wildroseofky
Aquarium Advice Addict
I had to set up a QT tank quickly for a surprise baby fish found in main tank. I had a cycled 10 gallon tank with a 15 gal. internal filter that I broke down. I put the filter in my 29 gallon tank that I cycled so the bacteria would stay alive and ready for use when I needed it. I set the 10 gal back up with the internal filter and transfered the little fish fry into it. I already had duckweed in the 10 growing so I left it for the little guy to hide in if he wanted. When I checked the water it was reading ammonia .25 (same as out of tap), Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0. I would have thought some Nitrate would show up since the filter had been cycled and kept running in another tank. Today the ammonia had climbed to 1. No nitrite but nitrate 5. I did a massive water change and got the ammonia down. There was a lot of duckweed on the bottom of the tank so I cleaned that out as best as I could. I was afraid of vacuuming the little fish up because he kept swimming to the vacuum so I didn't get it all out. He isn't much bigger than the duckweed. Does it just take some time for the water perimeters to get to cycled or did the filter not stay cycled? I took the filter pad out of my 29 gal. and squeezed the water into the internal filter. I have the Nitrate up to 10 but the ammonia is back to .50. Another water change done. I am afraid of stressing the little fish out with all the water changes but I know high ammonia levels are bad for him. I don't have any substrate in the tank right now but I am going to add the old gravel back in and a few home made caves to he can hide. He has fake plants he has been hanging around in. I am just worried about the ammonia. Could it be from all the dead duckweed? I have ordered prime but all I have right now is Tetra SafeStart to treat the water. Anything else I need to do?