Water changes.

[tkos]

I assume from your fish that this is a brackish tank? What level of salinity are you at and what type of salt mix do you use. Brackish and marine tanks don't suffer from the same ill effects of nitrite levels due to the higher concentrations of NaCl in the water. This helps the fish combat the effects of nitrites attacking the gills *(well it starts to block the intake of oxygen which is bad). 0.25ppm of Nitrite is the upper safe limit of nitrite in a freshwater tank. IMO I would do enough of a water change to reduce this nitrite to zero. But that also depends on the type of tank maintenance you already do. Large water changes are safe if you have been doing larger water changes. If you have been doing small water changes or just water top off during the past 4 months then stick to many smaller water changes with a few hours in between to let the fish acclimate.

As for the cycling of a tank, obviously your tank has "uncycled" somehow and the bacteria currently in the tank can't keep up (changed filters maybe, new fish?). Your tank will catch up with new bacteria given time but if these fish are being kept in freshwater (and they shoudln't be) then keeping that nitrite low is very important.

 

[Guest]

As for the cycling of a tank, obviously your tank has "uncycled" somehow and the bacteria currently in the tank can't keep up (changed filters maybe, new fish?). Your tank will catch up with new bacteria given time but if these fish are being kept in freshwater (and they shoudln't be) then keeping that nitrite low is very important

A tank doesn't "uncycle" while something may kill off some of the bacteria that does the biological filtration suck as algaecides, or meds.. I forgot to ask if you added any type of algae killing medicine, or any medicine at all. because that could also kill some of the bacteria so that it will have to repopulate. It is still very unlikely that ALL the bacteria was killed. New Filter and New fish would just cause the current bacteria not to be able to keep up with the bioload, therefore the tank is still cycled but just needs time to catch up.

 

[greenmaji]

testing for NO3 when NO2 is present is not usefull.. the NO2 will throw off the NO3 test..
but a NH3 and NO2 reading would help alot.. you might be going through a mini cycle and you might not be done with the original cycle..

 

[tkos]

[quote="AshleyNicole]

A tank doesn't "uncycle"

Umm, yes. That is why I used quotation marks. Alas that doesn't show up good enough in writing I guess. So I should have said an interuption in the cycling process has lead to the death of some of the bacteria.

It is kind of the same thing as saying that a tank has cyled or is finished its cycle. The cycle is an on going process that is never finsihed or complete.

But there are just easier/short cutted ways of saying things. Sorry.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

I hope you are aware bumblebee and dragon gobies need brackish water. Their life span will be greatly shortened if they are kept in freshwater.

 

[Joey17]

Did you add anything new recently? Did you change the filter media recently?

If you added new fish, that could cause a "mini cycle and a bacterial bloom." becuase usually the bacteria will keep up with the current bioload and if you add something it has to play "catch up" although ive added one or two fish without problems, I added 8 fish at once and had a mini cycle with amonia at .25 for a couple days then nitrite at .25 for a couple days, then everything went back to normal.. oh adn it got a little cloudy too. (thats how i new it was a bacterial bloom)

Also, if you change your filter media, you are doing the same thing, you are taking out the colinized bacteria, which is why i like the aquaclear, i only take one part out at a time. What kind of filter do you have? Have you changed it? we need more info

I have a Elite stingray filter. No i didn't add any new fish .

 

[severum mama]

Aren't bumblebee gobies brackish water fish? :?

 

[Guest]

I have a Elite stingray filter. No i didn't add any new fish

ok, but if you want us to help you you really gotta answer all the questions we ask and give us the whole picture.
1. NO you didn't add any new Fish
2. DID you CHANGE your FILTER MEDIA?????
3. DID you use any MEDICATIONS, ALGAECIDES, or ANY CHEMICALS????
4. DID you ADD or REMOVE ANYTHING?????

Please answer the questions completly for a complete answer.

I don't mean to sound rude, its just really frustrating because a lot of people have asked you and you still won't give us a complete picture of wahts going on, we can't help unless you tell us exaclty whats going on and answer the questions.

Also, they are right, the bumblebee Gobies need to be in a brackish tank, they won't live very long or healthy in Freshwater.

 

[Joey17]

I have a Elite stingray filter. No i didn't add any new fish

ok, but if you want us to help you you really gotta answer all the questions we ask and give us the whole picture.
1. NO you didn't add any new Fish
2. DID you CHANGE your FILTER MEDIA?????
3. DID you use any MEDICATIONS, ALGAECIDES, or ANY CHEMICALS????
4. DID you ADD or REMOVE ANYTHING?????

Please answer the questions completly for a complete answer.

I don't mean to sound rude, its just really frustrating because a lot of people have asked you and you still won't give us a complete picture of wahts going on, we can't help unless you tell us exaclty whats going on and answer the questions.

Also, they are right, the bumblebee Gobies need to be in a brackish tank, they won't live very long or healthy in Freshwater.

1). No i didn't add any new fish.
2). No i havent changed the filter media in about 1 month it said it lasts about 2 months, Should i change it anyway?
3). All i used was some drops to remove ammonia because i heard dragon gobies can't tolerate alot of ammonia
4). No i didn't add or remove anything else.


I know Dragon gobies and bumble bee gobies need salt and yeah i put salt in thier water,about 2 table spoons per gallon.

 

[Guest]

3). All i used was some drops to remove ammonia because i heard dragon gobies can't tolerate alot of ammonia

Now we are getting somewhere, Never ever ever ever ever add any chemicals to the tank to remove ammonia. That will completely mess up your tank and interrupt your biological cycle.
Since you had ammonia, even though you added the drops, they don't remove the ammonia, they convert it to a non toxic form... supposedly. Your biological filiter is still going to convert that ammonia to nitrite.

Basically you need to do small water changes every other day to reduce the nitrite, or you can just wait and let the biological filter play catch up but in any case you should be doing small weekly water changes for regulare maintenance.

Have you read about cycling the tank?
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21

What i think happend is, you added some fish after your zebra danios had cycled the tank, you said it was "cycled a long time ago" and you added more fish, maybe when you added the fish, it caused another minicycle and that is what your experiencing now. How long ago was the Last fish you added?

 

[Joey17]

The last fish i added was my dragon/violet goby. That was about 3 weeks ago.

Also i tested for ammonia and it came out at 0 ppm.