extremely angry... PLEASE HELP!!!

[ara35]

i am extremely frustrated by the way my fish hobby has started. i have a 15 gallon tank that i've been "cycling" or so i thought for a month. i have had rosy red minnows in the tank the entire time and only two have died, one the first day i got them.. the other shortly after. i have done many water changes and testing. my ammonia was at zero for about 3 days straight, nitrites were staying rather low and nitrates were beginning to appear. the temp has been at 78-80 degrees the whole time. after recieving those readings, i thought i would get a snail just to help clean up some algae that was appearing. about a week after i left for 3 days for the thanksgiving holiday. all my fish were alive but the snail died. (sucked up the filter, next time i will cover with a sponge). anyway, when i got back it was up to 1.0ppm ammonia, .5 nitrites and no nitrates. after doing a water change, the ammonia was back to .75 the next day. i did another water change, and the ammonia is still at .25. these water changes were 50 percent. and hopefully i can get the help i need so that i dont end this hobby that i so badly want to pursue (waited 2 years to get this tank). heres my questions:

1. if my ammonia was up to 1.0 ppm, why were all my fish alive, swimming well, looking good?
2. is high ammonia only dangerous to the fish, would it cause a cycle to restart?
3. do i have to start all over again with the cycle? i am still getting nitrites, but have i been set back?

please do not say anything about fishless cycling because i dont believe that would have changed anything because no fish died during this whole process. only because they were in bad shape to start... what is going on? please help me! i really want a fish tank to be a success!!!!

[doreenjoy]

Your tank is still cycling. To stall a cycle, ammonia would have to be far higher.

Just because your fish survived a short bout in 1.0 ppm ammonia doesn't mean they aren't damaged. Gill tissue is burned by ammonia. The fish may appear healthy but suddenly die "for no reason" later.

Continue testing and doing water changes anytime the ammonia or nitrites are higher than 0.25 ppm. If you do a water change and get higher readings than 0.25 ppm, do another water change to get those readings down. It will not stall your cycle and it will save your fish.

Hope this helps.

Edit: Another thing -- don't add any more snails or fish to the tank until it is completely done cycling. I've done many fish-in cycles in my 34 years in the hobby, but will never do one again. Fishless is far less stressful -- to me and the fish.

[StereoKills]

Fishless is far less stressful -- to me and the fish.
:iagree: Doing everything right and still losing fish during cycling is too stressful and frustrating.

[msjinkzd]

your ammonia would have been much higher to destroy the bacteria that has been produced thus far...keep up on your water changes to reduce your ammonia as much as possible. also you could see if you could get some used gravel or filter pads from your lfs (if you trust them) to put in your tank to help. Biospira is another option.

[leighasnana]

If you have access to a tank (cycled) which you trust get a bit of the filter media from it and stick it behind the filter media you have now. This will seed your filter. I also add lots of plants, just float them and they'll use up the ammonia etc... Just pick up cheap, fast growing - low light plants (stems). You can plant these in the gravel too. You're almost there - don't give up.

If you don't have access to a cycled tank you can trust perhaps someone in the classified section can help you with the media and plant stems. Many just throw these out.