HELP please

[nikipate]

I hope someone gets to this quickly and can help. I have a 150 gallon that we started at end of Dec. Everything has been great but noticed gouramis not looking great and tested the water. All I have are the strips but they said nitrite at about 3.0. We did a 30% water change last Thursday but I didn't test it after we added the water. Do I need to do another water change now? I think I was lulled into a false security because everything seemed to be going great....

[jman]

it would not harm to do another water change but when did you put the fish in it might have been too quick.

[nikipate]

it would not harm to do another water change but when did you put the fish in it might have been too quick.

Here is our "timeline".......

12/22/2006 Set up tank
12/23/2006 Added first group of plants
12/23/2006 First dose of cycle - 30 capfuls
12/26/2006 Added first group of fish - community
12/28/2006 Added second group of plants
12/28/2006 Added aquarium salt
12/29/2006 Changed all filter media
12/29/2006 Added first piece of driftwood - from rock place
12/30/2006 Fed frozen food
01/01/2007 Added Cycle - 30 capfuls
01/03/2007 Added plant fertilizer - 18 ml
01/04/2007 Added second group of fish
01/05/2007 Added new driftwood

[jman]

12/29/2006 Added first piece of driftwood - from rock place


what did you do to the rock before ya put it in?

[nikipate]

what did you do to the rock before ya put it in?

We scrubbed and hosed it off multiple times outside before we put it in. I did do testing a few times before this last water change and everything was fine... I was just talking to hubby on the phone and he reminded me that Friday when he came home the power strip that everything is plugged into had kicked off and so the filter wasn't running for part of the day. We are not sure how long since we were both gone all day. I didn't think about checking the water after that. Could that have changed the nitrite levels?

[jman]

i don't know about the nitrate levels but i know if there is something in the tank that was being taken care of times like that will allow it to do what is needed you should put your tank on a schedule

every 5-6 days you should do a 30% water change then
check for different changes in water if there are any you should be able to spot them within a month

start the water change now

iv'e had a problem like this and throughing everything off is a problem
one of my fish's fins had rotten away like someone chewed on it but now the fins are growing back and he's more active than some of the others.

[kimmers318]

Very simply it sounds like your aquarium is experiencing a cycle which is completely possible from how you went about setting up your aquarium. Letting the filter run for a few days, adding cycle and plants does not cycle an aquarium. Now that there are fish in there, there are toxins in there from their waste and from food waste. Other than removing the fish and continuing with a fishless cycle, you now need to act accordingly to hopefully keep the fish from feeling too much of the effects. A liquid test kit will give you much more accurate results than test strips. We need levels for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. Considering you have nitrites, you should see lower ammonia levels soon, read up on the nitrogen cycle in the aquarium ebook to better understand what your tank is going thru and be ready to do water changes to keep your toxins low.
Simply put, fish and food waste turns in to ammonia, a bacteria grows to get rid of it, the waste from that bacteria is nitrite. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish. Another bacteria will come along to eat up the nitrite and it will become nitrates. Nitrates are removed thru regular water changes. Until some source of ammonia is placed in the tank, you won't start growing the good bacteria you need to cycle the tank.
Another option is to get some biospira if you can find it, make sure it has been kept refridgerated, and follow the directions. It will contain live beneficial bacteria for your tank to speed up the whole process.

[nikipate]

Thanks for info. As soon as my husband gets home we will change out some water and see what that does....

Oh, and the nitrate was at about 20....

[jman]

ooops i thought ya had the kit already maight--- you need to go get that one as well

KIMMERS-- do you think cleaning the tank with gravel cleansing will also help because i have a huntch the problems are there and the water quality is poor.

[nikipate]

Thanks, Kimmer. I thought we were doing this the right way but I guess it's kind of live and learn sometimes..... My husband and I both tend to jump in with both feet without looking sometimes and this is one of those times. I really appreciate you guys here....thumbs2:

[jman]

Good luck!

[nikipate]

Good luck!

Thanks a bunch..... you guys and gals rock!