Testing Water

[Jodibug]

How soon after a water change do I test the parameters again? When I tested this morning my ammonia and nitrates were high (.25 and 40ppm respectively) so I'm getting ready to do a 50% wc. My levels are not usually this high before my weekly Sunday wc, which is usually between 30 and 50%, but I did have a missing danio for a few days that I found stuck to the back of my intake filter. He had been there a while based on the looks of him, is this likely what caused my elevated ammonia and nitrate levels?
For informational purposes:
29 gallon that's been set up for 3 months, fishless cycle with bottled bacteria(I got lucky, and now know better)
Stocked with 3 zebra danio (added last Monday), 5 flame tetra, 5 long skirt tetra and 2 dwarf gourami.
All other fish seem healthy and active, but I know I need to get the levels down.

 

[BBradbury]

Your Tank

How soon after a water change do I test the parameters again? When I tested this morning my ammonia and nitrates were high (.25 and 40ppm respectively) so I'm getting ready to do a 50% wc. My levels are not usually this high before my weekly Sunday wc, which is usually between 30 and 50%, but I did have a missing danio for a few days that I found stuck to the back of my intake filter. He had been there a while based on the looks of him, is this likely what caused my elevated ammonia and nitrate levels?
For informational purposes:
29 gallon that's been set up for 3 months, fishless cycle with bottled bacteria(I got lucky, and now know better)
Stocked with 3 zebra danio (added last Monday), 5 flame tetra, 5 long skirt tetra and 2 dwarf gourami.
All other fish seem healthy and active, but I know I need to get the levels down.

Hello Jodi...

Your post reads like your tank is going through "New Tank Syndrome". This happens when there's too much fish waste in the tank water for the good bacteria to use. When you do a "fish in" cycle, it's important to add fish very slowly. The fish waste starts the "nitrogen cycle". You add a few, hardy fish, those that don't mind less than pure water conditions. You then test the tank water every day for signs of ammonia and nitrite. If your test shows a trace of either of these toxins, you remove roughly a quarter of the tank's water and replace that with pure, treated tap water. This removes some of toxic nitrogen to keep the fish relatively safe and leaves some ammonia and nitrite for the good bacteria. You simply test daily and remove and replace water when needed. When you have several daily tests with no trace of ammonia or nitrite, the tank is cycled.

B

 

[Mama Karoti]

If you fully cycled your tank with ammonia and bacteria (some bottled bacteria is good), then yes, I would say that you decaying danio is what kicked your tank into another cycle. Since the source is removed, your levels should get back to normal. Just monitor as you are doing an WC as needed.

 

[Jodibug]

Thanks for the input. I did a 50% change today, that got my ammonia and nitrate both down, but not as low as they should be. The ammonia was hard to read, it wasn't quite 0, but definitely wasn't .25 either. The nitrate went down to 20. My nitrite is always 0. I'll do another 25% change tomorrow, does that sound good?