Freshwater - Ammonia 4.0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5.0

[Tiki Gina]

I have a Fluval Venezia 50 gallon tank, I set it up just over a month ago, the pet store told me I can add fish in 48 hours. 2 days later I bought 2 iridescent sharks, 2 Bala Sharks, 1 red tail shark, 3 tiger barbs, 3 flame gouramis, 2 dwarf gouramis, 2 honey gouramis and a pleco. In the 1st 2 weeks, I lost 1 Bala, my red tail & 1 iridescent. After that I got an API ammonia test kit, my ammonia has always tested at 4.0, so I started doing 50% water hanged every 3 days for the 1st month, this week I started doing 20% as recommended by the lady at Petco. I just picked up an API master test kit so I can test nitrites & nitrates. My nitrites are 0 and nitrates are 5. I don't know if I ever had a nitrite spike since I just starting testing them. I tested my tap water to see if that's why my ammonia was so high, and it tested 0. I use Stress+ for my water changes, I cut feeding my fish down to once a day, my temp is 84.2, I've tried using Colony and Amquel to neutralize the ammonia but it still tests 4.0. My husband & I are going in vacation in 23 days. I really want to get this cycled by then, I don't want my fish to die when I'm gone. I haven lost any fish in a month. My filter is a fluval 405 with carbon, ceramic media and polishing pads. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I love this tank and I have a feeling it won't be my only one
Thanks in advance!
Gina

 

[Andrew McFadden]

to AA Gina!
It can take 3-6 weeks to cycle a tank and your bioload is to heavy for the tank. While doing fish in cycles you should only add a couple fish at a time and let the nitrogen cycle do its job and catch up before adding more. You should probably rehome some of the fish back to the lfs till you get this fixed. The pet store should have told you all this unfortunately I don't think you should listen to them. Keep up with the 50% water changes to keep the ammonia/ nitrite down below .25 even if you have to do them every hour. Here is a couple links about fish in cycles it will help you out a lot.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-just-learned-about-cycling-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now/


http://www.aquariumadvice.com/fishin-cycling-step-dark-side/


All the sharks that are still alive I'd rehome and some of the gouramis

 

[Tiki Gina]

Thank you for your info & links, looks like I have to do more frequent water changes and just stick with it. Thanks again
Gina

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Thank you for your info & links, looks like I have to do more frequent water changes and just stick with it. Thanks again
Gina

No problem hope you enjoy the rest of the site

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard. We are glad you found us here at AA.