URGENT ADVICE ON WATER CONDITION

[stirfry]

Hi tonight I notice 1 of my fish flicked its self on the tank glass its self, hasn't done it on anything else, & say about twice I've seen it do it.
I tested the water the results are,
Ph 8.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 0.5

I have just noticed that when you turn the lights on, on the surface of the water it looks slight cloudy, hard to explain when if you put your hand it the water it breaks it up, then goes back together.

I have dwarf gourami, black, neon, glow light, cardinal tetras & a common pleco.

The tank holds 200L & I have a rena xp3 filter.
There are also loads of live plants & the temperature is at 77F.
Any advise is welcome

[NancyD]

if you use Prime water dechlor it "locks up" nitrites or you can use a small amount of salt like table salt to help the fish. I think the dose is 1 Tablespoon/ 10 gallons but you can do a search, Diana is the 1 who usually recommends this, it may be 1 T/ 5 gallons.

I assume you mean 1ppm for nitrites, my tests (API) shows .25 as the lowest & 5ppm for nitrAtes.

[stirfry]

Hi yes that's what I mean.
I usually use prime however, it wss sold out so I'm using stress & coat.
Just did a 25% water change & double checked the filter is working, thank god it is!

I really feel the more effort I put in to them to care as they should be, the more headaches I get

I know peole who don't look at their fish 1 week to another &they never seem to have a problem!!!

[Diana]

The dose of salt (sodium chloride) for nitrite is 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons (5 ml per 80 gallons).

Has this tank been cycled long? or is it still cycling?

Nitrifying bacteria seem to be turning the ammonia into nitrite, but not going on to turn nitrite into nitrate.

Live plants will remove ammonia first, then go on to use nitrite and nitrate if they still need more nitrogen. They might be removing a fair amount of ammonia, but there is still some ammonia getting turned into nitrite. The plants do not seem to be removing much nitrite, suggesting that they are getting enough nitrogen from the ammonia.

At this point I would do enough of a water change to start lowering the nitrite.

Is the tap water similar to the tank water for GH, KH and pH? If so, do a larger water change, perhaps 25-50% per day until the nitrite is under control.
If not, do several smaller water changes, perhaps 10-15% AM and PM for several days. Each water change is smaller, but doing several will get the readings for nitrite lower, and the tank will become more like the tap water, slowly so the fish can adjust.

At higher pH ammonia is more toxic. Keep close watch on all the tests you have and be ready to do something if ammonia shows up.

[stirfry]

Hi the tank has been up & running for about a year.
My tap water is pretty rubbish.
I have done 25% water change, I will do this this Saturday, & test again.
Maybe add the salts then.
This problem seems to have occured since u have been using stress & coat, usually I buy prime, could there be a connection???

[Diana]

Maybe. I have heard other people say their fish seem to have gill irritation from Stress Coat or other 'Slime Coat Replacement' dechlorinators.

If there is nitrite in there NOW why wait until Saturday to give the fish the protection they need? The nitrite is entering their blood as we speak. Add a pinch of salt right away.

What sort of problems are there with the tap water?
Is this a well?
Do you have any sort of filter for it?

[stirfry]

Hi I can't get the salt untill tomorrow, also want to go back to Prime
Did 25% water change last night, haven't seen any odd behavior today!
Tested water again
All fine but the,
NITRITE reading is 0 water in test tube clear

NITRATE reading in tank is 10. 0 mg/L
NITRATE reading from untreated tap water is 0.5 mg/L ??????

[Diana]

Table salt works just fine, no need to buy an expensive label.

Looks like the bacteria are getting busy again:
Removing nitrite (0 ppm) and turning it into nitrate (10 ppm).

A trace of nitrate in the tap (.5 ppm) is a low enough level not to give you any problems.
10 ppm in the tank is a low enough level for most fish, not a problem. I try to keep my tanks at about this level so the plants have some nitrogen fertilizer available.

Looks like whatever was going on has fixed itself for the moment. Keep testing, though, to be sure the episode is over.

[stirfry]

Hi re tested the water all results were fine,
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 10.0mg/L.

Been looking up think the problem is slime/velvet disease

A few of the fish are flicking/rubbing, rapid gill movement & 1 of them is hanging at the surface. However there is no red or irritated areas.

I have added Interpet anti slime & velvet, 20mls to treat 200L.