Nitrite hell - lethargic fish

[Kellbot]

My tank has been running for about a month, and it seems like my
cycling has stalled or something...

10 gallon tank with one 1.5" oranda goldfish, bubble wall, and HOB
filter.
Ammonia is 0, and has been for a few weeks, but I'm having to do daily
changes of about 30% just to keep nitrites below 0.5 (I use an
aquapharm testing kit, the kind where you add drops to 5ml of water).
I don't have a nitrate testing kit, because I'm a broke college
student and I was told they're not that critical as long as you do
regular water changes (which I do).
pH is about 7.4

my GF is spending a lot of time sitting on the bottom of the tank. If
i walk over to him or lift the lid to his tank, he springs to life,
but he was previously a pretty active fish.

Is there something I should be doing to kick start the cycle? Or
something besides bad water params that might be causing a sluggish
fish? I didn't notice any spots or pineconing on him. Daily water
changes are pretty taxing on my schedule :(

[Gunnie]

You may want to use some amquel plus next time you do a water change.
You may be stalling your cycle where you can't keep enough good bio
bugs in the tank to get the nitrites down. The amquel plus will
neutralize the nitrites, which will also allow the bacteria to grow
to the level it needs to, plus reduce the stress on your fish during
the process.
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do some 50% water changes every day... or, enough water changes per day to keep the
nitrites at barely detectable. add a bit of salt like 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. if
your hardness isnt high add a bit of organic dolomitic limestone and add a pinch of
baking soda to the tank. bring the temp up to 76oF.
biobugs like harder water, higher pH, warmer and nutrients and will form those
colonies faster. you dont say what kind of filter you have but if you can loosely
stuff some polyester batting (from fish store) into the filter somewhere it will
speed cycling. the stuff is cheap.
go VERY EASY on food right now or even skip a day. a single flake of aquadine
duragold twice a day is enough food for a GF your size. higher quality food has more
digestible nutrition for the fish without as much undigestible waste filler to foul
the tank.
you dont mention aeration... aeration is important to bacteria and fish. when your
tank cycles you will see algae leave it on back and sides is good for the fish.
Ingrid

(Kellbot) wrote:

>My tank has been running for about a month, and it seems like my
>cycling has stalled or something...
>
>10 gallon tank with one 1.5" oranda goldfish, bubble wall, and HOB
>filter.
>Ammonia is 0, and has been for a few weeks, but I'm having to do daily
>changes of about 30% just to keep nitrites below 0.5 (I use an
>aquapharm testing kit, the kind where you add drops to 5ml of water).
>I don't have a nitrate testing kit, because I'm a broke college
>student and I was told they're not that critical as long as you do
>regular water changes (which I do).
>pH is about 7.4
>
>my GF is spending a lot of time sitting on the bottom of the tank. If
>i walk over to him or lift the lid to his tank, he springs to life,
>but he was previously a pretty active fish.
>
>Is there something I should be doing to kick start the cycle? Or
>something besides bad water params that might be causing a sluggish
>fish? I didn't notice any spots or pineconing on him. Daily water
>changes are pretty taxing on my schedule :(



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Kellbot]

Thanks, I raised the pH and the nitrites dropped to zero overnight. I
do have a bubble wall along the back of the tank for aeration.
I haven't seen any algae on the sides of the tank yet, but my
miniature greek ruins are taking on a nice shade of green.

Unfortunately my GF is still acting weird. I didn't feed him at all
yesterday morning because he didn't seem interested in food (usually
when I stick my fingers in the tank he attacks them because he thinks
I'm holding food. Yesteday he actually ran away from them).

It's hard to tell because he's so little, but he seems bloated. And
yesterday he was twitching strangely. A friend suggested that he might
actually be a she, and be egg bound (I've only had him for a month, so
I suppose it's possible he/she got knocked up in the walmart fish
tank), or flukes, or it could be constipation. I have him half a pea
last night, which he grudgingly ate and turned into a tiny, neon green
log, so I suppose that means things are at least going through?

I'm really hesitant to start throwing antibiotics/medicine into the
tank, since I *just* finished cycling _and_ I don't want to encourage
antibiotic resistance in my fish. The aformentioned friend suggested
slowly bringing the salinity up to .3% in case it's some sort of
parasite (I dont have a microscope so I can't do a scale scraping),
and then try the flukes meds if that doesn't work, but that was before
my little GF started looking bloated.

I'll pick up some of the food you mentioned next time I'm at the pet
store.

I just want my fishy to be happy! :(

wrote in message >...
> do some 50% water changes every day... or, enough water changes per day to keep the
> nitrites at barely detectable. add a bit of salt like 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. if
> your hardness isnt high add a bit of organic dolomitic limestone and add a pinch of
> baking soda to the tank. bring the temp up to 76oF.
> biobugs like harder water, higher pH, warmer and nutrients and will form those
> colonies faster. you dont say what kind of filter you have but if you can loosely
> stuff some polyester batting (from fish store) into the filter somewhere it will
> speed cycling. the stuff is cheap.
> go VERY EASY on food right now or even skip a day. a single flake of aquadine
> duragold twice a day is enough food for a GF your size. higher quality food has more
> digestible nutrition for the fish without as much undigestible waste filler to foul
> the tank.
> you dont mention aeration... aeration is important to bacteria and fish. when your
> tank cycles you will see algae leave it on back and sides is good for the fish.
> Ingrid
>

[caren]

Don't throw in any antibotics I just lost my shubkin and my nitrites
are **** and
am worried about my other two since my biobugs are destroyed, do to
medicated
her. She could be bloated due to the nitrites, do a water change and
don't feed for a day or so than give her some peeled peas, or try
brine shrimp.
Good luck I know how stressfull it feels to see them acting sick. I
had Laureal for
2yrs and friday was a really awful day

:D Caren
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hows the fish? Ingrid

(Kellbot) wrote:
>Unfortunately my GF is still acting weird. I didn't feed him at all
>yesterday morning because he didn't seem interested in food (usually
>when I stick my fingers in the tank he attacks them because he thinks
>I'm holding food. Yesteday he actually ran away from them).
>
>It's hard to tell because he's so little, but he seems bloated. And
>yesterday he was twitching strangely.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Kellbot]

Much better now, thanks! I got his water parameters stable, and
treated him with anti-flukes medication and he's back to his normal
hand-eating self.

wrote in message >...
> hows the fish? Ingrid
>
> (Kellbot) wrote:
> >Unfortunately my GF is still acting weird. I didn't feed him at all
> >yesterday morning because he didn't seem interested in food (usually
> >when I stick my fingers in the tank he attacks them because he thinks
> >I'm holding food. Yesteday he actually ran away from them).
> >
> >It's hard to tell because he's so little, but he seems bloated. And
> >yesterday he was twitching strangely.
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
> http://puregold.aquaria.net/
> www.drsolo.com
> Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
> compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
> endorsements or recommendations I make.