Tap water VS. water in the aquarium. Ammonia question

[hpNYR]

Hello all,
Ok , so I started my cycle about a little over a month ago. At first my readings were good, however, after I added a few fish a couple of them died and ever since then my ammonia levels have been high. After that I began to do weekly water changes but things didn't change. Ammonia was still 0.50 -- then I began to do water changes every other day of about 20% -- but still amonia has been at the 0.50 range..only the last few days has it gone down to 0.25 as i have made water changes more frequent.

Just for the **** of it I decided to test my tap water. My tap water is yellow -- it has no AMMONIA and if it does it is very very little. My aquarium has much more ammonia in it. What may be the problem here? Do you think instead of doing 20-30% water changes I should do larger water changes considering my tap water is ammonia free pretty much? Maybe 50-80% water changes? BTW, this has been a cycle with 2 fish ( golden pristella) in it for quite some time now. There were 6 at the start...3 died and the other 3 I gave away to a more stable aquarium.

I feel that I'm very close. It's a 10 gallon Aquarium. I'm guessing everything works out with bigger water changes considering my tap water looks good. Could it be possible my filter isn't powerful enough? Any advice and input would be appreciated. THANK YOU!!

 

[librarygirl]

Hi! You said you cycled your tank first before adding fish? How did you cycle it? If you just let it run for a few days like most pet/fish stores advise that doesn't truly cycle it, unfortunately.

You're probably doing a fish-in cycle at this point. Your other fish died most likely due to ammonia poisoning. Sorry about that.

To answer your questions yes you want to do larger and frequent water changes to keep ammonia as close to 0 as possible until the tank cycles. What test kit are you using? Are you testing for nitrite and nitrate as well?

Test your water daily and any time ammonia and/or nitrite are over .25 do a water change to get them down. For example if ammonia is .5, you'd want to do either one larger 70% water change or two back-to-back 50% changes.

You were overstocked with that many fish which would explain the deaths; too much ammonia (fish put out ammonia through waste) and not enough of the beneficial bacteria in the filters to convert that ammonia (which is what cycling means, growing the bacteria that will consume the toxins the fish put out). With two Tetras in a 10 gal you should have a better time of keeping the ammonia under control through water changes. I'd also start testing for nitrite if you haven't already, since you should be seeing some by now and those are toxic to fish as well.

There's a link in my signature called: new tank with fish. It'll guide you through the process.

 

[hpNYR]

Hi! You said you cycled your tank first before adding fish? How did you cycle it? If you just let it run for a few days like most pet/fish stores advise that doesn't truly cycle it, unfortunately.

You're probably doing a fish-in cycle at this point. Your other fish died most likely due to ammonia poisoning. Sorry about that.

To answer your questions yes you want to do larger and frequent water changes to keep ammonia as close to 0 as possible until the tank cycles. What test kit are you using? Are you testing for nitrite and nitrate as well?

Test your water daily and any time ammonia and/or nitrite are over .25 do a water change to get them down. For example if ammonia is .5, you'd want to do either one larger 70% water change or two back-to-back 50% changes.

You were overstocked with that many fish which would explain the deaths; too much ammonia (fish put out ammonia through waste) and not enough of the beneficial bacteria in the filters to convert that ammonia (which is what cycling means, growing the bacteria that will consume the toxins the fish put out). With two Tetras in a 10 gal you should have a better time of keeping the ammonia under control through water changes. I'd also start testing for nitrite if you haven't already, since you should be seeing some by now and those are toxic to fish as well.

There's a link in my signature called: new tank with fish. It'll guide you through the process.

Thanks for the response. I checked the nitrite yesterday and it was yellow well below 0.3mg/l.

 

[hpNYR]

Any and all input would be appreciated. Although I feel what library girl said is what I should be doing. Larger water changes.

 

[captaindbishop]

Absolutely, water changes need to be more frequent and larger if ammonia is reading 0.5

 

[steez]

+1 on all info above. Water changes!

 

[librarygirl]

What test kit are you using? The API test kit for nitrites is blue when it's 0. Are you using strips? If so I'd highly recommend the API Master test kit as it's far more accurate than strips are.

 

[hpNYR]

What test kit are you using? The API test kit for nitrites is blue when it's 0. Are you using strips? If so I'd highly recommend the API Master test kit as it's far more accurate than strips are.

I use the Tetra Laborett Master Aquarium Water Test Kit