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I keep getting conflicting info on the PWC's. Some people are telling me to do large PWC's, as large and often as possible, some people are telling me that this will cause new tank syndrome. What's best for the poor fish that are left? I'm beyond frustrated at this point and feel horrible that so many fish had to die. Help!!
 
DrConnie said:
I keep getting conflicting info on the PWC's. Some people are telling me to do large PWC's, as large and often as possible, some people are telling me that this will cause new tank syndrome. What's best for the poor fish that are left? I'm beyond frustrated at this point and feel horrible that so many fish had to die. Help!!
Click to expand...

You are going through "new tank syndrome", that is what is causing these ridiculously high toxin spikes. Doing water changes will not disrupt your cycle as long as you are using a quality dechlorinator. There is no such thing as too many water changes if that is what it takes to keep your ammonia and no2 below .25 at all times.

Read the article I linked, and please immediately do massive back to back water changes until the nitrIte is at or below .25. Anything above that causes tremendous stress, suffering and death (as you've seen).

Just test every single day and do water changes as needed to keep your ammonia and nitrIte levels at or below .25 at all times. You are near the end of your cycle...but this is the most dangerous time for your fish.
 
DrConnie said:
So how often should I be doing PWC's at this point? And how big of a change?
Click to expand...

Let your test kit dictate the size and frequency of the water changes. If ammonia or no2 hit .25, it's time for a water change.
 
Keep testing your water, anything above .25 ammonia or nitrite requires a water change to get it as low as possible until your biological filter catches up.

Edit: Eco to the rescue as I was typing!
 
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eco23 said:
You are going through "new tank syndrome", that is what is causing these ridiculously high toxin spikes. Doing water changes will not disrupt your cycle as long as you are using a quality dechlorinator. There is no such thing as too many water changes if that is what it takes to keep your ammonia and no2 below .25 at all times.

Read the article I linked, and please immediately do massive back to back water changes until the nitrIte is at or below .25. Anything above that causes tremendous stress, suffering and death (as you've seen).

Just test every single day and do water changes as needed to keep your ammonia and nitrIte levels at or below .25 at all times. You are near the end of your cycle...but this is the most dangerous time for your fish.
Click to expand...

Any chance you could give me advice on dechlorinization? Is it true that you can get rid of the chlorine in tap water by letting it sit out before adding it to the tank? And how long does it need to sit? Should it be capped or open?
 
I hope as I am typing this you are doing back to back 75% water changes with a quality dechlorinator like Seachem Prime .5 nitrIte is a dangerously high value, and you should keep changing water until it is below .25.

Out of curiosity, where had you gotten the advice about not doing water changes? I also saw on one of your threads that you planned on fishless cycling...was there something that changed your mind? Maybe bad advice from the LFS?
 
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DrConnie said:
Any chance you could give me advice on dechlorinization? Is it true that you can get rid of the chlorine in tap water by letting it sit out before adding it to the tank? And how long does it need to sit? Should it be capped or open?
Click to expand...

Most municipalities use chloramines which will not evaporate out of water, so a quality dechlorinator is absolutely vital. Leaving water sitting out is an old-school method that really doesn't apply anymore and is unnecessary as long as you have a good bottle of water conditioner. We all recommend Seachem Prime since it not only dechlorinates the water...but also temporarily detoxifies the ammonia and nitrItes for 24-36 hours.

Have you been doing water changes since the tank was set up? If so, have you been using any type of dechlorinator? I assume you're on city / county water and not well water?
 
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mudraker said:
50 % or more PWC is not unreasonable when you have nitrites or ammonia.
Click to expand...

Every day until levels go down or can it be done more than once a day? I'm not worried about the amount of work involved, I just don't want any more fish to suffer...
 
eco23 said:
I hope as I am typing this you are doing back to back 75% water changes with a quality dechlorinator like Seachem Prime. .5 nitrIte is a dangerously high value, and you should keep changing water until it is below .25.

Out of curiosity, where had you gotten the advice about not doing water changes? I also saw on one of your threads that you planned on fishless cycling...was there something that changed your mind? Maybe bad advice from the LFS?
Click to expand...


You got it, LFS advice strikes again!! :banghead:
As for the fishless cycling, yes...I did that at the beginning and then added fish when the cycle was done. I think I was over feeding and that I added too many fish at a time. Could these two things have been the cause of the problem?
 
I edited my above post ^^^

There is no such thing as too many water changes if that is what it requires to keep your toxin levels as low as possible until the tank cycles.
 
DrConnie said:
You got it, LFS advice strikes again!! :banghead:
As for the fishless cycling, yes...I did that at the beginning and then added fish when the cycle was done. I think I was over feeding and that I added too many fish at a time. Could these two things have been the cause of the problem?
Click to expand...

How did you fishless cycle? Did you just let the tank run empty or were you adding an ammonia source and monitoring levels? There's no way that if you fully cycled the tank you would have reading like this from overfeeding. The only possibility is if you used some sort of medication that destroyed the bio-filter, and/or replaced all of your filter media. Even then...I don't believe we'd be in this situation.
 
DrConnie said:
Every day until levels go down or can it be done more than once a day? I'm not worried about the amount of work involved, I just don't want any more fish to suffer...
Click to expand...

Multiple per day if necessary,keep changing until ammonia and nitrite are under .25.
Prime is the dechlorinator of choice on these forums. (removes chlorine and chloramines, temporarily detoxifies ammonia)
And in an emergency, you can use up to 5x the recommended dose to temporarily detoxify nitrite.
 
eco23 said:
Most municipalities use chloramines which will not evaporate out of water, so a quality dechlorinator is absolutely vital. Leaving water sitting out is an old-school method that really doesn't apply anymore and is unnecessary as long as you have a good bottle of water conditioner. We all recommend Seachem Prime since it not only dechlorinates the water...but also temporarily detoxifies the ammonia and nitrItes for 24-36 hours.

Have you been doing water changes since the yank was set up? If so, have you been using any type of dechlorinator? I assume you're on city / county water and not well water?
Click to expand...

City water - and yes, I had been doing water changes once a week from the start and then every day for a week or so after the mass suicide. I haven't done one in several days now...will start again in the AM.
 
eco23 said:
How did you fishless cycle? Did you just let the tank run empty or were you adding an ammonia source and monitoring levels? There's no way that if you fully cycled the tank you would have reading like this from overfeeding. The only possibility is if you used some sort of medication that destroyed the bio-filter, and/or replaced all of your filter media. Even then...I don't believe we'd be in this situation.
Click to expand...

I used a piece of fish in the fishless tank. I had the water tested at the LFS frequently and they told me it was ready after about 5 weeks of this. I keep trying to have faith in people at the LFS, but every time I do I get burned.
 
I truly don't mean disrespect...so please don't be offended...but I hope this is a lesson learned.

I saw your new member thread and I saw multiple people linked you guides on cycling your tank including a guide that I personally wrote. I honestly don't know if you didn't read them, didn't understand them or had an employee of a lfs talk you out of following them.

That said, what's done is done and now it's your responsibility to care for your fish. As far as I'm concerned, waiting till the AM to do water changes is not even remotely an option for fish sitting in a tank with 5ppm no2 IMO.

I implore you to change water immediately (as much as it takes), follow this guide I linked before...and stay on top of your levels and water changes until the tank is stable.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html
 
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