I need help FAst

[Joel108]

Hello everyone, I just bought a new 20 gallon fish tank august 17 and had it all set up. The problem I have is that I waited 24 hours to put my fish into the tank and forgot about cycling it. I have 1 Duboisi Cichlid, 1 Demasoni Cichlid, 2 chinese algae eater. I had the tank running since august 17 til now which is september 2 (2weeks). I bought a API Freshwater test kit and today results was
High Range PH-8.0
Ammonia-8.0
Nitrite-0.25
Nitrate-5.0

What should I do about the high ammonia and everything else i did one water change last week. Should i do another today and if so should i use a conditioner?

 

[Clownfishlover]

You need to do large pwc everyday at the least until your cycling is over which could take about 3 weeks. You could also use an ammonia detoxification product to help you out. Your stocking is less the ideal but Ill let a cichlids expert chime in on that later. Good luck! If you have any more questions pm me!

 

[Fishperson]

Welcome to AA!

Yes, you need to do back to back 75% water changes to get the ammonia down. Generally, ammonia should never get over .25 ppm, same with nitrIte, and nitrAte should stay under 40ppm. Since you have some knowledge on cycling then I assume you don't need clarification on that?

Feel free to pm me about anything! If you don't know how, just click on my name (to the left of my post) and click on the link that says "send a private message to ______".

Hope this helps!

 

[aquandrew]

did you research your fish before buying them? none of those fish will be able to live long term in a 20 gallon

 

[Clownfishlover]

did you research your fish before buying them? none of those fish will be able to live long term in a 20 gallon

I agree I think it would be best if you increase the size of the aquarium
or rehome the fish I know all this is all overwhelming but trust me this hobby is worth it!

 

[Joel108]

yes I am going to upgrade my tank size soon but i bought the cichlids very small but im defiantly gonna change my tank

 

[Cactuspixie]

yes I am going to upgrade my tank size soon but i bought the cichlids very small but im defiantly gonna change my tank

When you upgrade your tank, buy one that will be suitable for your fish's fully grown size. Eg. Chinese algae eaters will grow a foot long.

 

[Joel108]

When i do the water change what type of ammonia detoxification product should i use?

 

[Cactuspixie]

When i do the water change what type of ammonia detoxification product should i use?

If you use seachem 'safe' or 'prime' to dechlorinate your water, just follow the directions for detoxifying ammonia. I don't know about other brands.
The most important thing is reducing the ammonia by large frequent water changes. Hourly if you can manage it, until your ammonia is at least at 0.25 ppm