Nitrite, ammonia, bass and perch.

[ck85abc3]

Originally Posted by FishyPeanut

yeeps. dude....


if you insist on keeping them....

safely cycle a 300+ gal tank with a powerful powerhead. do tests on the water where you caught them and keep that 300+ gal tank identical to that.


up the filtration a LOT and get things as CLOSE to the lake you pulled them from as possible.

The lake water will ROT, as it is full of micro-organisms that will die taken out of their native land.

I was thinking 180 gal. Dont' think I can swing a 300 gal. Might have to fry them up next time I have a fish fry.

Originally Posted by rkilling1

but to answer your question reguarding NH3 and NO2:

high levels of NH3 and NO2 (over 1 PPM) will stess and kill the fish you have. You have big eaters and big mess makes which inturn adds to your problem.

as you can see people are not very happy about having all those fish in that small tank. we all make mistakes and this one can be corrected if action is taken. If your levels in the tank are not reduced, you will end up with a lot of dead fish.

Thanks for the info.

then fry them. better to eat them then make em suffer. i am having a nice salmon tonight myself.

/e avid fisherwoman
/e avid camper
/e avid cooker
/e avid outdoorsperson
/e avid aquarist

[ck85abc3]

Originally Posted by FishyPeanut

then fry them. better to eat them then make em suffer. i am having a nice salmon tonight myself.

/e avid fisherwoman
/e avid camper
/e avid cooker
/e avid outdoorsperson
/e avid aquarist

Since I think the fish will die if nitrite and ammonia are not reduced I will, but have to give the other half a chance to make things better.

[Buffalo Bill]

Well...Uh... the high ammonia and Nitrite is because your tank is not cycled yet...What this means is that you do not have the benificial bacteria established yet to convert the ammonia to Nitrite and then Nitrite to Nitrate. To establish this your tank needs time maybe a month or more. The bacteria live in the filter and gravel in the tank. You perdy lil fishes will die with the high ammonia and nitrite levels no question about it. It would be wise to let them go so they don't piss themselves to death. Also your tank is too small fer em anyways.

[ck85abc3]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Bill

Well...Uh... the high ammonia and Nitrite is because your tank is not cycled yet...What this means is that you do not have the benificial bacteria established yet to convert the ammonia to Nitrite and then Nitrite to Nitrate. To establish this your tank needs time maybe a month or more. The bacteria live in the filter and gravel in the tank. You perdy lil fishes will die with the high ammonia and nitrite levels no question about it. It would be wise to let them go so they don't *beep* themselves to death. Also your tank is too small fer em anyways.

Just to make sure, you know I have lake water and lake gravel in the tank right? I would think that would be the best bacteria you could get???

[Jchillin]

I set up a 45 gal tank without knowing a thing about fish keeping

But somehow you found out about this forum, which is a good thing.

The fish are very very healthy, swim around like crazy, and eat like crazy. The problem is that I have high levels of ammonia and nitrite. Is this anything to be concerned with if the fish are healthy?

As stated by others, this is a concern. You have these fish in an uncycled tank. Until you make your decision regarding whether you will keep them, you will need to do 60-80% water changes daily.

[JRagg]

Originally Posted by ck85abc3

Just to make sure, you know I have lake water and lake gravel in the tank right? I would think that would be the best bacteria you could get???

How high are ammonia and nitrite levels exactly?

I realize you have lake water and lake gravel, and I'm not an expert on how much of the beneficial bacteria that the gravel has (assuming it never dried out), but it obviously isn't cycled. If it were cycled you wouldn't see ammonia or nitrite.

FYI, water itself doesn't contain much beneficial bacteria at all.

And I'm not going to get on your case about this, but I'm pretty sure that the terms fishing and hunting imply that you're going to kill the fish or animal. Generally you're not allowed to keep game fish. Once again I'm not an epxert on that and you would have to contact the appropriate agency in your state to verify that.

[ck85abc3]

Originally Posted by Jchillin

But somehow you found out about this forum, which is a good thing.

As stated by others, this is a concern. You have these fish in an uncycled tank. Until you make your decision regarding whether you will keep them, you will need to do 60-80% water changes daily.

If I do 60% water changes daily will the tank cycle? Shouldn't there be plenty of bacteria from the lake water and rocks?

I notice you did not mention concern about the amount of fish. Does not mean you feel the tank is big enough (for now) but just needs to be cycled? Or you just did not feel like repeating something that everyone else said?

Originally Posted by JRagg

How high are ammonia and nitrite levels exactly?

I realize you have lake water and lake gravel, and I'm not an expert on how much of the beneficial bacteria that the gravel has (assuming it never dried out), but it obviously isn't cycled. If it were cycled you wouldn't see ammonia or nitrite.

FYI, water itself doesn't contain much beneficial bacteria at all.

And I'm not going to get on your case about this, but I'm pretty sure that the terms fishing and hunting imply that you're going to kill the fish or animal. Generally you're not allowed to keep game fish. Once again I'm not an epxert on that and you would have to contact the appropriate agency in your state to verify that.

It's legal to keep the fish, I found the laws but am going to contact the game and fish to make sure.

Ammonia is between .5 and 3 parts per million. I think closer to .5 parts per million

Nitrite is 5.0 parts per million which is in the danger zone. Yesterday Nitrite was only about .5 to 1 parts per million.

Nitrate is 40 parts per million and yesterday it was around 0 parts per million.

[fish_4_all]

It is legal to keep fish here, for food. Your fishing liscence most likely gives you sole permission to catch for consumption, my states licenses do. Not for a pond or fish tank without an aquaculture license of some kind. Your state may be different, I don't know. Also, as far as bioload, I have caught perch that were over 18 inches and seen bass over 18 so a 300 gallon tank should suffice until they reach full size unless the bass eat the perch.

[JRagg]

Yes, the tank will cycle even if you do large water changes. As I stated in my previous post water does not contain much beneficial bacteria at all. The bacteria that you want/need is growing on your tank walls, gravel, and in your filter. 1.0 is the safe level for nitrites, and the same for ammonia. Large water changes are the only way that you will be able to keep those fish alive.

It does however look like your tank is cycling fairly quickly since you're seeing nitrites and nitrates. But in the meantime your nitrite and ammonia levels are too high.