Ammonia levels help

[shirleyi]

Hi
Istarted almost a month ago acquiring guppies ,I bought a one and a half gallon tank with two guppies. I was not told anything on the care etc. just given food and bought the necessities . Anyway both guppies died one and two days later after purchase from petco. I think both were not well when I purchased them as the one guppy kept floating to the bottom them swimming back to the top
Anyway I went to petsmart and talked a little to the employee there about fishless cycling . I also bought one guppy who was and still is very healthy ,he is in the small tank for now .
Since then I have set up almost 3 and a half weeks later a 20 gallon fishless tank . everything is in heater thermometer ,added tetra safe start and some small amount of stone from the small tank .
My problem is my ammonia is always reading 2.0 so I tested my tap water and that reads 2.0 so I figured at this point I will never get it down to zero being my tap water that I put in says 2.0 .
I know they say bump it up a few times to 4.0 with househould pure ammonia which I did ,but it never goes below.0 .I also have no nitrites showing up at all in the big tank . The small tank with the one guppy has 0.25 nitrites .
So yesterday I went out and bought gallons of bottles water and changed about 80 percent of each tank with the bottles water being there is no ammonia reading in the bottled water .
So after a few hours I tested the small tank and ammonia read zero ,today it reads 0.50 no nitrites though . Ph is also at 7.6 where with the tap water is was above 8.0 .

The big tank today reads 0.25 ammonia and no nitrites 0 . I introduced my guppy in the small tank back slowly to the new water adding a small amount every 15 minutes for a half hour .He is doing great .
So my question is about the ammonia do you think it is safe to add the guppies into my tank of 20 gallons now being I have changed the water and it is reading 0.25 ??
I do not want any little fish to die on me . I know ammonia in water is safe for humans but no for fish ,I was adding ammo lock into his tank just to keep it non toxic and I guess any water changes and water additions from evaporation are going to have to be with bottled water only for now on . Any suggestions or input on this subject ?

 

[Istrom]

It's probably just a lack of bacteria in the tank. Instead of Tetra Safe Start and some random de-chlorinator, I would use Prime and Stability. They're manufactured by Seachem and they have made all 7 of my tanks stable and healthy.

Also, Petsmart, Petco, and most other national pet stores like that are not a very good choice to buy fish from or even take advice from (My local Petsmart has over half of their tanks infested with Ich and they will still sell you the fish). Find a fish specific store. For example, the store I go to is called Fish Crew. They specialize in fish and won't even sell you a fish if they think it looks sick.

 

[shirleyi]

Ammonia levels and nitrites in water

So do you think since I replaced 80 percent of the tap water with bottled water I should elevate levels to 4-5 ppms with pure ammonia,and wait a hour to see if levels went up and to test every day until I see nitrites. Yes I am not buying any other fish from such stored . I have visited two only fish stores and asked them some questions . Funny both stores do not really do any fishless cycling

 

[MICEY]

do you have a filter on this tank if so what kind ?
there are not very many fish that will live in a 1 gal tank the 20 is much better
if you have ammonia in your drinking water you need to get it out of the tank , putting purigen or chem pure in your filter will help a ton
I have been raising fish for 50 years and have never done a fishless cycling

 

[shirleyi]

Yes I do have a filter which came with the tank ,I know he will do better in a big tank but I can't put him in that tank until it is cycled , meanwhile that is why I did a 80 percent water change and used bottled water, the ammonia in it reads just 0.50 . I am keeping a eye on him and treating if needed with ammo lock or prime . He has been doing great for the 4 weeks that I have had him as and a happy camper. My issue is now getting the big tank cycled and how long that will take since I also did a 80 percent water change and introduced bottled water to get rid of the ammonia , so I will keep monitoring that as well ,just have seen any nitrates yet

 

[Istrom]

So do you think since I replaced 80 percent of the tap water with bottled water I should elevate levels to 4-5 ppms with pure ammonia,and wait a hour to see if levels went up and to test every day until I see nitrites. Yes I am not buying any other fish from such stored . I have visited two only fish stores and asked them some questions . Funny both stores do not really do any fishless cycling

Yes, they will put any fish in a cycling tank. I've only ever done one fishless cycle though, and it was on my Saltwater tank. Just as long as the fish you put in during the cycle (Preferably after the ammonia spike at about 3-4 days in) are hardy they should be fine. Usually at or below 2.0 PPM, you can have hardy fish in the tank.

A good option to help get rid of ammonia and waste/whatnot, is a gold freshwater clam. They will bury themselves in the substrate and filterfeed.

 

[Mama Karoti]

What type of test are you using to test for ammonia?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[shirleyi]

ammonia levels

I am using the npi nh3. Nh 4 liquid test kits for everything

 

[Istrom]

That's good. Im not sure what to say honestly. There's no clear explanation besides the tapwater having high ammonia, and prime should help take care of that as well as having the tank cycled like you do.