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Mr Pril

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 25, 2010
Messages
22
Right so I tested my water in my tank.

pH - about 7.5

Ammonia - 0

But my nitrate and nitrite came up high (liquid kit by the way)

So I did a water change (about 30%) and after that tested it again and the results were better but still not low enough.

Should I just keep doing water changes until it's sorted?
 
Are there fish in the tank or are you doing a cycle?

If there's fish in the tank, and the nitrIte reading is above 0.5ppm I'd do another 50% water change right away.
 
neilanh said:
Are there fish in the tank or are you doing a cycle?

If there's fish in the tank, and the nitrIte reading is above 0.5ppm I'd do another 50% water change right away.

Hmm yes maybe I should have mentioned that hehe.

Yes there are fish, an oranda, a black moor, a comet and a pleco.

The tank has been established for a good 6 months now.

It just suddenly hit out of nowhere!
 
Right so I tested my water in my tank.

pH - about 7.5

Ammonia - 0

But my nitrate and nitrite came up high (liquid kit by the way)

So I did a water change (about 30%) and after that tested it again and the results were better but still not low enough.

Should I just keep doing water changes until it's sorted?

I'm having water issues too. I was told that sometimes its necessary to do PWC twice a day, which I've done a few times without any fish problems.
So give it a try. It will lower your water parameters
 
It's an 80 litre tank with an aqua flow 200 in it. The dimensions are (in inches) 23L x 12W x 15H

And haven't changed anything apart from putting a bubble wall thing in.
 
I would guess unless you've been testing every day that you are seeing the back end of a mini cycle for some reason. Keep changing the water and wait.
 
Hmm yes maybe I should have mentioned that hehe.

Yes there are fish, an oranda, a black moor, a comet and a pleco.

The tank has been established for a good 6 months now.

It just suddenly hit out of nowhere!

It's an 80 litre tank with an aqua flow 200 in it. The dimensions are (in inches) 23L x 12W x 15H

And haven't changed anything apart from putting a bubble wall thing in.

You are very,very overstocked. I would start over with fish that will fit in your tank. The reason you are having water issues is because you are keeping big waste producing fish, in a very small tank. If you do not change your stock, you will always have problems, and eventually dead fish.
 
Agree that the tank is overstocked & it is quite possible that you are seeing the start of a crash because you are exceeding the carrying capacity of the tank.

For a 20 gal (80 l), you can keep only the 2 fancies (the oranda & moor). The comet needs to be in a 6 ft long tank (& preferably a pond) since it will get to 12-18" (almost 1/2 a meter) full grown. Plus comets are fast swimmers & need room to swim. Comets in tanks generally don't reach their full size potential and die young. <Normally, comets live for 15+ years in ponds .... the record is over 30 years .... Tank comets don't last more than a few years at most.>

The pleco, if a common, is also a monster. It will get to be bigger than the comet .... You might be OK with a dwarf pleco (rubberlip or bristle nose) in there, but a 20 is a bit small for all 3 fish.

How big are the fish now?? As an interim measure, I would suggest doing water changes to keep all parameters low. The presence of nitrites may be due to something rotting (or accumulation of gunk in the gravel) in the tank. Do a through deep cleaning & gravel vac with the water change & you might see an improvement. Do as much pwc as needed to keep nitrites under 0.25 & nitrates under 40. You might end up doing pwcs daily or even twice daily. The frequent pwc's will buy you time & the tank might even stabilize out for a time. But you do need to plan to rehouse the pleco & the comet at some point. <Start digging a pond for Spring?! :) >
 
+1 to the above, sound like the filter is already having trouble keeping up with these fish. As an interim measure you can add another (hefty) filter to the mix, but that will buy you maybe only 6 months at best.

You basically only have two choices, either buy a much bigger tank, or find new homes for your fish. In fact a combination of both is probably best.

As for the bigger tank, you'd be looking something in the 200 litre+ range.
 
I don't plan to get rid of my fish. They are all between an inch to an inch and a half and the specialist fish shop I buy them from has said it is fine. When they start to outgrow the tank, i'll get another one.

And the filter can cope very well with the tank, I just wasn't changing enough of the water. But hey we all make mistakes. I plan to keep my fish.
 
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