Too many water changes???

[annielauri]

Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? I have been doing them sometimes twice a day. I still can't get my ammonia levels down. I bought some Amquel+ to use as a dechlorinator instead of Aquasafe and I am wondering if I shouldn't do as many water changes with that?

My seed material hasn't helped at all yet either. 4 of my original 5 fishies are still with me though. 3 of them look really good, but one - a dalmatian molly seems a little sluggish.

 

[rich311k]

Have you checked your tap for ammonia? Both before and after adding the amquel? How much of a % are you changing? PWCs will not hurt the fish if temp and KH are the same.

 

[annielauri]

Actually, yes my tap water has ammonia and that is why I bought the Amquel+. It runs about 1ppm straight from the tap. I can't see buying bottled water every time I need to do a water change though, but if I have to, I guess I will.

 

[neilanh]

I think you're fine, I get close to 1ppm from the tap too. When I PWC, I remove the water, then add 1/2 the dechlor (I use prime) right away as I start to fill the tank, then the other 1/2 about half way through the refill.

How long has your tank been established?

 

[annielauri]

It has been up and running almost 3 weeks and fish in it for 2 weeks. I didn't know there was such a thing as a fishless cycle until someone mentioned this site to me. I definitely would have gone that route. I have only had my "seed material" in there for about 3 days

 

[neilanh]

Well, I think you should keep doing what you're doing. Don't vacuum more than once a week to allow the bacteria to go undisturbed. It just takes time - a fishy cycle can take upwards of 6-8 weeks.

What type of seed material did you get and what did you do with it? Did you make sure it stayed wet during transport?

 

[annielauri]

Yep, they delivered it in a glass jar with tank water. I drained it (gravel) into a new rinsed out pantyhose and tied it off. Dropped it in the tank and have been squishing it a few times a day.

Maybe I am vacuuming too much? Should I just suck the water off from the top of the tank with the vac?

 

[neilanh]

Sounds like you did and are doing everything right. Good job. You're just going to have to keep it up I think.

 

[annielauri]

Wooooooooo Hoooooooooooo!!! After being very frustrated last night, I did another PWC and lo and behold... I have Nitrites and nitrates this morning!!! .25 on the nitrite and 5.0 on the nitrate. Not sure if I should do a quick water change before I go to work, or if it will be ok till I get home at 6:30??

 

[neilanh]

I assume you're already off to work.

The key is to mantain both the ammonia and NitrIte below .5 during this period. You were probably find to not do one this morning, and depending on what you see when you get home you'll have to decide then.

The good news is that your cycles well underway now, keep up the good work.

 

[annielauri]

Well, I did do a 25% PWC before I left for work. Then tested when I got home and did another 50% PWC. The nitrites were up to .50 My ammonia is down to .25 or less and the Nitrate is still at 5.0. Approximately how many days of this can I expect? I have a 20 gal. with 4 little fishies. 2 Platys and 2 mollies.

 

[neilanh]

I'd expect a few weeks I think.

 

[7Enigma]

All depends on how "good" your seed material was, and by good I mean how much bacteria was on the substrate. I fishless cycled in 17 days or so with a small bag of gravel so its definitely possible to do it pretty quickly. You have fish so you CANNOT do some of the steps (raise the temp way up, etc).

Your stocking is very light for your size tank which is a plus. If your seed material is in fact viable (ie has active living bacteria on it), it shouldn't take long for the biofilter to catch up. If you had a goldfish/pleco/adult fish it could definitely be a long painful process.

Please note it should be near impossible for your ammonia level to be below 1ppm. Since that is what your tap has you can never get below 1ppm when doing water changes (until the bacteria have multiplied to the point where they are converting more ammonia than is being produced). If you're reading under 1ppm either you have more bacteria than you think (good thing ), or your test is not accurate (I don't know if your dechlor product affects the test).

I would recommend for your sanity and the fish's health to try to get more seed material. Keep up the water changes. For ease of use 50% PWC's are much more beneficial than 25% PWC's since you effectively cut the concentrations of toxins in half (and the extra work is minimal, trust me I do 50% PWC's on my 20gallon planted tank and 10 gallon QT tank every week, by hand, with a bucket ). A 25% PWC really doesn't do much in the grand scheme of things with ever rising levels. A 75% is ideal but you need to be careful about stressing the fish and making sure the temp of the water you are adding back in is EXACT.

And I would like to commend you on your proper treatment of the fish under these circumstances. Many people in your situation get lazy and let the levels get higher then they should, or just ride out the cycle and get new fish after the tank has stabilized. You're doing a great job!

Keep squishing that bag!