Already some great suggestion has been provide. It also help me a lot from those meaningful concept.
Agree try a dif test. That ammonia is very high.I would also stop cleaning the filter until your tank is cycled. That's where all the beneficial bacteria is. With an ammonia of 8 I would think your fish would be dead. What kind of test are you using? Are you sure it's good?
Agreed, need to listen here.10-25% water changes will have almost no effect on the ammonia levels; it's simple mathematics. The reason for the problem is the pH - it's too low for the bacteria to efficiently multiply. Do not suddenly raise it; with 8ppm ammonia a pH of 7 would be almost instant death for the fish.
Get a KH test kit. You'll probably find KH is very low. Then do a series of water changes to get the ammonia down to 0.25 ppm or less. Ignore anyone telling you water changes will slow the cycle; it's an old myth.
Once it's down, you can then start to raise the KH using sodium bicarb. When it gets to around 4 degrees, the pH will have risen above 7 and the bacterial inhibition will be much reduced. Keep KH at 4 degrees during the cycling process and you'll be done in a couple of weeks or so.
:iagree: The bacteria are not in the water, if that were the case we would have to cycle our tanks again every time we did a water change. The bacteria live in/on the surfaces of the tank and filter, such as the places mentioned above (doing a gravel vacuuming will NOT cause you to have to cycle your tank again however).All good info: also:
by doing water changes, you are not removing bacteria- they reside in the filter, gravel, decorations- change the water immediately, as this is the only way to remove nitrite and ammonia.
Yeah, but you're not trying to cycle dilute battery acidi seem to have no problem quick cycling mine. Plants, a bit of water/bacteria from another tank, and filter running, then add some fish food in, its organic matter, it'll break down,