ok, so i had a betta that developed fin rot...there was tons of debris flying around due to me shaking the filter. i wasn't sure if that was the cause, or if it was due to a new plastic part of a silk plant i put in. i figured, maybe the filter's not working right or the gravel is really dirty (which i do vacuum once a week). i decided i wanted to put new gravel anyways...
so i took everything out, put the sponge filter in tank water, and emptied and rinsed out the tank itself. put the new gravel in, along with his castle, etc. i didn't keep the decorations wet, i rinsed them as well...so pretty much his hob and sponge filter were the only things that remained in the tank water (the hob still had tank water).
after refilling with new water and prime, and a tiny bit of salt for his fin rot, i put him back slowly 1 hour later. everything seems fine, but even after about 2 hours, i'm getting a reading of 0.5 ammoinia, 0 nitrites, and nitrates are between 0-5...not exactly yellow, but it's not the orange like color of 5 (api liquid test kit)...
did i lose my cycle? or does it just take a while to register back into new water? and my tap water does have ammonia...does prime show up as 0.5 or .25 for the first day or so??
so i took everything out, put the sponge filter in tank water, and emptied and rinsed out the tank itself. put the new gravel in, along with his castle, etc. i didn't keep the decorations wet, i rinsed them as well...so pretty much his hob and sponge filter were the only things that remained in the tank water (the hob still had tank water).
after refilling with new water and prime, and a tiny bit of salt for his fin rot, i put him back slowly 1 hour later. everything seems fine, but even after about 2 hours, i'm getting a reading of 0.5 ammoinia, 0 nitrites, and nitrates are between 0-5...not exactly yellow, but it's not the orange like color of 5 (api liquid test kit)...
did i lose my cycle? or does it just take a while to register back into new water? and my tap water does have ammonia...does prime show up as 0.5 or .25 for the first day or so??