HELP!!!

Hey,i have a 2 month old 120 litre tank running with 32 fish in it,i did my first water tests today and i got mixed readings...if someone could help me with the readings that would be great and 'yes'...i am a novice

here are the readings:

PH - 8.0 +
PH high range - 7.4
Ammonia - clear ??is this good??
Nitrite - .40
Nitrate - clear??

My tank is a peaceful one.....mollies,catfish,rummy noses etc.

Cheers if you can help!!

Ger

Seems to me you've a lot of fish in there for a tank thats only running for 2 months. Nitrite is very high, classic sign that tank is not cycled.

water changes daily, 10%ish, depending on the fish that you have you might be doing this till you get rid of some. a bit more detail on wat fish, wat filtration are you running in the tank and how often do you clean the filter

Grab some Polyfilter if you don't have another Tank to split the load up, it isn't a solution to your problem but acts like a life jacket until you have cycled the Tank correctly, water changes will dilute the contaminants but it won't rectify the basic cause. Grab some Bacteria laden Filter rinsings from someone you trust if you can, you can also get some safe start, as I say, it will lessen the stress on your charges but NOTHING replaces proper cycling.

Kev.

Dar,
Thanks for the reply

The fish i keep are:

6 harlequin
6 rummy nose
6 mollies
4 zebra danio
3 black widow tetra
3 green cory
1 albino cory
2 glass catfish
2 bulldog pleco

i have not changed the water very much,25% 4 times in 2 months....i added tap safe to the water i added each time..the filter came with the tank,Interpret internal pf filter...i cleaned it for the second time today using the tank water and it was and is working fine.

i also bought some adjuster to bring the PH down to maybe around 7:2??

Thanks again

Ger

wat did you use to bring the PH down ????

bogwood brings the ph down and also a tip i learnd off a friend off mine that is ya put lumps off most peet in a tight and put it in the tank for a few day and see how ya get on most peet worked wonders for me mate

Vision 260,cheers for that
i just bought some powdered ph adjuster from the local pet store but i will research your peat solution online...i'm not doubting you man,i just made so many stupid rookie mistakes that everything gets 100% researched now before i do it

Thanks man

yeah good man you are better off by the way if ya have live plants in the tank the powdered ph adjuster kills them well thats wat i was told not to use it with live plants but if not u should be ok just do a lot off water changes and see wat happens

Rather than adjusting ph up/down would you consider matching fish to your water

yeah christyg is right would be a lot easier as i found out the hard way :L

that ph jazz screws up the water, ive kept troicals for years at 8.2, not ideal i know, but wen i started tampering with it i lost fish, you need to keep it stable and that jazz swings it all over the place (i found in my early days). if possible, leave the dechlorinated water sit over a couple of days, ideally wit an air pump and heater in it, and test the ph after two days then add it to the tank.

replace 25-30% of the water, weekly
clean the filter montly but a few days away from the water change

that is a fair few fish to add to a new tank but wats done is done just see how you get on

I hear what your saying Christy,hindsight is a wonderful thing......i only started this tropical fish thing 2 months ago so its 1 foot forward and 10 feet back at moment...but i'll get there and cheers!

Thanks Dar
i stopped with that adjuster 'jazz' (gas word so it is) and sure i'll just see how i get on

i got a heater and i just put it in a 20/30L container of water

,for 2 days,so i will then check the PH

i know what your saying about the amount of fish,i went nuts at the start but learning as i go and i wont make the same mistakes again

cheers man

Ger

Alright lads,if you have read any of the above you will realize i'm a complete novice who is trying to undo a lot of stupid mistakes that i made 2 and a half months ago like ehh bought a tank and hoofed a load of fish in there and thought thats it bar feeding them now and then!!!

Anyhows,here's the latest problem........i have being doing all that was advised to me here to bring the PH and Nitrite down......the Ph is now at 7:8 but the Nitrite has jumped from 0:4 to 4:0 in 6 days...i have also lost 2 fish in this time,one 2 days ago and one today!!

If someone has any explaination for this i would really appreciate it

cheers,ger

It seems to me that you are concentrating too much on your ph, when the real problem you have is that your tank is not cycled. You should be concentrating on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate which you can control by regular water changes until such time as your filter matures. Making mistakes is all part of the learning process, stick with it and you'll be fine

Yeh thanks Christy,i just spent the last hour googling about it and every article pretty much said what your saying....Tank not cycled and daily water changes so i think its a bit of patients on my part thats required.

Much appreciated Christy

Thanks again,Ger

Your tank is definitely not cycled until your Ammonia is zero,NitrIte is zero and you have readable NitrAte....

Forget about your PH completely!!!!! Thats not the problem!!!!

The real problem is your tank is not fully cycled and because of this fish are being poisoned by toxins (ammonia and nitrIte) These toxins are a normal part of breaking in a new tank which is the number one reason we add fish very slowly to new tanks....

You did the classic newbie thing and put way too many fish straight into a brand new "UNCYCLED" tank...

Dont worry weve all done it when starting out....

The solution to your problem is daily water changes to dilute the toxins (in this case nitrIte)....

I would suggest at least 25% daily water changes until your nitrItes read zero...This could be a slow process so your gonna need PATIENCE until it drops to zero...at that point your nitrAtes will start to become readable and your tank is cyclced....

I would suggest you read up on the "AQUARIUM NITROGEN CYCLE"...just google it...there are hundreds of articles on the web about it...It is the most important thing any aquarist will ever learn about fish keeping!!!!!!!!!

The other thing that I see is a problem in your situation is overstocking....Im my opinion your tank is overstocked...When choosing fish for a tank the first thing to consider is how big they are gonna grow when matured...Overstocking causes stress on fish which leads to disease and eventual death...Maybe you might consider rehousing some of your fish or if thats not possible taking some of them back to the Fish shop...You should always research your fish before adding them to your tank..You firstly need to know how big they are gonna grow and secondly how compatible they are gonna be with your existing fish...

Fish need space and they also need to be in a peaceful environment where they are not being picked on or harrassed by other fish.....Otherwise they get stressed and stress is the number one reason fish develop disease and ultimately die!