# Oh Poo!



## lastyboy (Apr 14, 2003)

Help!
My ammonia levels are low, my nitrite and nitrate levels are thru the roof!!!
I just did a 25% water change, hope it was right thing to do???

Any advice please????

Thanks


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

go to your lfs and get some nitrate/nitrite decreasers

I'm sure theres a non-chemical way to do it, but ill leave that to someone else. I'd just buy the stuff tho if i were u


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

lastyboy said:


> Help!
> My ammonia levels are low, my nitrite and nitrate levels are thru the roof!!!
> I just did a 25% water change, hope it was right thing to do???
> 
> ...


 is this a new tank?


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## lastyboy (Apr 14, 2003)

no its been around for about a year, but with tropical fish in - they were ok.
Well there was one or two fatalities!


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

I whould do another test. Somethings funny.


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## RedShoal (May 3, 2003)

It happens. The bac. gets old and all die off. I wrote about it in another post. LINK


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

What filtration do you use on that tank (what type of filter, gph-rate etc...)
Maybe it's not sufficient anymore, or needs cleaning (waste, debris etc. getting trapped in it, and starting to rot...) High nitrates are most likely caused by high ammonia in the first place.


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## lastyboy (Apr 14, 2003)

I have two internal filters.
Its not a big tank so they're sufficient for it.
The main filter is a year and a half old- 2nd one is 2 weeks old.
I cleaned the older one 2 weeks ago.
I couldnt tell you gph. The water is better now i've done 25% change.
But yeah ammonia low
Nitrite quite high
Nitrate - thru the roof!!!


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

You'll notice that the nitrites will slowly decrease (of the source of ammonia is under control, that is), and water changes will decrease the amount of nitrates, so it may go into the right direction (you noticed a decreasing amount nitrites as of yet???).
Other than that, even though you use two internal filters, I advise you to get a canister filter. They are usually much more efficient when it comes to biofiltration (which in your case seems to be having a hard time), because they can contain more filter media. Since p's are very messy fish, what seemed to have been adequate for a community tank, can be not enough nowadays... There's a chance you'll be stuck with the problem until you upgrade your filtration.
But you can keep the internal ones, for surface agitation (beneficial for CO-oxygen exchange), and to provide some mechanical filtration as well (picking up floating crap and debris).


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

I agree with judazz on this one.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

*The main filter is a year and a half old- 2nd one is 2 weeks old.
I cleaned the older one 2 weeks ago.*

I would say this is your problem. The old filter contained 90% of your bacteria and by cleaning it you killed off most of your bacteria. That is why you are getting a nitrite spike, because there is not enough bacteria to convert it to Nitrates. 
You need to let the new filter seed with bacteria before you alternate cleaning.


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## lastyboy (Apr 14, 2003)

although i cleaned it, i did it old tank water.
What i will do is a 10% water change every other day for a week, then check levels again.
Do you think this is a good course of action??


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

lastyboy said:


> although i cleaned it, i did it old tank water.
> What i will do is a 10% water change every other day for a week, then check levels again.
> Do you think this is a good course of action??


 That is a better way to clean it, but the problem is that old filter is your only bio-filtration until you new one is used for a while to get a good bacteria bed. By cleaning the old one, you took out most of the good bacteria before the new one had any bacteria to help with the bio-load. In another few months, when both filters are being used to bio filter the tank, then you cant clean one and the other will be able to handle the increased load.


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## lastyboy (Apr 14, 2003)

Yeah thanks people









Im getting my new tank up and running in 2 weeks, so allowing for cycling process, it will be maybe anthoer 6 weeks before my P's go to their new home.

I think in the meantime, i'll do a partial every other day (10-15%), and monitor the levels.
I can then cut down on w/c if levels begin to drop.
Unless you peeps can give me a better alternative?

Cheers.


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