Questions please

[motherspice]

maybe a few, lol....ok today was PWC day......so tested the waters on all 3 tanks all were great! the betta levels was good just needed a PWC as lots of green alga, so scrubd then did the water change...now readings are amonnia .50 nitrites, .50 why???? 1st time took out and replaced 1 gal but lots of yuck floting so took out about another 1/2 gal btw its a 2.5 gal tank

the 29 gal again had 0 amonnia 0 nitrites and 10 nitrates temp 79 now amonnia .25 nitrites 0 nitrates 10 temp 80.......... again why? lol oh and the ph was 6.8 ...now looks more like 6.4 or 6.8 so hard to tell .....took out and replaced 3 1/2 gals

my 20 gal goldfish tank was all good and now nitrites .25 amonnia .50.......took out and replaced 3 1/2 gals
could it be that my tap water has 1.0 amonnia? so I should give the prime time to work?
and will it hurt the fish? could that be why my mail sword died? cause he was acting funny after the PWC




one last dumb qustion do you when checking the levels do u put the tube againt the white part of the card or just in front of the card , cause it looks like its darker against the card

 

[kimo]

Your tanks are probably going through a mini-cycle. Did you also vacuum the gravel? That will do it if you did a deep vacuum. (only do at most 1/4" deep or none but skimming the surface).

"so I should give the prime time to work?"

The Prime should work immediately if you added enough. IMO next time you need to buy water conditioner, use AmQuel+ instead. A much better product.

The ammonia spike probably was the cause of you male Sword dying (sepsis in his gills >> liver/kidney failure).

 

[motherspice]

Your tanks are probably going through a mini-cycle. Did you also vacuum the gravel? That will do it if you did a deep vacuum. (only do at most 1/4" deep or none but skimming the surface).

"so I should give the prime time to work?"

The Prime should work immediately if you added enough. IMO next time you need to buy water conditioner, use AmQuel+ instead. A much better product.

The ammonia spike probably was the cause of you male Sword dying (sepsis in his gills >> liver/kidney failure).

when I vacum I kind of move the gravel around so you think I am going to deep?
I added 3 drops per gal of prime
no all levels were fine BEFORE the PWC
and with the change do you think its hurting the fish?

 

[jsoong]

You prob have chloramines in your water as a disinfectant. This breaks down to ammonia & chlorine when you add Prime. Both will be bound by Prime & harmless. But your ammonia test kit will read that bound ammonia unless you have a salicylate kit. In a few hours in a cycled tank, that ammonia will be gone.

To prove this to yourself, just treat tap water with prime & test that ... you will likely see a hint of ammonia. Test your tank a few hours after your pwc & the levels should be fine. <In the future , stop worrying & just test your tank before the pwc & not after!>

 

[motherspice]

You prob have chloramines in your water as a disinfectant. This breaks down to ammonia & chlorine when you add Prime. Both will be bound by Prime & harmless. But your ammonia test kit will read that bound ammonia unless you have a salicylate kit. In a few hours in a cycled tank, that ammonia will be gone.

To prove this to yourself, just treat tap water with prime & test that ... you will likely see a hint of ammonia. Test your tank a few hours after your pwc & the levels should be fine. <In the future , stop worrying & just test your tank before the pwc & not after!>

Thank u im just so scared after all the fish we lost, I think im scared for life

 

[saffikeagan]

I use prime. I have an insulin syringe to measure it. You need .1 mL/US gallon to dechlorinate, and at that dose, it will neutralize .6ppm of ammonia. If your tap water has more ammonia in it than .6 ppm you need to use more Prime. I test my tap water first (I can have up to 2ppm of NH out of my tap) then use enough Prime to neutralize all the ammonia. The bottle says you can use up to 5x the dose needed to remove the chlorine to detoxify nitrite in an emergency; therefore, I don't worry about erring on the side of using more than necessary for ammonia.

By the way, the bottle says that it removes the ammonia on the front, but on the back it says it neutralizes the ammonia. Most products I've seen will just neutralize the ammonia which means that you just have to take it on faith that the product is working because your tests will still read positive for ammonia even after using the proper doses.

You are supposed to hold the tube against the white of the card then compare to the colors on the chart. Some of them I have a hard time telling apart.

I have a 14 so I keep a 3 gallon water bottle full next to the tank so it is room temperature and well past dechlorinated by the time I need to use it. Also, if I then need to do a PWC in an emergency I have water I'm confident is safe.

 

[kimo]

"Thank u im just so scared after all the fish we lost, I think im scared for life"

Don't be scared. Everyone who has ever set up a tank has been in the same position. Sometimes you can't help but lose a few fish even if everything is done correctly to a tee. "New water Syndrome". Some fish have been damaged long before you purchased them, but they are cold blooded. Sometimes it takes awhile for them to react. Sometimes its takes that long for a disease (internal) to reach the point where there is no hope.
Not always... but if you can check the liver, kidneys and heart as soon as the fish expires you can tell if it is along acting disease (everything will be plae, grey and mushy) or sudden (liver will be pale, not mushy, maybe kidneys the same, but the heart will still be red). Doing things like that are only for the brave...