Completely stumped - Ammonia/Nitrite levels

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Silock

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Nov 26, 2011
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4
I have a 10 gallon tank. It's planted, with a 2 inch sand substrate. 6 "bundles" of plants from the LFS, separated out a bit so that they have room to grow. Wisteria, java fern, and some fast growing plants that were recommended to me by the LFS.

Tank has been set up from the get-go with the plants, and one betta to help get the cycle going... or so I thought. It's been up for 6 weeks, the betta was fine, the plants were growing, and all was well. Ammonia levels were 0, nitrites were 0, and nitrates were just hinted at above 5. My assumption, since the tests were fine, was that the plants were doing their job as a biofilter. So, I got a few cardinal tetras (6) on Monday. Did a 50% water change that day before they went in.

Two of them died overnight, so I had the LFS test the water. Ammonia levels were pegged at 8 ppm. Nitrites are also pegging at 5 ppm. I go home, and get the same thing.

I immediately start in on the water changes and dosing with Prime. Doing 50% water changes, once in the morning, and once at night, dosing a 10 gallon dose of Prime each time to try and get the levels down. Nothing. It's been 4 days now, with no slowdown in the ammonia levels or nitrites. They both still peg the scale. The ammonia does take a few minutes to go to completely dark green, so I'm told that the Prime is doing its job. Is that true?

Luckily, I haven't lost any more fish, and they seem to be acting "normal," if not just a bit stressed out. I'm very concerned. I don't know where this is coming from, or why it hasn't calmed down. I don't use any chemicals to clean the tank and never have. There aren't any chemicals or ammonia within 200 feet of the tank. I didn't rinse the filter media in tap water. I'm not overfeeding, and there's no mulm trapped in the sand (it gets vacuumed once a day during a water change). I'm currently feeding very sparingly once a day. I don't get it. Did I not get ANY cycle started at all in the 6 weeks the tank was up?

My tap water has chloramine, and just a tap water test reads about 5 ppm on the Ammonia scale. Could that be a contributor, even after dosing with Prime? Am I doing the right thing by trying to manage this with Prime to protect the fish? Right now, it's just the 1 betta and 4 cardinal tetras. I'm a bit concerned that I'm dosing so much Prime, but then again, I'm changing the water so much and so often that I don't see how it could be building up to a toxic level for them. Do I just have to keep up with the water changes and ride this out?
 
Prime isn't going to change the test readings on most test kits. The API kit for example, doesn't differentiate between 'bound' ammonia (Prime binds ammonia) and free ammonia.

That does sound like a ton of ammonia being built up quickly, however it's not that uncommon when adding several fish to a small tank.

It sounds like the tank experienced a minicycle from the added load, and it will take some time to compensate.

What you can do to help with this is up the water changes to every other day (or as often as needed, testing will dictate), dosing with Prime.

How often do you feed? If it's any more than once every other day, cut back to that until this blows over, less waste in, less waste out.

Do you have any special substrate in there? Any ferts?
 
Sorry if original post was confusing. I'm currently doing 50% changes twice a day. So, should I up that, decrease frequency, or keep it the same? How much Prime at each change, given its 24 hr half life?

I'll cut back even more on the feeding. I was giving half a ration once a day, which I figured was the same as a regular feeding every other day.

Substrate is regular sand. Fertilizer has no ammonia, but some nitrogen. I used Seachem Fluorish, but haven't in a while.
 
Sorry if original post was confusing. I'm currently doing 50% changes twice a day. So, should I up that, decrease frequency, or keep it the same? How much Prime at each change, given its 24 hr half life?

I'll cut back even more on the feeding. I was giving half a ration once a day, which I figured was the same as a regular feeding every other day.

Substrate is regular sand. Fertilizer has no ammonia, but some nitrogen. I used Seachem Fluorish, but haven't in a while.

I'd double check the tap water for ammonia and nitrite. If it has 5ppm or either one I'd consider a better source in general, those levels are toxic to fish and probably not too good for humans either.

In a normal situation with a good source water I'd say do a few large water changes to get the toxin levels down to nil, and at that point start doing your water changes every day/every other day, let the frequency and % be dictated by your test results.

Prime advertises a 24 hour 'binding' effect, but their customer support and tech support has repeatedly said that it works for up to 48 hours, so I tend to let things go to an 'every other day' schedule if things aren't extreme.


It sounds like your feeding schedule is o.k., assuming a half ration is just a few flakes.


Finding the source of the toxin spike is really key here, as you said, I don't think it could be caused solely by the addition of a few small fish, but with this size tank it is surely possible. It sounds like you may have some tap water issues also, though, so that's something I'd definitely look into.
 
Silock. I'd look into beneficial bacteria. I know a lot of people say to stay away because they usually don't work, but I found one that does. It's called Special Blend. It's at Petco. It smells like you know what, but it does the job. I have 5 tanks ranging from 10-150 and I've used it on all. It stabilizes parameters and also aids in plant growth. It'll last awhile on a 10g tank.

Convinced my friend to get a 20 and told him to buy some Special Blend because cycling was taking too long. The tank cycled in 2 days and he hasn't had any problems.

All the parameters on my tanks are perfect. So I'd look into it. It will definitely bring down nitrates and ammonia.
 
Silock. I'd look into beneficial bacteria. I know a lot of people say to stay away because they usually don't work, but I found one that does. It's called Special Blend. It's at Petco. It smells like you know what, but it does the job. I have 5 tanks ranging from 10-150 and I've used it on all. It stabilizes parameters and also aids in plant growth. It'll last awhile on a 10g tank.

Convinced my friend to get a 20 and told him to buy some Special Blend because cycling was taking too long. The tank cycled in 2 days and he hasn't had any problems.

All the parameters on my tanks are perfect. So I'd look into it. It will definitely bring down nitrates and ammonia.

Going to agree here with Mr. Pleco. :brows: Special Blend... is amazing! Trust me its worth the trip to PETCO and grabing even a small bottle of this. My tank did cycle in 2 days. After countless weeks of trying to get my parameters to even move just a tiny bit to have hope... nothing would work, even with a seeded pad I had. One dose of Special Blend did the work and got the job done! My water has never been better and couldn't complain. I am currently cycling a 10 gallon myself just set it up today with my frist dose of Speical Blend, should be cycled within the week or even a day or two. Give it a try it wont let you down! :D
 
Thanks for all the advice. I did continually check tap water, and it magically went from 5 ppm down to 0 overnight a few days ago. I bought some Special Blend at Petco the day after I posted this, I think. My ammonia went straight down, but I'm not sure if that was because of the bottled bacteria or the tap water magic.

In any case, I no longer have any ammonia issues, but I have severe nitrite issues still. A 50% water change every day gets it down to about 2 ppm, but after 4-5 hours, it's back up to about 5 ppm. That's been going on for about a week, so I'm just letting it go for now, because I obviously haven't been able to control it at all. Haven't done a water change in 36 hours or so, but I did dose with Prime yesterday. I'm hoping less water changes will help the nitrite bacteria. Does Special Blend supposedly have nitrite bacteria, too? My nitrates are also quite high for a planted tank that hasn't had any fertilizer in quite a long time.

The fish don't act stressed at all, and I added a mystery snail that seems to be doing fine, as well.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I did continually check tap water, and it magically went from 5 ppm down to 0 overnight a few days ago. I bought some Special Blend at Petco the day after I posted this, I think. My ammonia went straight down, but I'm not sure if that was because of the bottled bacteria or the tap water magic.

In any case, I no longer have any ammonia issues, but I have severe nitrite issues still. A 50% water change every day gets it down to about 2 ppm, but after 4-5 hours, it's back up to about 5 ppm. That's been going on for about a week, so I'm just letting it go for now, because I obviously haven't been able to control it at all. Haven't done a water change in 36 hours or so, but I did dose with Prime yesterday. I'm hoping less water changes will help the nitrite bacteria. Does Special Blend supposedly have nitrite bacteria, too? My nitrates are also quite high for a planted tank that hasn't had any fertilizer in quite a long time.

The fish don't act stressed at all, and I added a mystery snail that seems to be doing fine, as well.

SB helped all my parameters. There is however a specific product geared toward nitrate and nitrite. It's called NiteOut or NiteOut II. I've only used it once just because SB worked for me.

Just curious. After you dosed the original dose did you leave your lights on or did you leave them off for a day or two? I know the bottle says turn UV lights off but I left my lights off for 2 days when I did the first dose. Could just be coincidence or idk.
 
I am having the same issue with nitrite levels. I've been doing 40%-50% daily (sometimes 2x a day) with PWC and still can't get a hold of the nitirite levels. Been using both salt and Prime.

For now, left the tank alone. Later this evening, will check water levels since it has been close to 48 hours from last PWC. The Special Blend from Petco caught my curiosity --- would like to hear other's input / feedback.
 
Prime doesn't help with nitrite and nitrate levels. It's just a water dechlorinator basically.
If you want to hear from more people other than my friend and I who have both had nothing but success with special blend I'd just google it and find reviews.
If you go on the microbe-lift website they have a number of interesting products but you have to buy so much to avoid the shipping.
 
I did another 50% PWC last night and will test water levels this evening. If the nitrite levels are present, I am going to bite the bullet and get the Special Blend and cross my fingers.
 
Checked water levels and nitrite is still high. "Uncle!"

Alright, gonna pick up some additives to help with the cycling. Question: Do I get Special Blend or NiteOut II?
 
Prime doesn't help with nitrite and nitrate levels. It's just a water dechlorinator basically.

Not in terms of levels, but it binds to it making it less toxic to fish. At least, that's what they claim. And so far, their claims must be correct because my fish haven't died despite having 5 ppm nitrite levels on a daily basis.

Going to have to try Nite-Out if I can find it.
 
I just picked up the Microbe-Lift Special Blend -- gonna add this evening and see if it gives my 56gal aquarium relief from nitrite levels.

Any suggesions for optimal usage? Should I do anothe PWC and then add Special Blend? Or put dosages in, per instructions, in tank?
 
I just dosed my tank with Special Blend -- per instructions, it states to turn off uv lights. Does my T5 light fixture emit uv light?
 
I just dosed my tank with Special Blend -- per instructions, it states to turn off uv lights. Does my T5 light fixture emit uv light?

I'm not sure to be honest. I assumed it meant UV for saltwater. I've turned my lights off on all my tanks for 1-2 days when I started the first dose. I didn't have plants in my 150 yet when I first dosed so had the lights off on it too.

I think you'd be okay either way. It stimulates plant growth so if you leave them off for a day you'd be fine.
 
I turned off my T5 lighting after I dosed some Special Blend into my tank. I've read that T5 does emit small amounts of UV. Going to follow the instructions and see if this stuff really works. I'll test the water levels later this evening. Per bottle instructions, looks like the next dose will be day 8. You weren't kidding about the smell ---YIKES!
 
dasaint said:
I turned off my T5 lighting after I dosed some Special Blend into my tank. I've read that T5 does emit small amounts of UV. Going to follow the instructions and see if this stuff really works. I'll test the water levels later this evening. Per bottle instructions, looks like the next dose will be day 8. You weren't kidding about the smell ---YIKES!

I did maintenance dose on all my tanks today cuz my buddy or me a bottle for my Christmas present lol
I missed that yummy smell...
Wish you the best of luck! Let's hope it works for you
 
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