ive been slacking slightly on the water changes, i know i just been busy as ****. I am going to just try and start over doing the fishless cycle, i went to my tank today and it looks like another one is hugging the bottom of the tank, i had a friend with some strips at his house and i tested the ammonia, with the strip it looked like it was saying either 0.5 or 1.0 the color was slightly on both sides so lets say .75 for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites were both in parameter, indicating that once again the proper cycle hasnt started.... ugh
PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM TEST STRIPS. The aren't worth, a bad word I can't say here, and will only mess up your cycle with inaccurate information.
Chances are if it read .75ppm your really around 2.0ppm at least. You can't do better, IMO, than the API Freshwater Master kit. I've tried others and their readings were inconsistent. As long as you fallow the directions on how to do each test in the API kit you will know exactly what is going on with your water. Without it, it's a crap shoot with the cycle and the lives of your fish, now and in the future.
I don't want to sound like a harpy, but without the right equipment (which includes the test kit) your handicapping yourself and endangering the fish.,
The reason that the goldfish is lieing on the bottom of the tank, is that his and all the others gills are burned by the ammonia. And I'm sure the levels are toxic by now. Unless your waiting for all the goldfish to die, please do a 90% PWC now and another one in 6 hours and another 6 hours after that. Then start the 80-90% PWC every 12 hours after that. You
may be able to save some of them. Dieing from ammonia poisoning is an excruciating way to go. It would be more humane to euthanize them than to let them die from neglect.
But I don't recommend euthanizing fish that can be saved, with a little effort.
In a way your gold fish will help your cycle if you keep them. You won't have to worry about adding any ammonia to feed the cycle. You just need to get rid of the ammonia twice a day. No guess work as to how much ammonia you should add.
Trust me you want to do this the right way. Otherwise you won't fully enjoy the hobby. Once you get the initial hard work out of the way it gets SOOOO much easier. I only do 20-25% PWC twice a week to keep the NitrAte at a safe level. It takes a whopping two hours, max, twice a week to clean 4 tanks. Then once every 6 months or so I have to rinse out my filters too. But I over filter so I rarely need to clean them. An extra filter can cut back on the work, after they are properly cycled.
Now that the hard part is done, I work 4 hours a week. And my family and I get at least 10 times that much enjoyment from them.
