gfink
Aquarium Advice Freak
Well, after an increadibly slow ammonia build up to 0.5 ppm. (this took about 6 weeks), the ammonia plummeted to zero and nitrites shot up to between 2 and 5 ppm (hard to tell with color cards) in two days.
I just did a 10% water change to help ease the stress on the little guys. I'll keep a close eye on it and dilute it further later tonight.
Two questions.
1) How frequently can I do these 10% water changes so that I don't overstress the fish? I mean high nitrites are bad, but lots of water changes are stressfull too. I was thinking about maybe one every 12 hours if needed to control the spike. Any input?
2) Does anyone here disagree with this quote:
"Nitrite is an order of magnitude less toxic than ammonia. Thus, one common saying about tank cycling is: ``if your fish survive the ammonia spike, they'll probably survive the nitrite spike and the rest of the cycling process.'' However, even at levels above .5 ppm, fish become stressed. At 10-20 ppm, concentrations become lethal."
Source: http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-tests.html
29 Gal
5 Zebra Danios
2 Sunburst Micky Mouse Platties (who eat all of my diatoms and algea)
I just did a 10% water change to help ease the stress on the little guys. I'll keep a close eye on it and dilute it further later tonight.
Two questions.
1) How frequently can I do these 10% water changes so that I don't overstress the fish? I mean high nitrites are bad, but lots of water changes are stressfull too. I was thinking about maybe one every 12 hours if needed to control the spike. Any input?
2) Does anyone here disagree with this quote:
"Nitrite is an order of magnitude less toxic than ammonia. Thus, one common saying about tank cycling is: ``if your fish survive the ammonia spike, they'll probably survive the nitrite spike and the rest of the cycling process.'' However, even at levels above .5 ppm, fish become stressed. At 10-20 ppm, concentrations become lethal."
Source: http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-tests.html
29 Gal
5 Zebra Danios
2 Sunburst Micky Mouse Platties (who eat all of my diatoms and algea)