Added two new fish and my Nitrites are starting to rise?

My tank has been up for 40 days. For the last ten days or so all the levels have been good so I bought two fish, a coral beauty and a flame angel. I tested again today and noticed the Nitrites are starting to rise :-[. Is this normal after adding fish to a tank? Water parms are in the pic. Thanks...Jeff

 

jmik26

this is not ideal
under good circumstances, the tank is cycled with enough beneficial bacteria that react, reproduce quickly in order to cope with subsequent bio load additions

I note you cycled using live rock, live sand (anything else in there to seed/ feed the bacteria?)

bacteria can only exist in proportion to the amount of food present, so if you had limited die off on the rock, then your bacteria levels would be low and stay low, until fish are added and then they increase according to the revised nutrients/ needs

adding 2 fish at once is not ideal for this reason, your waste production has increased at a faster rate than the bacteria can multiply and if that situation continues, your fish are going to suffer

do you have any Sea Chem stability? or other tank cycling products like Hagen Cycle, as these can take the edge of the situation and prevent you losing fish through New tank syndrome ( which is a generic term describing your situation)

the bacteria population will increase to match the bio load, its just a question of timing because at present the fishes waste production exceeds the speed of the bacteria reproduction

Steve

 

I had a undulated trigger in there to cycle the tank with no live rock. Around the 23rd day he got stuck under a rock and and ended up lasting 6 more days before he died . For the next ten days I used 26lbs of live rock and for 7 of those days the water samples came back perfect.

I am getting in the habit of checking my water everyday so I can see what going on until things settle down. I am hoping they drop very soon. I don't have anything except for some PH buffer that I stopped using about 3 weeks ago.

Thanks for your detailed response, it makes sense. I just hope there is enough bacteria :-/... Jeff

 

If I went and picked up like 10lbs of live rock would that help if they don't go down?

 

i have always been under the empression two dwarf angels is NOT a good idea as they will fight sooner then later

 

jmik26 - the Trigger being there for 23 days and then getting stuck in the rock
leaving the tank fishless for at least 10 days - the addition of the rock, would have contributed bacteria but with nothing to support if for that period most of it would have died prior to your latest addition

your tank may have been giving favourable test results but the cycle was not completed IMO and the addition of these 2 new fish has caused a temporary spike on levels

monitor the water quality but also your fishes, any signs of distress, heavy beathing, hanging about at the surface , or cloudy eyes the quicker you spot and react to the problem, the better your fishes chance of making it and a trip to the LFS for products mentioned of best/ closest alternative, would be a good idea IMHO

Might also be a good idea to remove 1 and ask LFS to hold it for you, allow the bacteria to cope with the waste of the 1st one, then when levels are 0 again add the other one ( although Im not sure about that angel pairing even in a 90?)

out of curiosity - how are the 2 dwarf angels , relating to each other?


Steve

 

They seem to be doing fine. You can tell they are establishing territories but no battles. The LFS told me they would be good if I added them at the same time?

 

I will do that, thanks...Jeff

 

Where did the nitrates go? Especially at the point where you removed the liverock. By removing the live rock, you removed your filterting.

And why are you using Coppersafe in the DT and adding fish?

 

Nitrates where at 20ppm until I put in the live rock. Then they slowly worked there way down to 0 and stayed that way for a couple days. Now they are a .25ppm but I thought I didn't have to worry to much about Nitrates in a FO tank?

My wet/dry sump is my filtration.

Coppersafe is being added and will be maintained as a preventative measure against diseases.