Aquarium Forum http://forum.aqua-fish.net/ A forum devoted to aquarium fish, plants, techniques and fish keeping as a whole. en help me please!!! i am new.<script language='JavaScript' type='text/javascript'> <!-- --> </script> http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#1 heya everyone my name is bobbiexx and i am new.. right were do i start.. i recently bort a ten gallon fish tank an arc to b procise.. i started off with 2 guppies and 1 ballon molly!!i proceed to let it cycle checkin all my amonia,nitrite and nitrate levels after a few days of them bein level i aded more and more over the nxt cuple of weeks.i then realised that i had overstocked my tank.leadin to high amonia levels.i started to panic and perchased a bigger tank.as i saw weird behaviour up and down the tank and chasing the glass noo sighn of gasping for air though. perchased a 20 gallon with a fluval filter i added oxegentain plants. drift wood and some fake plants.i had not read up on new tank syndrome wich i got quite quickly in the big tank..after buying bactinettes to but in the new 20 gal filter i let it it run for 24 hours.i tranfered 13 fish into my tank at once and i feel so bad for doing so i wish i had left them in the old tank till i new a bit more about the hooby but i thought they would ov bin sufering if i had of left them in the smaller tank maybe the cylce wudve bin nearlly complete affter 4 weeks of cycling in that tank and maybe i shouldve waited for the biger tank to ov cycled..but i wanted them to have a happier life and thought i was doin the right thing i know now i shouldve let my bigger 20 gal cycle instead of panicking and thinkin my fish were stresin out over the overstocked small tank.they wouldve bin beter of thre wilth lower levels ov nitrite and nitrate.the smaller tank was almost cylcled aswell i shouldve waited. .now i think i have got bacterial bloom with a brownish whitish tinge that i cnt get rid of i have 1 rosy barb(which im eager to get friends for as th lfs sold me 1 and as i quickly realise neads to be in a group but i no i wont be gettin any anytime sune.its behaviour is weird pacing the tank.any ideas why .( 5 male guppies(dont seem to be showing any signs of stress>xcept pacin the glass. 4 neon tetra(which are not schooling) 2 ballon mollie i have taken samples in. but they dnt do readings well they do but by colour my amonia is see through bright yellow which they said was good(lfs the nitrite was middle green which they said was ok!! but my nitrate is sky high like a really purple colur. they have told me to take plants out but i thought the plants took in the nitrate.i was wondering if the bactinetes i used is going to only have a short term affcect only providing good bacteria for my tank for a short time or will it definatley support my tank for the long run.. my tank has bean cycling for about 4 days now.the water is cloudy and i have been doin 20%water changes everyday . i no its only 4 days and everyday seems to b a a battle im always worrying about the agonising afects its having on my fish seing as i have only had it running for 4 days and i have got another couple of weeks to go before the cycle is complete..its weird how my tank is showing overpowering forms ov nitrate after 4 days?y could this be i thought it took weeks.my tank cant of bean cycled already..im finding it really hard to cope and really hard to find out what is wrong .has my fish are not showing any signs of amonia ,nitite and nitratepoisiong unless pacing the tank is a sign and the signs i descibed earlia are sign.i really want to get my cloudy undevelped tank under wraps so even though it was me that caused the fishes stress in the first place.i would like your help desperatley.also i have looked in my tank jusd and noticed i may have a small case of fin rot.on a guppie.im really upset because dont want to introduce chemicals into the tank to kill off the big good bacteria. when doin my move i put in seeded gravel plants ornaments and filter media in to the new tank.2 filters are running to with aqua bubbles. but just think the fish have overpowered the new tank..its seem endless i feel asthough thre is no way out..please help guys..it would be much apriceatiatedxxlove bobbie galxx p.s i am gettin my tank tested daily.same results high nitrate. xxsorry if i talk alott. but i need to get rid of the cloudyness and hight nitrate and o fin rot.just to narrow it down.that story is a bit overwhelmingxx bobziegal 2009-02-17 Answer no. 1 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#2 First thing is don't panic. If oyur ammonia and nitrites are o.k. then you just have to deal with the nitrates. Are you adding water conditioner to the fresh water? The cloudiness is bue to a bacterial bloom as you water is not stable yet, it will disappear in time. Start doind 20% water changes every two days to give the chance for the water to settle down and then reduce that to 20% weekly mickey 2009-02-22 Answer no. 2 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#3 thank you for replying i feel so worn out an i am trying my best it has been to weeks now my amonia and nitrites are still high and are not coming down even if im doing water changes sometimes they even come back higher.im adding water conditioner to the water and matching the temps as close as i can i did 50% and 20% every to days my nitrates are not over 20. so thats good my ammonia ad nitrites are starting to stress me..it seems no matter what i do they are not comming down even after to weeks.is this normal.??my water has turned green and the situation is geting worse do i leave the tank and let natures do it corse or do i just continue with the water changes.. bobziegal 2009-03-01 Answer no. 3 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#4 also could my high ph b killing off my good bacteria bobziegal 2009-03-01 Answer no. 4 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#5 the pH should not affect the bacterial colony. The finrot is a secondary infection caused by the fish being stressed. The greeness of the tank water is part of they cycling process, high nitrates feeds the algae. ON your first post you said that the ammonia and nitrites were o.k have they risen again. The short term solution to try to save your fish is to spread them over both tanks and add the bacteria as per instructions. Keep doing 10% water changes every other day, if you do larger ones your bacterial colony will take longer to establish. mickey 2009-03-02 Answer no. 5 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#6 yes they have risen agen..to over o.1 the ammonia. and nitrite is high.i have given 6 fish to my friend but they have al died in her tank apart from2 im so sad.they were my favs.i used a med in my tank for finrot later new it was ammonia burns instead ov finrot beacuse thre tails started goin black from healing.i think that has killed off my bacteria.even after water changes my ammonia and nitrites is still high even after 50% i think i maybe goin through minni cycle.beacuse this has been goin on for a week now.and everyfin was fine until i added the meds.i dnt mind doin 10% water changes but i dnt feel as though this would be enuff to keep my fish comfortable hence y im doin bigger ones but doesnt seem to be wrking. .im not even feedin them.thre is plenty ov nitirtes in my tank to overpower the ammonia and i dont why its not consuming it.ur so helpful thank uxx bobziegal 2009-03-03 Answer no. 6 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#7 another thing i hope u dnt think im goin on lolxxxis....will my nitrites and ammonia lower in time eventually..this has been goin on for 2 weeks now. i dnt understand why the water changes are not changing anything.bcause my ammonia was 0.isit jst a spike in my cycle from the meds do u think.just continue with the water changes.doe my nitites and ammonia jst need to level threselfs out again.i was thinking do i just let nature take its corse.my mum was like stop w th the changes lol and i was like but they will burn to death.the lfs said to me just let the ammonia build up iwas like noway i dnt want my fish to die..xx bobziegal 2009-03-03 Answer no. 7 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#8 It can take up to 4 weeks for a tank to cycle properly. Try adding some ammo-lock to the water for a short term solution. It will not remove it from the water but it will make it less toxic for the fish. mickey 2009-03-03 Answer no. 8 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#9 okay then i hope this will not kill my good bacteria in my tank i have learnt my lesson through the medz i have used.thank u so much for your help....i did another water change still no change in my ammonia and nitrites wich is annoyingxxbut my fish are battlin out.. bobziegal 2009-03-03 Answer no. 9 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#10 Go with the ammo-lock , this way it will keep the ammonia in your water for your bacteria to feed on but the fish will be less stressed. Keep us informed of how its working out mickey 2009-03-04 Answer no. 10 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#11 im getting thre slowly lol..lol im doing smaler changes and i have added ammo lock lol....and my ammonia has dropeed slowly my nitrites r still hixx bobziegal 2009-03-04 Answer no. 11 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#12 at least the ammonia is down , your nitrites should start dropping soon mickey 2009-03-05 Answer no. 12 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#13 heya my tank has settled down loads no fish have died ammonia and nitites are down but i am continuing to do water changers every 3 days just to be on the safe side i will continue to this for another week just to rest my mind a lill bit lolxxeven though i know everything is down thank you so much for your helpp and thank you for savin my fish lolxxmuch apprciatedxx love bobbiexx bobziegal 2009-03-08 Answer no. 13 http://forum.aqua-fish.net/?topic=help-me-please-i-am-new-#14 glad things are working out ok mickey 2009-03-08