Are my Arowanas gonna be okay??

[josephjeon]

I went to my LFS and I purchased a water-testing master kit, and that just ruined my day. According to the tests (i did 3 because I couldnt believe the results), my water is jacked up REALLLL bad! Here are the results:

ph: 8
Amonia: 4.0 ppm
Nitrite: 0.5 ppm
Nitrate: 80 ppm

I have been told that silver arowanas need certain water conditions:
ideally, 6-7 ph, and 0 Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Phosphorus. Will my silver arowanas survive? There are 3 in there and 1 common pleco. It is a 125 gallon tank I believe, the aros are about 10-11 inches. The filter system is a fluval FX5. They seem to be very healthy: they eat perfectly fine, they don't have anything wrong with them, and they are constantly swimming.

I have researched this and I heard that the water will be pretty unstable within the first month or so of having the tank. I got my tank 2 weeks ago, and my LFS told me if i purchased 2 bottles of this bacteria stress remover thing, it should be perfectly fine to put the fish in early.

 

[dee_nice83]

Did you Cycle the tank before adding the Aro in.

 

[Bazinga]

wouldnt you idealy want a bigger tank for aros that big and they will grow a lot bigger very fast

 

[Bderick67]

Wow!!! No your arowana are not going to be OK. Ammonia levels at 4.0 ppm are very toxic and because the pH is high the toxicity is even worse.

You need to do daily water changes to get the ammonia levels to be safe for the fish, below .25ppm. Also cut back on feedings and double dose the tank with Prime after each water change.

 

[josephjeon]

Did you Cycle the tank before adding the Aro in.

I didn't set up the tank, the people from the LFS actually dropped the stuff off and did it for us because i would be unable to do all the lifting and such by myself (I wouldn't volunteer my mother haha). They actually cycled the tank for only 1 day before dropping my fish off in there... which I believe I will not receive criticism for. Thankfully, they are all still alive and healthy. I do remember that they charged me 50 bucks for a **** load of this starting aquarium bacteria that they said would allow the fish to live in there without cycling for a month?
I hope I didnt screw up, I just let them do what they did, because they are the ones who make a living doing this stuff so they'd know better.. at least I think?

 

[Bderick67]

wouldnt you idealy want a bigger tank for aros that big and they will grow a lot bigger very fast

They'll be fine in that tank for the next 3 or 4 months. Then I'm sure the OP has a 300 plus gallon tank in the works.

 

[josephjeon]

Alright guys, i'll do a water change as often as I can!

 

[fono15200]

Plants man..plants will majorly help take nitrites and nitrates out of the water. As for the ammonia, what kind of filtering system do you have on the tank? Bio-Wheel, Canister Filter, Carbon, etc. Also I wouldnt do MAJOR water changes constantly. Your just adding in more uncycled water. That added bacteria stuff, not worth the money you put in it. Its scientificly unproven, it does help water levels, but not to the level of cycling a tank. Funny cause we actually tested this last week in my Zoology Class (college, lol)

 

[josephjeon]

Plants man..plants will majorly help take nitrites and nitrates out of the water. As for the ammonia, what kind of filtering system do you have on the tank? Bio-Wheel, Canister Filter, Carbon, etc

It's the fluval FX-5 with the media baskets. Three levels: there are the ceramic ring things, there is carbon, and this pouch of brown thing.

 

[Bderick67]

Plants man..plants will majorly help take nitrites and nitrates out of the water. As for the ammonia, what kind of filtering system do you have on the tank? Bio-Wheel, Canister Filter, Carbon, etc. Also I wouldnt do MAJOR water changes constantly. Your just adding in more uncycled water.

Probably best for you to understand the nitrogen cycle before giving any advice in the matter.