Ammonia, nitrate and nitrite!

[Guppylovers]

Hello!
I bought three female guppies last week and two of them have died already!!
I researched it and my ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels are apparently too high. It said for me to do a 50% water change and clean the substrate, so I did. It's looking much clearer, but I want advice as to how I can keep the levels down, so if anyone has any tips or advice that would be greatly appreciated! I'll include some (bad quality) photos of the tank, just to give an insight as to how cloudy it is. Thanks for anyone who can help!!

 

[Delapool]

Hi, welcome to AA. Some articles to get started.

Do you have your water chemistry readings? Details on tank setup and how long running will help.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ou-get-started-with-your-aquarium-154837.html

 

[Matt68005]

You have to change the water at least once a week, about 50% is fine for guppies. The Good bacteria will build up in the tank, on the filter pad and on everything in the tank including substrate....and they will naturally keep the levels down, to where the water changes will be just to keep it clean, not to get rid of amonia. It will go away once nitryfying bacteria grow, usually about 2-3 weeks. But if its cloudy, thats a sure sign its cycling, and you shoud be changing half the water every other day until its clear and "cycled".
DO NOT
Change the water and the filter pad and vacum all on the same day. Watch your feeding....look at the amount of food you put in the tank from BELOW the water line, you see? its alot. Crush the food up and only feed a tiny pinch 3x a day, and make sure they eat it all. You have to maintain a good balance of good bacteria. YOu can just wash the filter pad off in declorinated water in a bucket and replace it when it gets really clogged and the filter stops working. This is where most of the good bacteria lives, on the pad, so don't kill it all at once or you will have a "mini cycle" as it goes thru the process agin.

 

[Daven]

Hi! Im guessing your tank is new and starting to cycle and build up the beneficial bacteria that works to turn Ammonia-->Nitrite-->Nitrate. Ammonia that turns up is from your fishes producing waste, uneaten food, etc. So make sure to not overfeed them, even though guppies ALWAYS seem hungry lol Id recommend definitely researching the nitrogen cycle when using fish in, and test these perimeters regularly and keep them within a reasonable amount for the fish. Good news is that guppies are a a hardy type of fish and wont be harmed as much by this as more fragile types, as long as everything is reasonably low during this time. I recently started a tank with 12 guppies before ever knowing about needing that bacteria set up. I changed 30% of the water daily to keep things ok for them and during this time only gavel vacuumed a couple times (definitely not every water change since it was daily) to allow for the bacteria to establish. Good luck, and happy fish keeping!