Unfortunately, I already lost my neon tetras Good thing they are cheap!
I found two dead this morning, and the last one died several hours ago.
He was breathing frantically, and finally died under a piece of driftwood.
I think my heater could be to blame for this also, because it malfunctioned
and by the time I noticed, the temperature was up in the mid-80's (and the
heater wouldn't shut off, even though it was set to a little under 79).

The guppies seem fine, except that they are gasping for air. They are very
active now and swim around for a few seconds before resurfacing.

According to my test kit, the nitrites are a little over .2 ppm now, and
rising.
I hope this ends soon.. for my guppies' sake (they're gorgeous fish).
I added some bottled bacteria as was suggested by SteveG, and am holding off
on a water change for now so I can get accurate readings.

Thanks for the words of hope!


"Ross Vandegrift" wrote in message
m...
In article , Dino wrote:
They confirmed it was somewhere around .6 ppm ammonia.
...
my nitrite rose to .1 ppm

While it's never a really bad idea to do a water change just to be
conservative.... .6ppm ammonia is nothing. .1ppm Nitrite is less than
nothing. Both may exceed the 3-5ppm range while cycling and everything
will still be ok.

What can I do to help them get through the nitrite spike?
I don't want them to die by morning!

I've had nitrite spikes off the scale for multiple days during initial
cycling (that's at least 6ppm). I just did my weekly water changes and
everyone was fine.


--
Ross Vandegrift


A Pope has a Water Cannon. It is a Water
Cannon.
He fires Holy-Water from it. It is a Holy-Water
Cannon.
He Blesses it. It is a Holy Holy-Water
Cannon.
He Blesses the Hell out of it. It is a Wholly Holy Holy-Water
Cannon.
He has it pierced. It is a Holey Wholly Holy Holy-Water
Cannon.
He makes it official. It is a Canon Holey Wholly Holy Holy-Water
Cannon.
Batman and Robin arrive. He shoots
them.