New and plunged to fast with little knowledge.

[berrett_1011]

I have a 20 gallon and started without much knowledge of cycling or anything else for that matter.. now I am stocked with 4 albino corys, 5 cherry barbs, 4 dwarf rainbows, 1 red tail shark, 1 cherry shrimp, and a betta. All are very happy and active but now that I'm gaining more knowledge about the fish and the cycle and overstocking etc...
my ammonia is reading 3.0 PPM
nitrite is 1.0 PPM
Nitrate is 20PPM

I'm at a loss for what to do. I impulse buy stuff on sales I have many Seachem products including prime, stability, AMlock, clarity, several water conditioners and more.. I don't really over feed I also have a gravel filtration system and two hang on filters so I am over filtering, I have no live plants besides a Marimo ball and then lots of fake plants and rocks for hiding and territorial fish.
Any advice for a newbie is greatly appreciated I have done a water change of about 25% yesterday before rechecking the levels that I posted today.. goes to show do your research first before plunging in.

 

[dalto]

The immediate priority should be lowering the ammonia and nitrite levels.

I would do 50% water change now wait 3-4 hours and then do another 50% water change. Once you get the ammonia under control you will probably have to do large daily water changes until your tank cycles.

In the long term, you are either going to have rehome some of those fish or get a bigger tank(s) but for now I would focus on lowering the toxicity of the existing tank water.

 

[Fishdude3233]

Do 70% water changes until you get the ammonia to .5 or less. And you'll need to keep doing water changes as needed to keep it below that level. You're going to have issues with the red tail later but currently fixing that ammonia is priority #1

 

[berrett_1011]

Thanks for the advice I will do another big water change today and take readings 2 hours after. Should I just be adding the Seachem Prime or should I be adding the stability OR with that high of ammonia the Seachem AMlock? And Fishdude3233 I have been warned about the red tail I keep a eye on him and my local said bring him in anytime I see him getting aggressive or chase other fish and they will buy him back. Thanks for the advice!

 

[dalto]

Thanks for the advice I will do another big water change today and take readings 2 hours after. Should I just be adding the Seachem Prime or should I be adding the stability OR with that high of ammonia the Seachem AMlock?

Prime will do the same thing as amlock. Just use a larger dose per the instructions on the bottle.

 

[berrett_1011]

Did 75% water change now reading
.50 ammonia
Nitrite .0
Nitrate 5.0

 

[dalto]

Did 75% water change now reading
.50 ammonia
Nitrite .0
Nitrate 5.0

Much better. Ideally you will want to keep ammonia and nitrite less than .25 so you will probably need to keep doing big water changes daily.

When you remove x% of the water you typically remove x% of the ammonia so you can judge how big of a water change to do based on the amount of ammonia your test kit is showing.

 

[berrett_1011]

I will go ahead with about 50 to 70% water change tomorrow after work and dose with prime and test all levels again and see if I can get the ammonia lower

 

[CoreySheli]

I was guilty of something like this too when I first started. I 100% agree with the water changes, it sounds like you're doing a fish-in cycle which isnt recommend because of its potential problems but definitely doable with water enough water changes. I would recommend purchasing a commercial bacteria supplement, I have heard of those working although I have never tried one myself but if it works correctly it would jump start your cycling. In addition you can ask your local fish store if you use possibly purchase come of their cultured media they use in their tanks and that would definitely jump start the cycling, possibly even complete it if you get enough. The stocking isn't too concerning right now, for a short period of time, (I literally had about this exact same set up in my first 20 gallon long because I loved the look of a red tailed shark and betta) but very shortly some of the occupants will need to be rehomed, but focusing on lowering ammonia should definitely be your immediate concern.

 

[lewis.r]

Water changes are the key, I did the same as you originally without reading up on anything to do with the cycling process!
Just was doing large water changes every day, only thing that was different is that I didn't have as many fish