Water Changes

[Guest]

I recently upgraded my tank from a 55 to a 125 ,its been up and running for about 4 weeks, my tank went into a mini cycle
My nitrites went so high that I had no choice but to do a water change so I changed 14 gal which got my nitrites down
My ammonia on the other hand was off the scale and now it is at o which is great, my nitrites now are .3 should I do a water change now or should I wait, tank has been going for 4 weeks since the upgrade and had one water change two weeks ago

 

[HoopsGuru]

With ammonia and nitrites off the charts or close to it, and the fact the nitrites are still not 0 after 4 weeks...you had more of a full cycle than a mini. Since all the fish are in the tank, I would do another water change and really they should have been done throughout the whole cycling process as both NH4 and NO2 are quite toxic to them. Hopefully, any damage not easily seen was minimal and the last bit of nitrites should go in the next few days even with some water changes.

 

[Guest]

Well I wa so worried about my fish ,the nitrites went down from the water change the ammonia would not, it was off the chart ,I kept adding in prime every three days
not sure if you know of chemical prime, does not make the ammonia go away but makes it non toxic to the fish ,I noticed it only lasted for three days so evry three days I added it in
Seemed to help the fish but now ammonia down to 0 ,nitrties around .3 maybe .5 was thinking maybe do another water change but I didn't want to interupt the tank

 

[HoopsGuru]

How did you notice it only lasted three days? Unless using the Seachem partner Ammonia test kit, you may have been getting a false postive (which would be a good thing for your case...most likely less free ammonia, less potential damage) from a Nessler or salicylate based test kit.

For right now, bacteria multiply quickly and few are available in the water column. A reasonable water change as mentioned should not interrupt the remainder of your cycle.

 

[Guest]

Well to make a long story short I know my fish well and it got to the point that the way not acting them selfe, not eating which never happens with them , when I feed them they rip it to shreads in seconds, also fish were not swimming and they were breathing hard ,I added the prime in to detox the ammonia, they were back to them slelf thought I would add in maybe once a week or week and a half ,with in three to four days back to the same thing so I just started adding every three days and they were fine and acted there normal selves plus my tang looked like he had a small ammonia burn on one of hins fins which is gone now since I used the prime while tank was cycling, I have not used any chemicals in three days and four the last three days Ive been checking all the levels and all seem good except the nitrites which are like I said .3 to .5 so I think the cycle is done and Im sure they nitrites will be 0 if I do a water change
Thanks for the info, I like to ask other people because it seems like you can go to four different fish stores and they all tell you something different, not sure if they just want your system to crash which would be good for them as you would have to start over and buy new fish and ect
I think talking to people like your self that have been there and have had to handle this somewhere down the line is better advice