Nitr-ITE won't go to -0-

[EZ--Not]

I have a 29gal tank with a MarineLand hood and Bio-Wheel filter, U/G filter, corner filter, and an air hose {the one that makes it look like there is a water fall in the tank} full of Mom's/Dad's/Juvenile to baby fry's in it.

The tank had a fungus start in it due to my stupidity of not checking and cleaning the Java Moss and Horn Wort that was in there. The plants were full of left over food that had turned fuzzy. I am a known over feeder, but trying to cut down.

That was in the end of May. I used Fungus Ease and was on almost my last treatment when a professional told me that I should use Hydrogen peroxide and it would clear up real fast. Don't know if it was the Hydrogen Proxide or the Fungus Ease but it did clear up, it also cleared up the cycle and started a mini cycle. I have never been able to get the nitrITES down since.

I have done daily routine water changes and the nitrITES have not gone down past .50. A couple of times it has gone to .25 and even once it was a trace. But can't seem to get it to -0-. I have started to do the water changes every other day thinking that maybe all the water changes were not doing any good. But alas, it is still at a trace this last time. So it swings from .50 to .25 with a trace once in awhile.

I have done a complete tank, plant, gravel cleaning and the chemistry is Ammonia -0- {ammonia crystals used in the corner filter} nitrITES-not quite .25 so that would be a trace.

Anyone have any ideas as to what is going on and what I can do to fix it?

I have been changing the filter pad and the filer in the corner filter along with the carbon and ammonia crystals and have NOT touched the Bio-Wheel although it looks like something that belongs in a pig pen, .

I have done this since June 7th.

 

[TankGirl]

Okay - thanks for all the info and that is extremely helpful.

What you need to use is the "hands off" approach. The cleaning and peroxide and filter changing, etc. is killing off the bacteria before it can get a hold in the tank. Remove any ammonia crystals from your filter, as the bacteria you are trying to grow needs ammonia as a food source, so it will starve without it. Don't gravel vac, don't change the filter, leave that lovely, grubby biowheel alone (a grubby biowheel is a healthy biowheel it should stay grubby for ever and ever, amen) and just do small water changes to keep the nitrite down. That's it. Any algae issues can be dealt with after the cycle is complete. Good luck!

 

[Menagerie]

a grubby biowheel is a healthy biowheel it should stay grubby for ever and ever, amen

I'll second that!

Once the nitrites go down, we'll help you battle the algae!

[center:c33670a550] Welcome to AA, EZ--Not! [/center:c33670a550]

 

[EZ--Not]

Thanks, I know that I should take out the ammonia crystals out of the corner filter but---

shortly after my tank was cycled, everything was going fine, then I stocked it with Guppies, then I thought that I would add a touch of wood to make the tank look nice, it was a couple of days that The Black Cloud of Death [disease] went through that tank and wiped out all but one guppy male and one Silvertip male and my otto . I had also added fertilizer to the tank that was recommend to me, it was the kind that comes in a pouch that you put under the gravel and next to the plant, so with the wood, that I was told was the culprit and then the fertilizer was the one that caused the disease , I don't think anyone really knew what the cause was.

Then when I got everything stable again, I restocked with guppies and silvertips and along came the Black Cloud of Death [disease] AGAIN!!!

So when fungus hit my guppies, I was out to find anyone that would give me advice, unfortuneitly, it wasn't the right one :x .

I was also told to put the ammonia crystals in the tank and I wouldn't have to worry about ammonia poisoning. At this point I sure didn't want that, I had just restocked my tank and babies were being born left and right.

I am the type that when my tank water friends have died, I have bought match boxes, taken out the matches, put in some fiber filler and then put the dead one in it and used it as a coffin and buried them in the front yard. My very first male/female Guppy are out there .

So I am a little gun shy at all this. I lost my favorite little fat male Guppy with this last onset of fungus, only he didn't have any fungus on him so it must have been the Hydrogen peroxide that did him in. He looked just like a teenage Goth kid, silver front half of his body, the back half and his tail was black, with orange running down each side of his tail, his side fins were black so against the silver body, they really stick out, Then he had black lips, the kind that look like he was wearing lip liner. He was a cutie, and he was a chubby. I called him my Goth guy {DA!!LOL} and now I have just found another one that looks like him, only with out the orange on his tail, it is stripped on his body, Goth Guy II .

So if I take out the ammonia crystals I won't loose him as well :? ? Or any of the others in that tank? I do have fry's anywhere from one month old to new borns!

If the crystals come out, then the ammonia is going to climb and then the nitrITES are going to climb and then I will have a cycled again, right? And if I go through a complete cycle again, then I will lose all the fry's, right?

then you said we would deal with the algae issues later?? Algae???? So tell me just what is going to happen in my tank beyond a cycle? It isn't going to be a complete cycle is it? Just a mini one? Will I lose the fry's?

 

[EZ--Not]

Congratulations on my up coming wedding. I hope it is beautiful and non-forgettable!!

 

[TankGirl]

The way you deal with ammonia and nitrite poisoning is by diluting it with water changes. Both of those toxic substances are what feed your bacteria, so you are walking a line here of nurturing bacteria with substances that are toxic to the fish, if that makes sense! This is why lots of aquarists choose to run a fishless cycle and add ammonia out of a bottle, so there is no risk to fish during this dicey process.

You might indeed lose the fry during the cycle, since they cannot tolerate these toxic substances as well as the adults might, but guppies are really pretty tough fish, all in all.

I apologize, I don't know why I thought you were also battling algae - just put that issue out of your mind!

 

[EZ--Not]

All logic told me that I would lose the fry's but hoping that logic could be wrong.

This morning, I went to say, "Good Morning" to my crew of tank friends and to feed them. I am the first one to wake up in the mornings and so I make sure that I wake up early enough to talk with my Neptune Friends and to look at them and to feed them, without being teased by my husband and son {16}.

Now not only am I fighting the nitrITES that won't go to -O-, I found one of the girls with fungus on her . I am back to square one where all of this happened. At least this time, I am smart enough NOT to use Hydrogen peroxide .

One of my husband's co-workers wife, has a 55gal full of Guppies, her and I were talking about it and she hardly ever does a water change, she has never tested her water, she feeds them when she remembers too, and they are doing okay, with no disease in the tank. She says she looses one now and then but they reproduce so she never knows it until she finds them floating :x .

On the other side of the scale, I test my water, do weekly water changes, feed them twice a day, clean out the Horn Wort when it builds up with food, talk to my guys/girls, keep a head count, wash my hands and make sure to rinse off all the soap before putting my hand in the tank or feeding them. And my tank is constantly in some kind of turmoil .

So why does the fungus ALWAYS come back to my tank?? What am I doing wrong? Why my tank?? .

I pulled out all of the carbon and ammonia crystals in my corner filter, and in my hood filter, put in the correct amount of Fungus Ease.

Now what??