High Ammonia....

[MCF]

I have a two week old 10 gallon tank. I have 6 fish in it and they all seem fine and healthy and getting along. I noticed on Thursday night, the Ammonia level was in the 'stress' range. I did the first clean out of 25% water using a syphon to clean the gravel, etc. and replaced the water with distilled water (and went ahead and added recommended amount of Aquasafe). Should this take care of the ammonia level or what should I expect now? The nitrate and nitrite levels are fine.

[reignman40]

Was the tank not cycled prior to adding the fish? If not read the sticky's about Cycling. That will give you a good idea as per what to expect. If you are using water other then tap water for your water changes make sure you stick to that same kind of water every time.

If the tank is not cycled you are looking at doing daily water changes for the next few weeks until the levels stay consistent and there is enough bacteria built up.

Hope this helps,
Curtis

[mishi8]

I have a two week old 10 gallon tank. I have 6 fish in it and they all seem fine and healthy and getting along. I noticed on Thursday night, the Ammonia level was in the 'stress' range. I did the first clean out of 25% water using a syphon to clean the gravel, etc. and replaced the water with distilled water (and went ahead and added recommended amount of Aquasafe). Should this take care of the ammonia level or what should I expect now? The nitrate and nitrite levels are fine.

Your tank is still cycling, and you'll see high ammonia levels for a while, and then high nitrites too. Expect the cycling process to take a month or more. You'll want to be diligent with water changes (possibly daily!) to keep the ammonia and nitrite low, and keep your fish from suffering too much harm. However, tap water is a better choice than straight distilled water. You fish need some amount of dissolved solids in the water to keep the fish healthy and to keep the pH stable, and distilled does not provide those solids.