Re: Very high Nitrite (2-5ppm) and Nitrate (Above 80-160ppm), 0.5 Ammonia - Fish in the tank
#7
Please please please STOP BUYING FISH. You are going to kill them. Do a 80-90% water change and then treat with Esha Exit and 2000 at the same time as you’ve been told. Do not feed for 2-3 days then feed a TINY amount every 2 days. Maximum one flake per fish.
24/30 hours after last dose do another large water change. You cannot do water changes during treatment so you must remove as much ammonia and nitrite as possible first. Do NOT feed for at least 12 hours before water change.
You need to treat the whole tank and all fish, do not move them as ich / whitespot will stay in the tank.
Until your tank is fully cycled ie ammonia and nitrite are consistently zero for a week continue to feed a small amount every 2 days.
Do NOT get more fish until you have had zero ammonia and nitrite for a month.
When you do get more fish maximum 2/3 at a time. The bacteria in the filter take time to catch up with the bioload from more fish, you cannot just suddenly add loads at once, your cycle will crash again. In a tank that size you can’t have many fish anyway, so don’t just keep buying them when your cycle is complete.
Please take the time to learn about fishkeeping while you are fixing the issues you’ve created. Aquarium Coop is a good Youtube channel for understanding the basics. Put into google or youtube aquarium nitrogen cycle and keep watching or reading until you understand fully what you are aiming for. Then do the same with the words emergency fish in cycle.
You are keeping water and not fish. You cannot have healthy happy fish in toxic water!
Also please DO NOT take any further advice from shops, and do not get fish from Pets at Home. Find another shop, read reviews etc.
Once you’ve cycled this tank you need to fishless cycle a second tank to create a quarantine for new fish for a month so they don’t infect your whole tank. If you put infected fish in and keep repeatedly treating the same fish they’ll die eventually, the medicine is not good for them. The second time I used it I lost fish.