safe water levels

[rmuk12]

hi

i had a biorb 60 a few months back and had various issues so took it back, the lfs told us to use the water in the biorb to fill our new 64 litre interpet fish pod which we did, i have tested the water today after getting a few new fish and one weird behaving kissing gourami which we only purchased a few hours ago and it has started swimming strangely all other fish seem fine

the ammonia level is around 0 - 0.25 not quite at 0.25?
nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 0
ph is about 7.0

I done a 10% water change earlier today also, does thise sound fine?

Thanks

 

[Tetra123]

Did you cycle your tank before purchasing fish? You have to grow BB to process your fishes waste or else they are literally swimming in poison.

 

[rmuk12]

t was more or less finished the cycle in the old tank but because of the transfer to the new one i dont know what to do?

 

[Tetra123]

You can do a fish in cycle or a fishless. Theres a really good guide on here.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

 

[rmuk12]

i have two mollys, two kissing gouramis, two guppys and 4 tetras i have been taken out 10-15% water each day, and testing the water with a api master test kit? what else should i be doing? thanks very much

 

[Tetra123]

Thats it, keep up the water changes and test daily.

 

[rmuk12]

thanks should i be doing the water changes every day or every other day? one of the gourarmis is slowly dying only had it a few hours and it didnt look to healthy in the bag when we brought it home

 

[rmuk12]

hi

is it okay todo the water changes everyday and is 10-15% okay also?

Thanks

 

[Hholly]

If it didn't look healthy in the bag, it was probably under stress at the store. Sounds you should get your money back. Keep tending your water daily and change 50% when ammonia or nitrites get over .25ppm.

 

[librarygirl]

Hi, I'm sorry to say you've been given very bad advice. 64 liters is about 17 gals. This tank is MUCH too small for the Gouramis and Mollys. The Gouramis can be aggressive, especially if they breed, so they may eventually attack the other fish. Your tank is also over 200% overstocked at this point.

Adding water from another tank does almost nothing to help cycle it. Was the other tank fully cycled and did you move the filter over from the other tank to the new? If so that may have helped seed it with bacteria which is good. If not, you're in for some toxin spikes (and even so, toxin spikes are probably likely given the much higher bioload of the Gouramis for that size tank).

The Gourami was probably already sick when you got it, sounds like.

I'd either return the Mollys and Gouramis or get a much larger tank in the near future (even a larger tank probably wouldn't be suitable for the Gouramis and other fish together though, so you'll probably have to decide which you want, or get a separate tank for the Gouramis).

 

[rmuk12]

apparantely the mollys only grow to 5cm would this still be too small for them? it was half wat through the cycle i think nitrites and nitrates were starting to peak how do i know if it was complete?

thanks

 

[rmuk12]

I have continued todo the water changes everyday taken about 15% out, and I have just tested nitrite and nitrate are still 0, but ammonia is still inbetween 0 and 0.25 I cannot seem to get it down, any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Hholly]

.25 is ok as it's cycling. Just try to keep it that low. Hopefully the cycle will happen fast.

 

[rmuk12]

thanks so keep doing the change everyday and keep checking, the filter is quite mucky should i leave it or clean it in the dirty water? and when im doing the water changesthey kick up all the muck, thanks

 

[Hholly]

Only rinse the filter in used tank water when it starts impeding the water from flowing.

 

[rmuk12]

thanks a few of the fish seem to now have white spot been using interpet anti whitespot but it doesnt seem to be shifting, any ideas?

Thanks