# Concerned Fish Mom



## LSCHLEG90 (Mar 6, 2012)

Hello All!

New to the forums and new to (the real) world of keeping fish. 

I have 2 goldfish that have survived over a year in a dirty 8 gallon tank with a broken filter while I was out of state. When I got home I decided they needed an upgrade, and fast.

LONG story short. We now have two tanks. our first is a 55 gallon which is about 3 weeks old. contains 
-4 fancy gold fish
-3 corys 
-1 small koi my fiance has promised to move once he gets too large
(his uncle has a man made pond with several koi already)
we keep this tank at 71-72 degrees 

In our second 30 gallon tank which is about 2 weeks old
-6 mollys
-4 buenos ares tetra
-and a 2 inch peacock bass (also my fiance's idea, which means another tank is on the way for the sake of my precious mollys)
this tank is kept at 79-81 depending how far from the heater you are.

both tanks have fluval canister filters

I now have a drawer stocked to the brim with everything imaginable 
-Prime
-ammonia remover
-stress zyme/ stress coat
-Nitra-zorb
-ammo chips
-carbon
-aqaurium salt
-safe start
-water conditioner
-back up media

Honestly I feel a little lied to as I see most of this stuff may be worthless. But novice assumptions.

Heres where my Concern lies, in my 55 gallon tank.
The ammonia spiked to 3ppm a few days ago and is now on its way down to 0ppm (under .25ppm atm) My Nitrite has been at 5 ppm for 2 days, I am doing a 15 gallon water change a day, I have nitra-zorb in the filter and prime in the tank. I have been testing everyday. To the best of my knowledge it is normal for ammonia to spike then nitrite then nitrate, but how long can I expect it to last. I have lost no fish (knock on wood) and though I did notice them stressing yesterday they have perked up considerably. Should i just stick to what Im doing?

In my 30 gallon I see a small spike of both ammonia and nitrite. further testing will be done.


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

the nitrite spike lasts the longest in my experience. You can do larger waterchanges to bring it down under 1ppm and make life easier on the fish, I also dont see any reason to use nitrazorb unless you have nitrates in your tap.


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## LSCHLEG90 (Mar 6, 2012)

So I just did my 15 gallon change (right before I read this) should i do 20 tomorrow or more? Will the nitra-zorb hurt at all? We also picked up more bio max to top off our canisters. question in our 305 the bio max is at the very top of the filter. In our 206 however it was in the middle compartment. Should I move it to the top. should I be worried about the ammo chips/ nitra zorb removing too much as to where the beneficial bacteria wont grow?


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

I dont have any experience with canisters so i'll let someone else weigh in on that, but the ammo chips and nitra zorb might slow your cycle down. It's best to just let it ride out naturally as possible and you need to do as big of water changes as it takes to get the nitrites below 1ppm otherwise you risk it killing the fish


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## LSCHLEG90 (Mar 6, 2012)

Ok thank you for your input, much appreciated!


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Welcome to the site.

The canisters are fine if they are set up by directions. You need to change out 50% everyday to get those ammonia and nitrites down to 1. After that test daily and do water changes when the readings start to rise. Your tanks are going through what is called a nitrogen cycle. which can take up to 3 months with fish.



> -Prime
> -ammonia remover
> -stress zyme/ stress coat
> -Nitra-zorb
> ...


Out of this stuff all you really need is the prime (which is your water conditioner) back up media and possibly the aquarium salt. You don't have to change media in them for a long time. Just rinse in old tank water, not tap as that is where most of your beneficial bacteria is. I haven't changed media in mine for years now.

The peacock bass will need a tank on its own very soon or your other fish will start disappearing. And will need to be fed live food quite often.

Good luck on your new ventures, Once things straightened out things will be much more enjoyable.


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## LSCHLEG90 (Mar 6, 2012)

I just did a 15 gallon water change and already replaced the water. should I do another 10 gallons or should I wait until tomorrow to do a 25 ?

And yes Curly Joe (as we soo lovingly dubbed our peacock bass) will be getting his own tank very soon, for as much as I enjoy him I do not wish for my mollys to go missing. My fiance is a very avid fisherman, he saw the peacock bass and couldnt resist, he has been eating feeder fish no problem.

I will post a few pics of my tanks

Aquarium Gallery - 55 gallon goldfish tank

Aquarium Gallery - 29 gallon molly/tetra tank

Aquarium Gallery - A few molly/tetra


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Do a 50% thats half the water to get those numbers down as its poisoning the fish.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

You might want to take a look at the link in my signature.

basically I stock the tank with aquatic plants and then let the tank tak care if itself.

but that's just.

my .02


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## LSCHLEG90 (Mar 6, 2012)

I would love to do live plants, I have read only a handful of their benefits. However since we just dropped $$$ on the canister filters Ill stick it out. Im going to do a 50% water change tonight, ill redose it with prime and salt


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Bob your way is not always the way to go, besides these tanks are already stocked


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## LSCHLEG90 (Mar 6, 2012)

So ill do the 50% tonight how often should I do this large of a change. Until nitrites are at 1ppm or under, is it safe to do large water changes 2-3 days in a row.

my 29 gallon ammonia and nitrite is at .25 ppm I have yet to see it spike. we have only done one water change on this. Can I stick to doing my 10gallons once a week on this one? and only do fifty if anything spikes????


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Yes it is safe, there is very little good bacteria in the water, its found in the filter and hard surfaces.

Do a large water change when ammonia or nitrites hit 1.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If you care about how your tank looks, I would not follow beaslbob's methods. Just look at his gallery pics and you'll see what I mean. They look like abandoned tanks.


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## LSCHLEG90 (Mar 6, 2012)

Good morning all.

after our %50 water change last night on the 55 gold fish tank
ammonia: pretty much 0 and our nitrites are between .25-.50 ppm

should i try to feed minimally for now???

our 29's ammonia/nitrite is still 0-.25ppm


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

LSCHLEG90 said:


> Good morning all.
> 
> after our %50 water change last night on the 55 gold fish tank
> ammonia: pretty much 0 and our nitrites are between .25-.50 ppm
> ...


Really quick question - what did you do with your old filter media/filter system?
I hope you haven't washed it in tapwater as this is your easiest source of good bacteria I hope it's just running in a tank somewhere with a fish in it...

You could just plop it into one of the other tanks for a couple of hours, you'd be kickstarting the nitrogen cycle in a big way...

In a well stocked tank, you shouldn't need more than 20% water changes in a week once the whole system has settled. Typical is 10-15% which is just about enough to vacuum your gravel.

It's an odd mix of fish you have there indeed!

cb


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Feed very lightly, just what the fish can eat in 2 minutes. Test daily, if numbers start rising to 1 do another 50% water change.

Once the tank is stable you can go back to once a week water changes. A minimum of 25 to 30% is best. You can even do larger water changes if wanted. Always rinse your filter medium in old tank water that you are removing so as not the kill the beneficial bacteria.


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