50% Water change too much?

[Meiko]

I didn't want to start yet another thread so I'm just changing this one's topic.

I'm having a seriously toxic Nitrite spike -- According to tests it's ABOVE 10ppm. I was doing 50% daily water changes to fix it (this is day two), but a friend of mine in the aqua hobby told me that was too much.. and to let the fish just adjust.

Is he right? Or would someone suggest another remedy? Maybe I should vacuum the gravel, or would that just worsen the spike to stir up the gravel now at this time...?





---Original topic: Male vs. Female---


my tank finally finished cycling so I decided to add another fish. I figured, I have a male rosey barb, so if i put a -female- barb in the tank surely they'd be great friends! ;


wrong. T.T; He's trying to eat her alive.. I'm confused. Why won't he get along with the female of his species? @.@;

 

[TankGirl]

Schooling fish like this have a hierarchy, so if the male is dominant he will pester the other fish, no matter what the gender. The best situation is to give them a group of 7 or so, and that way they can establish a "pecking order" and they will be more comfortable like that.

I'm not positive this is the situation, but in general that is how schooling fish do their thing.

 

[Meiko]

Uhg. X.x; I was afraid someone would say that... But of coarse this being my first tank, it's only a 7gal. Hex starter kit. so I could never have that many fish. T.T;

I think I should give up on having any fish larger than 1/2 inch, take everything out... and make my fish a fancy guppy tank only. XD;

Hmmm.. I wonder if petco would also take my extra rubey back and not just the one I bought there. I trust the manager at that store so I'm sure they won't kill them off or anything. They actually know some things about fish there. @.@; (more than me anyways x.x; )

 

[Menagerie]

You can do a guppies, or fish that like to be solitary like dwarf puffers. You could put in 2-4 Badis badis, they don't need a ton of room to swim and establish tiny territories (I have 8 in a 10 gal hex).

 

[Meiko]

waiii.. I donno. I'll have to go check out the lfs again and see what they have. What about Goby fish?

 

[Menagerie]

They are a ton of fun--I have 10! They do require a brackish tank.

 

[Meiko]

you think they'd do ok in a 7 gal tank with a tiny tiny baby pleco? Cause other than that, my water requirments seem to meet theirs. o.o

I was also looking at the Black Phantom Tetra. I can't figure what'd be best to school in my small tank. @.@;

 

[tsaraber]

Take into consideration how big your fish are going to get when they're full grown. I don't know anything about the tetras or the other fish mentioned but the pleco will get HUGE. All of the pleco's that I looked up require a 29 gallon tank or more. A great fish for a small tank is a betta, the males are gorgeous. They're supposed to be community tank fish but you still have to be careful what you stick them with so I prefer to keep mine alone or with some kind of algae eater.

 

[Meiko]

Oh don't worry about that, my small tank is just temporary. ^_____^ I'm getting a much larger one soon *nods*

Right now I'm really leaning towards the tetras... And I have to return my barb to the store. He's stealing my pleco's food, and NO one messes with my kawaii little pleco. ><; *Worships pleco's* He's just too aggressive for his own good. T.T;

 

[Menagerie]

For clarification, I was referring to bumble bee gobies that stay under 2". Plecos do not like salt.

 

[Meiko]

Yeah the goby would need the salt wouldn't it. Didn't put 2 and 2 together. @.@; I guess tetra it is then! ^______^; I should go research a bit before buying them. weeee~ researching fish is a little too addictive. Next thing you know 5 hours has passed and it feels like just a few minutes. @.@;

 

[AtodaJ]

Meiko

I perform water changes weekly. As long as there isn't a disaster happening in the tank then weekly is great. For you Meiko, if your Nitrite really is at 10 ppm, then your tank is in the middle of a disaster. You will have to be ruthless with your water changes. I'd change enough water to get the Nitrite level below 2.0 immediately (if that means you change out 75% then so be it). I'd recommend reacclimating your fish to the tank if you change more than 50% of the water though.

Then the next day change enough to get the level below 1.0. Then do daily water changes to keep the level below 1.0 until the cycle actually completes. I think its fairly obvious that your tank never completed the cycle.

 

[Meiko]

Reacclimate the fish? how so? Yeah..it was on the tail end of cycling and then this happened. but even when I do a 50% water change the nitrite readings don't go down... Like yesterday I took a reading, then changed out about 50% of the water, and the readings only went down a little bit, still at 10ppm.

I was holding off vacuuming the gravel until my cycle finished, because i've read that when you vacuum it can cause a nitrite spike 'cause you stir up all the gunk in the gravel. But then again when I poor in the water the gunk gest stirred up into the water, so is that aiding the spike?

I did so much research and I still have no clue what i'm doing. T.T; I feel like nothing can truly prepare you for your first tank... ^^;;;;


Edit: I was just thinking..and wondering if this would be a good idea. I have a 5 gallon bucket (I was using it to soak my drift wood I added to the tank) and I was thinking of taking like 25% of the water from the tank, putting it in the bucket then adding some fresh water and the driftwood so I can put the fish into the bucket and get them out of the tank..then vacuum the gravel in the tank and do like a 75% water change... wait 24 hours and then readd the fish if the readings show promising..

Would that just totally kill all what i've done to cycle and start it over again? Or would it be helpful to kill the evil nitrite spike? Sometimes I just think I'm being an over-protective worrier and /that/ is what will kill my fish in the end.. @.@;

Help!

 

[Menagerie]

Please post ammonia and nitrate readings.
If those fish are really in 10ppm nitrite, that is no good and I agree with AtodaJ about massive water changes.

 

[Meiko]

Nitrate: 40-60 ppm
Nitrite: 10+ ppm (It's a bright fusia pink color. 10ppm on the color indicator is much lighter in tone...)
Total Hardness: 200-ish (It's usually between 120-250)
Alkalinity: 120-ish
pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0 ppm (YAYS!)

So with the Nitrite as it is, 50% daily water change is not too much? And what should I do about all the gunk that gets upturned when I do the change? Doesn't that help support the Nitrite spike?

 

[Menagerie]

How long has this tank been running?
With the nitrates showing, this tank should be cycled.
Get a cup of tap water and test it for nitrites and nitrates.
How are the fish doing?

 

[Meiko]

I've had the tank for a month I think.. The fish act fine, except for when I turn on the light in the morning. In that case my rosey kinda acts like it's having seisures and juts around. Maybe he's not a morning person? ^^; j/k The pleco acts like all pleco act. I wouldn't know how to determine if he is stressed or not. And the Rosey gasps for air maybe once a minute... Other than that he breathes normally and at a natural rate.

I use spring water from the store, It doesn't have any nitrate or nitrite in it that I know of (I tested). But I've always had Nitrate from my tester kit. Ever since I first put the fish in (probably from his bag of water from lfs). Part of me believes my first tester kit had the pads for NitrAte and NitrIte swiched, but then if /that/ were true, it'd mean i've had a contstant nitrite spike since I started the tank up... So I'm not sure...

ohhh..and maybe I should mention, color-wise, my barb's "pink" has become very red and the green a darker EXTREEMLY dull green. His tail and fin have also gained some red coloring.. before they were very much clear-like. Donno if any of that means anything.. Is kinda interesting how fish change color depending on their moods and stuff though...

 

[TankGirl]

I don't always trust the dip strip type test kits, since they are very sensitive to moisture contamination, if that is what you are using. Might be worth it to pick up reagent test kits and compare the two.

 

[Meiko]

nuuuu don't say that.. I've worked really carefull to not let moisture get into the strip bottle.. Can't..spend..more..money *dies* I've already spent wayyy too much. x.o;

At least for this week.. ^^;;

 

[wxboilermaker]

then get a sample and bring to a petSmart or another LFS. I know for a fact petSmart's will do free water tests. Just bring in the water, tell them specificly what you're looking for and have them test it.