# nitrite and ammonia



## Yanfloist (Oct 1, 2007)

well my nitrite is at 1.0ppm and whats worst is that my ammonia is also at .50ppm and my rhom is starting to breath harder. I already changed 50% of the water and added salt. Should I just leave everything alone?


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

it would be a little bit easier to follow the events of the tank and the advice being given if you keep similar questions in the same post. it really sounds like you never cycled your tank or do not have enough filtration for the bioload that you have. how long has the tank been setup? what filtration do you have? how did you cycle the tank? what size is the tank?


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

If you havent already....stop feeding your fish to give your tank time to catch up and process the waste that is already there.


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## Yanfloist (Oct 1, 2007)

Yeah. I'll stick to one post next time. Thanks for the tip.

I know why my nitrites and ammonia are so high now. I made 4 really bad/stupid mistakes.
1.) I cleaned my canister filter (176 gallon filter) a bit too clean and all the baskets at once.
2.) I left 75 almond leaves in my fish tank (125 gallon) for too long.
3.) I used an ammonia remover pouch to counter the ammonia from the decaying leaves, and when I too it out the ammonia jumped back up.
3.) I took out about half the amount of sand in my 55 gallon tank that was still cycling, with nitrite at 1.0ppm and added it into my 125 gallon tank.

Well, now nitrite is really high, closing in at 5.0 ppm...I was thinking that I will move my rhom into a different 55 gallon that has been correctly cycled and is safe. what do you guys think??


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

sounds like the safest option for the fish right now until you get your tank cycled be sure to keep a ammonia source for the other tank so it doesnt occure again when you add the rhom back to the larger tank.


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## Yanfloist (Oct 1, 2007)

thanks AS fan.


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## Yanfloist (Oct 1, 2007)

Well, I did move my rhom into a 55 gallon tank and it is doing much, much better. it is no longer breathing hard and its color is even darker - especially on the fins and belly. I also measured my rhom and it turned out to be more than 12 inches long total length. I'm surprised - a full 13 inch rhom. I'll post some pictures up later.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

I wouldnt have moved him for the fact what ever bacteria was alive is now dieing off unless you have an ammonia source that is matching the load of your rhom. Anyways I would have done what GG said, dont feed and maybe keep some salt in the tank with a conditioner such as Novaqua or AquaSafe and you would have been good to go until the bacteria colonies caught up.


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## Yanfloist (Oct 1, 2007)

man, i didn't know that...hummm...can't i put one of my turtles in there for a source?


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

AS fan said:


> sounds like the safest option for the fish right now until you get your tank cycled* be sure to keep a ammonia source for the other tank so it doesnt occure again when you add the rhom back to the larger tank.*


you can use pure ammonia or you can add more fish that can survive a cycle. pure ammonia is the best because it is the safest way to prevent your tank from being exposed to diseases.
i dont know about trying it with a turtle but i wouldnt put a turtle in a tank that a 500 dollar fish is going into i would just cycle it properly.


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## Yanfloist (Oct 1, 2007)

AS fan said:


> sounds like the safest option for the fish right now until you get your tank cycled* be sure to keep a ammonia source for the other tank so it doesnt occure again when you add the rhom back to the larger tank.*


you can use pure ammonia or you can add more fish that can survive a cycle. pure ammonia is the best because it is the safest way to prevent your tank from being exposed to diseases.
i dont know about trying it with a turtle but i wouldnt put a turtle in a tank that a 500 dollar fish is going into i would just cycle it properly.
[/quote]

Thanks for the tip again AS fan, okay...I'll take the turtle out. pure ammonia, I'll look it up. How does it work?


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Yanfloist said:


> sounds like the safest option for the fish right now until you get your tank cycled* be sure to keep a ammonia source for the other tank so it doesnt occure again when you add the rhom back to the larger tank.*


you can use pure ammonia or you can add more fish that can survive a cycle. pure ammonia is the best because it is the safest way to prevent your tank from being exposed to diseases.
i dont know about trying it with a turtle but i wouldnt put a turtle in a tank that a 500 dollar fish is going into i would just cycle it properly.
[/quote]

Thanks for the tip again AS fan, okay...I'll take the turtle out. *pure ammonia, I'll look it up. How does it work?
*[/quote]

You want to find the no name brand usually at any hardware store, supermarket, walmarts, sams club type stores. It will say clear ammonia on the label. It will also say household cleaner. You want to look at the ingredients and make sure they say ammonia, water, chelating agents or ammonium hydroxide and chelating agents. Rule of thumb is if you shake the bottle and it soaps up dont use it. You will need a baby dropper to administer. I like to do 1 drop of ammonia for every gallon of water once a day every day until nitrite spike, than cut dosage in half until ammonia and nitrite is 0 ppm than do a large water change before acclimating the fish back to the tank. To be honest your rhom is going to run into ammonia and nitrite issues in his other tank to unless you can find some established bio media and place it under your filter media.


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## Yanfloist (Oct 1, 2007)

hummm....this is new to me...i'll have to wait and see what i can really do.


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## Yanfloist (Oct 1, 2007)

alright, I believe I just made everything worse. I shouldn't have taken out my rhom. Now my 55 gallon with my rhom has ammonia and nitrite spikes of 1.0ppm. I just added some salt. My 125 gallon has no ammonia and nitrite of 5.0ppm. What should I do Jerry?


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

Yanfloist said:


> Yeah. I'll stick to one post next time. Thanks for the tip.
> 
> I know why my nitrites and ammonia are so high now. I made 4 really bad/stupid mistakes.
> 1.) I cleaned my canister filter (176 gallon filter) a bit too clean and all the baskets at once.
> ...


i thought you said the 55 had been cycled properly?... at this point its easier to pay the money and get some beneficial bacteria. you can purchase some bio spira which will almost instantly cycle your tank if your lucky. there are a few other products out there but i am not familiar with them hopefully someone else will comment about other products.


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## TobiasRieper (Mar 14, 2008)

Just a note in my own experience little as it may be: I dont ever clean my filter unless the output power is less than usual. Iv had too many incidents after cleaning it in the past.


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## Yanfloist (Oct 1, 2007)

AS fan said:


> Yeah. I'll stick to one post next time. Thanks for the tip.
> 
> I know why my nitrites and ammonia are so high now. I made 4 really bad/stupid mistakes.
> 1.) I cleaned my canister filter (176 gallon filter) a bit too clean and all the baskets at once.
> ...


i thought you said the 55 had been cycled properly?... at this point its easier to pay the money and get some beneficial bacteria. you can purchase some bio spira which will almost instantly cycle your tank if your lucky. there are a few other products out there but i am not familiar with them hopefully someone else will comment about other products.
[/quote]
I guess the rhom is too big for the filters to handle.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Are you adding ammonia to the 125? If it were me.....I would do a massive water change on the 125 (somewhere in the 80%-90% range)...add a little salt...slowly acclimate the rhom to that tank....and put him back. With salt he can handle the nitrite spike just fine...and it sounds like the tank is almost cycled. Nitrites with salt is much better then ammonia and nitrites. You can also take the filter off the 55 and add it to the 125 to help finish the cycle...and then after a few weeks you can put it back. I would also do daily water changes of about 10% to help keep the spike down.


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

agreed with jeff and jerry, most of the diy things that people put in thier tanks will decay and leave huge amounts
of ammonia and waste causing a spike. almond leaves, why on that?

where you trying to darken the water? best for that is getting some mopani wood make sure its ready to be put into
your tank and let the tannins leach out to darken the water.

like said above massive water change with salt will do the trick, but stop the feedings for a bit to stop the ammonia
creeping upwards again and do some investagating on what else is causing your creeping ammonia....there is something
else


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