Aquarium levels out of wack

[LeaElizabeth423]

What is going on? My aquarium stands at
Ammonia- 2.0ppm
Nitrite- 0.25ppm
Nitrite- 40ppm
Ph-6.4

My tank is cycled. It has been running for over a half of a year. I recently had to remove a filter to put babies in a separate aquarium but that was well over a month ago. I've been doing steady water changed and this is crazy. The ammonia just doesn't go down all the way anymore. I need help about what is going on. If anyone can help, please do. It will be greatly appreciated.

 

[TMRC Exotics]

Removing the filter would have eliminated much of your beneficial bacteria. How long was or has the filter been out? Was there any circulation then?

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[LeaElizabeth423]

Yeah. I removed the filter that was on the tank for the least amount of time but it has enough to keep my small 10 gallon healthy. It has been off my tank for well over a month now so the filter I have should be building up more bacteria but it hasn't I guess. No fish are dying right now and none show signs of even being close. All active and none by filter or top of the water. I can't believe they aren't all dying.... :/ idk how it's this bad still.

 

[TMRC Exotics]

First thing I would do a large water change, maybe 50%. Next what are your tank cleaning habits? Specifically with the filter itself? If you flush the filter with fresh tap water it will kill your BB.

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[LeaElizabeth423]

I flush the filter with old tank water. I never run it under the tap. I don't understand why none of the fish seem poisoned. I clean the tank like once a week or if I have to once ever two weeks. It's a 50 gallon and I probably change about 25% of the water or more depending on how much I feel the water needs to be changed

 

[LeaElizabeth423]

Should I just change the water and not syphon the gravel?

 

[BBradbury]

Your Tank

What is going on? My aquarium stands at
Ammonia- 2.0ppm
Nitrite- 0.25ppm
Nitrite- 40ppm
Ph-6.4

My tank is cycled. It has been running for over a half of a year. I recently had to remove a filter to put babies in a separate aquarium but that was well over a month ago. I've been doing steady water changed and this is crazy. The ammonia just doesn't go down all the way anymore. I need help about what is going on. If anyone can help, please do. It will be greatly appreciated.

Hello Lea...

It's all about the water. If you have tank problems, the water is poor. You need to start a more aggressive water change routine. Work up to a 50 to 60 percent change every week. Add a couple of hardy, floating plants. I prefer Hornwort and Anacharis. Just drop some individual stems into the tank. These are natural water filters and keep the water cleaner and the chemistry more stable between water changes.

Take good care of the tank water, no excuses and you'll have few, if any tank problems.


B

 

[gilpi]

There's a lot involved here that you're not mentioning.... Unless I missed it... What kind of filter or filters, how many fish you have in the tank, feeding habits etc.
And as BBradbury says, poor water conditions which could be caused by one or more of the above.
I don't use heavy filtration on my tanks but I depend more on not over feeding and lots of water changes to keep things under control.

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[Ricky 1]

Is your test kit out of date?

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Ammonia is less toxic in acid water, you are very lucky.
Temperature also has an effect on ammonia toxicity, it is less toxic in warmer water.

The reverse is true of nitrite, this is more toxic in acidic water.

Simple as that.

 

[friscuba]

There's a lot involved here that you're not mentioning.... Unless I missed it... What kind of filter or filters, how many fish you have in the tank, feeding habits etc.
And as BBradbury says, poor water conditions which could be caused by one or more of the above.
I don't use heavy filtration on my tanks but I depend more on not over feeding and lots of water changes to keep things under control.

Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

Ditto.

What filter is left on the 50 gallon? It could be that it just isn't quite enough to keep up with the load on it's own. I've got a filter on my 40 that is rated for "50-70 gallons" that is quite adequate, but is just about maxed out for what I'm doing. I'll be adding a smaller filter to make sure I stay ahead of the game.

 

[Mebbid]

Ammonia is less toxic in acid water, you are very lucky.
Temperature also has an effect on ammonia toxicity, it is less toxic in warmer water.

The reverse is true of nitrite, this is more toxic in acidic water.

Simple as that.

The higher temperatures actually increase the toxicity of ammonia.

Do you have any reading on nitrite toxicity? I've never really been able to find any concrete information on it.

What is going on? My aquarium stands at
Ammonia- 2.0ppm
Nitrite- 0.25ppm
Nitrite- 40ppm
Ph-6.4

My tank is cycled. It has been running for over a half of a year. I recently had to remove a filter to put babies in a separate aquarium but that was well over a month ago. I've been doing steady water changed and this is crazy. The ammonia just doesn't go down all the way anymore. I need help about what is going on. If anyone can help, please do. It will be greatly appreciated.

I would assume the big problem here is your pH. At a low pH the action of the nitrifying bacteria slows down and eventually stops altogether. This would be the most likely reason that you're seeing an ammonia spike, especially after having removed a filter more than a month ago which should have given more than ample time for the cycle to fix itself.

I would also give the water a pH test in the morning before the lights come on to see what it is during lights out as the pH will tend to drop farther at night due to increasing co2 levels.

What is your tap pH after letting it sit out overnight?

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Mebbid, oops!
That was a silly error on my part!
Yes you are quite correct. . . .
(Let that slide under the rug)


Edit, (phew, took some reading but. . .)

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/disease_medications/general_info/nitrite_toxicity.shtml

Here it is clearly stated but. . .(not official enough)

https://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/limnology/pubs/pdfs/Pub079.pdf

(Albeit small, it is apparent but may be linked more to chloride rather than directly attributed to pH.)

As seen here;

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

Yes, perhaps within normal ranges it is insignificant but apparent, here we are on the edge of the normal ranges so could be considered useful?

What's your verdict?

(Only covers rainbow trout)
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1139/f81-054

 

[LeaElizabeth423]

I have removed a filter but it isn't a large filter. My dad used it for a large tank too though. I think it might have just been the filter. I went out yesterday and bought two new filters and have them both running on both of my tanks with the old filters for a few months. My water temperature is at 80. In my 50 gal I only have 3 rosy tetras, 6 glolight tetras, and 7 guppies. The filter should be doing fine but since it's not I went and bought another one. And as for the pH it is way lower than what it used to be. I don't know why though. It lowered when the ammonia spiked. I'll let my tap water sit overnight and let you know the levels straight out of the tap tomorrow. And as for my feeding i do very light feedings once or twice a day. I make sure there is little to no food missed. I turn my filters down and make sure the food doesn't go crashing to the bottom. I don't think there's anything I missed. Oh, and my nitrite levels are at 0. But Nitrate is at like 20 ppm now that I did a large water change. I'm like basically re cycling my tanks and I don't get how it had that drastic of a change just by tanking my small filter away and putting it on a 10 gal. Which is also having problems! Maybe it is the pH

 

[LeaElizabeth423]

Hello Lea...



It's all about the water. If you have tank problems, the water is poor. You need to start a more aggressive water change routine. Work up to a 50 to 60 percent change every week. Add a couple of hardy, floating plants. I prefer Hornwort and Anacharis. Just drop some individual stems into the tank. These are natural water filters and keep the water cleaner and the chemistry more stable between water changes.



Take good care of the tank water, no excuses and you'll have few, if any tank problems.





B

I usually do like 25-30% water changes weekly. I just did a 50% water change on both my tanks yesterday. And then technically my 10 gal got almost a full water change because I changed the water and put the filter back to work and it decided to leak out of it. So I had to clean up about 5 gallons of water off he floor

 

[LeaElizabeth423]

Oh and I'll look into some floating plants. Do Moss balls also help anything?

 

[Mebbid]

Mebbid, oops!
That was a silly error on my part!
Yes you are quite correct. . . .
(Let that slide under the rug)


Edit, (phew, took some reading but. . .)

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/disease_medications/general_info/nitrite_toxicity.shtml

Here it is clearly stated but. . .(not official enough)

https://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/limnology/pubs/pdfs/Pub079.pdf

(Albeit small, it is apparent but may be linked more to chloride rather than directly attributed to pH.)

As seen here;

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

Yes, perhaps within normal ranges it is insignificant but apparent, here we are on the edge of the normal ranges so could be considered useful?

What's your verdict?

(Only covers rainbow trout)
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1139/f81-054

I absolutely loathe pay walls for scientific articles.

I'll head to school early and see if I can find that last article on databases I have access to there.

 

[LeaElizabeth423]

Thanks for the help from all of you! I will keep you posted on what is going on. I still need some advice on how I can raise the pH if my tap pH is low.

 

[LeaElizabeth423]

I really am still so clueless to how my fish are not dying with my ammonia that high. I might take two of my rules to my pet store and get them to test the ammonia in both my tanks and see if my test is just out. It isn't expired though. It expires 06/19

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Toxic Levels

See post 10, look at 2nd chart in link. It is perfectly normal to see this although the situation is not perfectly normal!