another lost newbie in the world of aquatics....

[Hurley]

I want to just say this forum is extremely helpful and everyone has such great advice to give. I am new to the hobby and like many other newbies very lost and slightly bitter at my LFS for not informing me about how to go about starting up a tank, but I guess I have my self to blame as well for not doing enough research into the topic. So now I've gotten myself into a bit of a pickle and I am trying my hardest to make things work out.

I have a 20 gallon tank now that has been set up for about a week. When I bought the tank I didn’t know anything about cycling and now I am kicking myself. I also think that I have over stocked the tank; I have 6 neon tetras, 4 phantom tetras, 1 molly, 1 cory and about 17 molly fry(which I will be giving to the LFS once they are about a half inch.) About 2 days after I set up the tank I got an Ich infection and in searching for how to treat it I found this page. I decided to go with the salt treatment being that I thought it would be the least stressful, later I read that Corys can be sensitive to salt but mine seems to be doing fine. The problem is that my tank parameters all seem very high, at a level that should be killing my fish. This is what has me worried because I really enjoy them and would feel awful if I were to lose them. My levels are as follows:

pH - 7.8
Nitrate - 20
Nitrite - 3.0
Total Hardness(GH) - 150
Total Alkalinity(KH) - 120
Ammonia - 3
Water Temp - 86 <----- this is high to help kill off the Ich


I've done 25% water changes for the past 2 days but my levels have not budged at all. I tried ammolock and Biozyme to try and speed up the cycling process and decrease the ammonia but neither has worked. I feel like my levels are out of control and I have no idea how to bring them down. Do i just need to be patient and wait? Does the salt from the Ich treatment affect any of these readings? What do you recommend that I do? I am trying my hardest not to lose any of my fish.

[Xielos]

I'm no expert on this, so don't rely on my opinion alone, but I would start kicking the water changes into high gear, 50% daily, whatever it takes to get that ammonia down. Also look around for stuff called Bio-Spira, it should be in a refrigerator somewhere in the store. It actualy is the bacteria needed for the tank, but it is a bit pricey. It'll reduce the cycling time substantialy.

Hope you can save your fishies :huh:

[Hurley]

Thanks for the advice. I will look into the Bio-Spira. Will frequent water changes slow down the cycling process due to the fact that I would be removing the stuff that needs to be broken down in order for the tank to become cycled?

[wataugachicken]

at those levels your fish should be red around the gills, gasping at the top, and generally looking really bad.
you should step it up to 50% daily, but don't stop there. you want those ammonia and nitrite levels to be below .25, so after you finish with the first 50%, test, do another, test, do another, etc. . until you've gotten them down to an acceptable amount. as long as there is some amount of waste in there, the bacteria can grow successfully. it won't take longer.
ammolock absorbs the ammonia and makes it unavalable to the bacteria, slowing your cycle down more. I don't know exactly what biozyme is, but i am pretty confident that it is useless, just like cycle and all those other 'off the main shelf'' products that claim to make it happen faster. make sure that you're not overfeeding, as that will add to the waste in the tank. your fish won't starve if you feed them lightly once a day.
you may also want to get rid of those test strips and invest in some liquid test kits. they are cheaper in the long run because they contain many more uses than a tube of strips, and are far more accurate.
possibly you could also return that lone cory for the present time, they are much happier and healthier in groups of at least three of their own kind. maybe when you are cycled you can think about adding a few of them.

[Emg]

Rather than 50 % change every day...I think a 20% twice a day at those levels would be better. You wouldn't be removing so much of the good bacteria all at once and yet still be diluting the ammonia and nitrites a decent amount.

Of course....two water changes a day may be a bit more than your schedule can handle....but if you can do it I would give it a try until those readings settle down.

[wataugachicken]

it's already been established many times over that the good bacteria we need for the nitrogen cycle are not free floating in the water, they are attached to the filter and filter media, gravel, aquarium walls, and decor.
the exception is the first day or two after you add bio-spira, before they find a place to latch on to they are indeed floating around in the water itself.

[tmpadmin]

I would not chance it on only 20% 2x, I agree you need to get those levels down or the cycle will not mean anything to those fish. Remember we love the fish not the water. If your levels do not go down properly with one 50% change, do it again. Check later and if they happen to spike again - just get the bucket and gravel filter out again (or invest in a python - 10-minute water changes just like quickie lube!)