the Nitrites are around the 5 ppm, do I need to do more?
Do I need to rinse my media in a bucket of tank water (lightly squeeze)
I do wish to stay away from chemicals to reduce the Nitrites so I don't run into crashing my tank.
I appreciate any help you can offer me. Sorry for my long post... Hopefully someone here will be kinder & not jump down my throat with a situation that I honestly wasn't fully informed with from the beginning. Just wanted to rescue the fish, otherwise the gal was going to flush them, so she said & that's just inhumane!
Thanks again