Help! Time for action! Tired of messing around...

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Zagz said:
I forgot to ask if you ever found out whether your water test kit was good or not? Did you confirm the NH3 reading with another kit or at the lfs? How is your SG through all this water changing? I'm not that experienced a great deal with SG and how this many water changes will affect it. Just wanting to make sure your SG doesn't change a ton with all these water changes.
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I just checked my SG to find that it is still 1.004, it was about 1.005 before but as long as it doesn't exceed .002 in one week then the bacteria should be ok. I was very surprised to see that I'm hitting it dead on.

The archers look burnt. Color has been fluctuating like crazy. They've become very unattractive... think this is only temporary. One of them made a full recovery in coloration and marking... I guess I need to keep my fingers crossed.
 
Are you sure the ammonia levels are going up that fast? Usually 20% per day PWC is enough to keep the levels down, and occasionally a 50%. That's how it was with my 26G. Looks like your cycling is going good.

As for the driftwood, I don't think that's the problem. I didn't even boil mine, just soaked it 3 weeks and then placed in my tank. How are your levels right now?
 
Also, when you added the Bio-Spira, the bio-spira could have been bad. Where did you get it, and how did you handle it before you added it to the tank? Please give us the timeframes so we can see if the bio-spira could be bad. If it was out of the fridge for any extended period of time, it could all go bad.
 
Lonewolfblue said:
Also, when you added the Bio-Spira, the bio-spira could have been bad. Where did you get it, and how did you handle it before you added it to the tank? Please give us the timeframes so we can see if the bio-spira could be bad. If it was out of the fridge for any extended period of time, it could all go bad.
Click to expand...

1st batch - 1oz FW Bio-Spira(Sunday)
Tong's Tropical Fish in Fountain Valley
Straight from the fridge, 3-4 minutes from store to the car and then straight into a cooler with ice pack I had in the car. 20-25min home.

2nd batch - 1oz Marine Bio-Spira(Monday)
Tong's Tropical Fish in Whittier
Straight from fridge, 7 minutes down the street to a resturant where it went straight into a cup with ice. 15-20min home.

Let me get you current water parameters...
 
Ok, here's the current parameters:

NH3 is 1.0ppm
NO2 is .50ppm

I haven't had it this low since day 1. It almost had an immediate spike after the FW bio-spira died off.

Did I already mention that they actually ate a couple water changes ago? 3 of the 4 had some baby crickets. The largest archer showed only a little interest. However, water parameters seem decent yet they're all hiding under their stump looking like crap.

Maybe they need some quiet time.
 
Parameters as of 12:17am (2hrs Later):

NH3 = 1.0ppm
NO2 = 1.0ppm

So the ammonia is still pretty steady but the nitrite is growing. I decided to wake up at 5am to do a water test and possibly adjust the water if the NH3 has increased but I'm hoping it will go down.
 
Wow, you are quite dedicated. Remember the Nitrate tests are effected by chloride, so a SW nitrate kit is not accurate in FW. I beleive a SW kit will give a level around twice as high in FW. I beleive the FW kit is more appropriate for brackish water. Bummer about the Biospira failure. At least since you have nitrite so soon the Biospira will hasten the cycle even though it has not prevented toxin spikes.
 
Ok, it's 4am, here's the readings before and after the water change:

Before
NH3 = Between 1.0-2.0ppm (slight increase)
NO2 = 2.0ppm

After
NH3 = 1.0ppm
NO2 = 1.0ppm

Maybe I should have done a larger change. Fish are just moping around... not sure if it's because they feel sick of because it's night time and they're sleeping.
 
Sounds like it's cycling. bio-spira isn't always instant, sometimes takes 4-6 days. You will get spikes. Maybe it is taking affect. Time will tell.
 
Good news that the NH3 & NO2 are both down! Great job, good dedication. LOL, keep it up and you will see the positive results soon I am sure of it.
 
It's interesting. My NH3 is actually starting to stay low and is very gradually building up over the course of maybe 6 hours. However, my NO2 is building at about 2-3 times that rate, or so it seems.

All but one of my archers is eating baby crickets. One is spitting... I don't know what he's spitting at... but he's doing it!
 
The fact that the NO2 is building faster than the NH3 means the cycle is progressing along. The water changes are keeping your fish alive! It's fantastic that they are eating, make sure to not overfeed during the cycle.
 
Ok guys, here we go:

NH3 = 0.25ppm
NO2 = leaning towards 2.0ppm

At this point I've been able to keep the NH3 under 1.0 by doing PWC every 6-7 hours or so. However I'm struggling to keep the NO2 down. The fish look really stressed and I have a feeling that the NO2 level has a lot to do with it.

How toxic is NO2? I found that after doing a 20% PWC after after several hours my levels barely dropped at all.

This is getting exhausting. Feels like a never ending battle... but the fish haven't given up so I'm not going to give up on them!
 
Zagz said:
The fact that the NO2 is building faster than the NH3 means the cycle is progressing along. The water changes are keeping your fish alive! It's fantastic that they are eating, make sure to not overfeed during the cycle.
Click to expand...

I better cut back on feeding. Just want them to have energy since they're under so much stress. Hunting also seemed to relax them. However, one of my archers at about 6 crickets... I probably should have stopped at 1 or 2.
 
I'm trying to figure out why my levels aren't dropping after I just did a 30% PWC:

Before
NH3 = 0.25ppm
NO2 = 2.0ppm

After
NH3 = 0.25ppm
NO2 = 2.0ppm

What just happened here? I just changed out all that water and my readings are still exactly the same. At this point my NH3 is staying around 0.25 but my NO2 won't stay down. When should I expect to see both the NO2/NH3 to go down to zero and complete my cycle?
 
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