That makes complete sense skj. Now I really need to figure out how to do these water changes. I've got some of you saying do %25 every day, some saying %50 every couple days, and someone said do 90% water change.... these opinions are all over the board. What do you guys think about this YouTube video and what he says?
Hello; Adding the rope fish was likely a catalyst for at least part of the troubles. It is not quite clear what all the issues might be but the tank not being fully cycled still seems a strong player.
It is also possible that the rope fish and/or the fish shop water had some sort of pathogen or parasite. This is still not clear to me. It has been a few posts since you reported the condition of the fish and the test results for the water.
It is also possible that the rope fish and/or the fish shop water had some sort of pathogen or parasite. This is still not clear to me. It has been a few posts since you reported the condition of the fish and the test results for the water.
Hello; Back to the WC amounts and schedule. WC has been cussed and discussed in many threads= no consensus.
How about this. Test the water after a WC. Say you go with a 50% WC every other day and the ammonia/nitrite do not improve much. Then you might do 75% every other day and so on.
If a 50% WC shows real god results then you could try 40% the next time znd so on.
To me the purpose of a WC is to keep the tank parameters in a good range. I sort of doubt there is a magic set of amounts and frequencies for all tanks at all times. Once your tank gets stable and is fully cycled the amount and frequency of WC can be adjusted to keep the water quality OK. Bear in mind a home tank does not approach the volume of water for each fish if compared to those in the wild.
How about this. Test the water after a WC. Say you go with a 50% WC every other day and the ammonia/nitrite do not improve much. Then you might do 75% every other day and so on.
If a 50% WC shows real god results then you could try 40% the next time znd so on.
To me the purpose of a WC is to keep the tank parameters in a good range. I sort of doubt there is a magic set of amounts and frequencies for all tanks at all times. Once your tank gets stable and is fully cycled the amount and frequency of WC can be adjusted to keep the water quality OK. Bear in mind a home tank does not approach the volume of water for each fish if compared to those in the wild.
That's what I meant, the short amount of time it was in the bag water....like from store to home. Couldn't have produced enough ammonia that a small spill would create a nitrite spike
The rest of the fish are still behaving fine but I haven't gotten home yet today to check the water. When I did check the fish this morning they still seemed fine other than the breathing issue. I'm going to add some Seachem Stability tonight as it actually should reduce the nitrite rapidly as opposed to prime which only binds the molecules temporarily but they are still present in the long run. I'm going to follow up with small water changes, not large ones as the seachem should remove the nitrite very quickly. This is my plan for now. I want the water to cycle, I don't want to draw out the cycle by continuously doing huge water changes. I'll report my findings asap. Thanks again everyone. I think I have the knowledge I need to tackle this now.
Oh ok gotcha. And by the way I also got about 6-7 bio balls from the local store from one of there oldest display only tanks. Gonna throw those in the filter tonight as well. Awesome of them to do that.
Hello; We each get to run our tanks any way we wish and to consider which source of advice we will follow.
That said I still do not believe that WC will lengthen the cycle process. It is my understanding the bb are mainly attached to surfaces with very little in the water itself. Read the first of the links I posted a while back. Down in the article is a brief discussion stating that the author finds the bb stick to surfaces fairly soundly. My take being that even somewhat vigorous water movement is unlikely to dislodge the colonies. My personal experience tends to bear this out.
Water changes may be the single best tool at your disposal right now. While I follow your reasoning and that you got advice from a trusted friend, I do not happen to agree with it.
Good luck anyway.
Completely understand yours and others takes. I have had several others say not to do too many water changes as well. I think the main disagreement I'm getting from the two stances is this; those for big water changes are saying that it will dilute the nitrites. Yes, that is true. The side saying not to do big water changes is saying that, yes they agree it will dilute the nitrites, but it is merely a bandaid. Since the only way to finish cycling the tank is to allow the natural biological cycle to develop fully so that IT and not water changes are getting rid of the nitrites. But the water itself must age and develop in order to create BB on those surfaces. I clearly do not have enough BB on my surfaces at this time. So keeping the water too diluted would not allow the water time to develop those BB on on the surfaces. Therefore, extending the time it is going to take to finish the cycle. I think of it like this, BB will not develop without water. When you do a typical cycle the water is where the BB grow. Ammonia become nitrites and nitrites become nitrates. With no nitrites the bacteria can't feed or grow nitrates. So I can see how constantly diluting it could extend the time it takes for the natural biological cycle to complete. I see both sides but after 8-9 weeks my tank must be close to finishing its cycle. However, I understand the danger of nitrites. Hopefully, the Seachem Stability which I am now adding in will reduce those nitrites naturally at a rapid rate. The store guaranteed me if my nitrites were not gone in 3 days my money back. So I am going to try this method and see if it works. If the nitrites are gone then I'll know. If not, I will try the other way. All of it is good advice from good experience and I appreciate it so much. I will update you guys with the progress either way. Tonight when I checked all fish were still fine and the nitrites had dropped slightly. Thanks again and check back to see what happens!
Hello; A bandaid is what you need right now in order to give aid to the fish.
Hello; I believe this is wrong for reasons already posted.
Hello; I believe this is not entirely correct. Yes the tank needs water but it is my understanding the bb mainly live on surfaces
Hello; I believe I understand part of your approach now. I agree that leaving the toxic nitrites in the water at an undiluted level will make plenty of it available for the nitrite fixing bacterial to feed on. So my take is you are going to sacrifice the health of the fish you currently have. There is a logic to this method.
There is a hope that the bio balls you got from an established tank will quickly seed the tank and take care of the issue quickly.
