Water quality

[Arugala snail]

Hello, my water happens to be very high in nitrite and a small amount in nitrate. I have put ammonia tablets in it and done small water changes very frequently. Eventually, I had to clean the whole tank because, of how bad it have gotton in the tank. After a day I tested and discovered it was still there and gettign higher. I bought someone to lower the nitrate but, still nothing has changed it. I'm sorry if this has nothing to do with snails ( some way it does since, my snails are in the tank ) is there anything I can do!? ( it's also a fairly new tank if that helps and has many small fish with my snails )

[pbgroupie]

Your tank is trying to cycle and every time you break it down and clean it the cycle has to start again. There are some stickies in snail care on how to cycle a tank. I suggest you read up on it to help keep your wet pets healthy. You can always use a product called Prime to help remove the toxins without interfering with the cycle.

[Arugala snail]

I do have prime which is red I think ( I have way too many chemicals ) I do not know what stickies are though?

[pbgroupie]

Stickies are topics that are important and have been "pinned" to the top of the topics to make them easier to find. They are usually the answers to the most frequently asked questions.

[BrandonD]

Here is a basic link on how to do a fishless cycle:

http://www.wikihow.com/Do-a-Fishless-Cycle

To deal with the nitrite, you need to build up a colony of bacteria that will convert your nitrite to nitrate. This does take some time, and is a little slower to proliferate than the initial colonization of the bacteria used to oxidize your ammonia, converting it to nitrite.

Ammonia>Nitrite>Nitrate

Nitrite and ammonia are both toxic to snails. I recommend frequent water changes and minimal feeding, until your tank naturally cycles. If you can get your hands on some filter media from a cycled and mature tank, you can seed your own filter and speed up the process. I wouldn't solicit a local fish store for their media, as it can contain harmful/parasitic organisms.

Brandon

[Arugala snail]

Thank you very much Brandon.