Hi, firstly I apologise if I have posted in the wrong place, admin feel free to move my thread.
Secondly I apologise for a long post, just would like to give brief background into whats happened.
I have a 100 litre tank with fluval U2 filter and sufficient heater etc.
I first cycled the tank with a few rummy nose tetra and a red tailed black shark around 4 months ago when I first set it up and everything went fine.
I added my new fish slowly over the course of a few weeks and then two weeks ago 3 clown loach died, I had to get tid of the shark and the tetras died too. I also lost two bulldog pleco's and nearly lost my fighter fish. I had the disease diagnosed as white spot/fin rot and removed my biological filter section of my Fluval U2 while I medicated for a week.
While medicating I found the rest of my fish were dying of ammonia poisoning or nitrite poisoning. I decided to stop medicating and put the bio filter back into the U2 to hopefully begin some sort of re cycling of the tank.
This was 5 days ago, I have been having to do 50% water changes almost twice a day just to keep the ammonia below 0.50. The Nitrites are still testing 0.00 and the Nitrate is around 80ppm. PH is fluctuating between 7.6 and 8.0.
It seems the Ammonia isn't being cycled into Nitrite, but the Nitrate is very high?
I am using Interpet Tapsafe which does neutralise the chemicals in the tap water, I know this because I have been testing the water after adding the tapsafe but before putting it in the tank but 4-6 hours later the readings are spiking.
In the last 3 days I have lost 2 tiger barbs and one orange gourami to what I can only assume is ammonia poisoning.
The fin rot/white spot seems to have gone as I have raised the temp to 28c and the medication must have worked.
I have a planted aquarium with a large peice of bogwood and two coconut caves. The only rocks are what I think is slate, and my substrate is a very fine gravel.
Again I apologise for the long post but wanted to provide as much information as possible. I really need help cycling this tank without adding chemicals like AMMO LOCK or PH down etc.
Please see my profile for an updated stock list and ask any questions you need to. Thanks
Dale
P.S help!
Secondly I apologise for a long post, just would like to give brief background into whats happened.
I have a 100 litre tank with fluval U2 filter and sufficient heater etc.
I first cycled the tank with a few rummy nose tetra and a red tailed black shark around 4 months ago when I first set it up and everything went fine.
I added my new fish slowly over the course of a few weeks and then two weeks ago 3 clown loach died, I had to get tid of the shark and the tetras died too. I also lost two bulldog pleco's and nearly lost my fighter fish. I had the disease diagnosed as white spot/fin rot and removed my biological filter section of my Fluval U2 while I medicated for a week.
While medicating I found the rest of my fish were dying of ammonia poisoning or nitrite poisoning. I decided to stop medicating and put the bio filter back into the U2 to hopefully begin some sort of re cycling of the tank.
This was 5 days ago, I have been having to do 50% water changes almost twice a day just to keep the ammonia below 0.50. The Nitrites are still testing 0.00 and the Nitrate is around 80ppm. PH is fluctuating between 7.6 and 8.0.
It seems the Ammonia isn't being cycled into Nitrite, but the Nitrate is very high?
I am using Interpet Tapsafe which does neutralise the chemicals in the tap water, I know this because I have been testing the water after adding the tapsafe but before putting it in the tank but 4-6 hours later the readings are spiking.
In the last 3 days I have lost 2 tiger barbs and one orange gourami to what I can only assume is ammonia poisoning.
The fin rot/white spot seems to have gone as I have raised the temp to 28c and the medication must have worked.
I have a planted aquarium with a large peice of bogwood and two coconut caves. The only rocks are what I think is slate, and my substrate is a very fine gravel.
Again I apologise for the long post but wanted to provide as much information as possible. I really need help cycling this tank without adding chemicals like AMMO LOCK or PH down etc.
Please see my profile for an updated stock list and ask any questions you need to. Thanks
Dale
P.S help!