winstonsmith84
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2014
- Messages
- 35
I have a 10g tank. It's slightly overstocked and not cycled.
4 mollies (1-2 inches)
1 pleco
I didn't learn about cycling prior to getting fish (yes did not do enough due diligence, but here we are). Was led to believe by lfs that running for a week with some fish flakes would work. I know better now. (Didn't really trust him to begin with. Have found a better one since).
I've learned a ton over the past two weeks and realize fish in cycles aren't the norm here. But here I am.
I have ammonia spikes and have been doing w/c's at least twice a day. There was a major spike of ammonia of 4 several days ago. Several water changes later I brought it down to .25-.5. Since then I've found out feeding is probably an issue since my daughter wanted to feed twice a day and fed too much. I've since backed off to about once every day and a half. And less than what we were giving twice a day.
I've gotten rid of much of the detritus in the substrate since my last cleaning didn't produce much.
I'm doing everything I can to keep ammonia levels down and researched that tetra safe start is a good bacterial product to help kick start the process.
My question really is: if I'm spiked at 1-2 ppm ammonia is it more beneficial to do a w/c and then add de-chlorinator, or add the TSS and help kick start the system to start working. The fish seem to be ok at these levels of ammonia but I'm trying to lessen the stress on them as best I can. (I realize above .5 is not healthy).
They're all interacting although I've noticed one female is constantly chasing one of the other other females (oh, two males, two females. I didn't know how to tell the difference until I started to see who was trying to "tag" whom).
So, does anyone have experienced with TSS and whether it will work to aid in rei omg ammonia over 1? I've read that I should NOT do another w/c due to the fact the dechlorinator will screw up the newly introduced bacteria. I've also read that TSS includes ammonia to help their bacteria survive and could give false ammonia readings. I added a small amount earlier.
I can't type anymore as this is my 3rd time trying to post. I'm trying to do the right things by the fish I have in the tank without causing any more stress (new lfs guy told me water changes also stress them out. I do notice a difference for a short period of time after. Slight listlessness. True/false?)
Ok. Thanks for any input.
Oh, also I've looked into the ammonia calculations for the "toxic ammonia" and come up under their toxicity readings based on my temp & ph levels. If it's any help.
4 mollies (1-2 inches)
1 pleco
I didn't learn about cycling prior to getting fish (yes did not do enough due diligence, but here we are). Was led to believe by lfs that running for a week with some fish flakes would work. I know better now. (Didn't really trust him to begin with. Have found a better one since).
I've learned a ton over the past two weeks and realize fish in cycles aren't the norm here. But here I am.
I have ammonia spikes and have been doing w/c's at least twice a day. There was a major spike of ammonia of 4 several days ago. Several water changes later I brought it down to .25-.5. Since then I've found out feeding is probably an issue since my daughter wanted to feed twice a day and fed too much. I've since backed off to about once every day and a half. And less than what we were giving twice a day.
I've gotten rid of much of the detritus in the substrate since my last cleaning didn't produce much.
I'm doing everything I can to keep ammonia levels down and researched that tetra safe start is a good bacterial product to help kick start the process.
My question really is: if I'm spiked at 1-2 ppm ammonia is it more beneficial to do a w/c and then add de-chlorinator, or add the TSS and help kick start the system to start working. The fish seem to be ok at these levels of ammonia but I'm trying to lessen the stress on them as best I can. (I realize above .5 is not healthy).
They're all interacting although I've noticed one female is constantly chasing one of the other other females (oh, two males, two females. I didn't know how to tell the difference until I started to see who was trying to "tag" whom).
So, does anyone have experienced with TSS and whether it will work to aid in rei omg ammonia over 1? I've read that I should NOT do another w/c due to the fact the dechlorinator will screw up the newly introduced bacteria. I've also read that TSS includes ammonia to help their bacteria survive and could give false ammonia readings. I added a small amount earlier.
I can't type anymore as this is my 3rd time trying to post. I'm trying to do the right things by the fish I have in the tank without causing any more stress (new lfs guy told me water changes also stress them out. I do notice a difference for a short period of time after. Slight listlessness. True/false?)
Ok. Thanks for any input.
Oh, also I've looked into the ammonia calculations for the "toxic ammonia" and come up under their toxicity readings based on my temp & ph levels. If it's any help.
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