Ok, I am confused. I have a tank I have been trying to cycle for a couple of months. For the past few weeks I have been getting moderate ammonia and nitrite readings, and low nitrates. Five days ago my ammonia read 0. For the next few days I checked nitrites only. Last night they read zero. I checked the ammonia and it is reading super high. What is going on?
cycling confusion
- Thread starter werecatrising
- Start date
No, unfortunately it is not a fishless cycle. It is a 20 gallon my brother set up shortly before moving- leaving it to me. It had 9 gold barbs, I have lost 3. I have been doing daily water changes to try and keep the fish healthy. The ones that were lost were in the first couple of weeks. Everybody is looking good now.
Make sure to feed lightly while you have high ammonia and nitrites. It is the amount of food that sets the loading. What substrate do you have and what filter are you using? How many gallons is the tank?
Are you using a good liquid test kit?
What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings on your tap?
Using a good dechlor like Prime?
You should be doing as many water changes as required to keep ammonia and nitrites under .25 since you have fishies in there.
What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings on your tap?
Using a good dechlor like Prime?
You should be doing as many water changes as required to keep ammonia and nitrites under .25 since you have fishies in there.
Ok, now I'm even more frustrated.
When I set up my first tank I did a fishless cycle. I had been checking my tap water too, no ammonia. I didn't think of checking the tap water since then. After reading through several posts on here I decided to check my tap water after letting it sit for a few hours. The ammonia then reads a 2.0. Still reads 0 straight out of the tap. I will check the other parameters after work. So what now? I use prime in every water change. Now I feel like I am posioning my fish every time I do a wc.
When I set up my first tank I did a fishless cycle. I had been checking my tap water too, no ammonia. I didn't think of checking the tap water since then. After reading through several posts on here I decided to check my tap water after letting it sit for a few hours. The ammonia then reads a 2.0. Still reads 0 straight out of the tap. I will check the other parameters after work. So what now? I use prime in every water change. Now I feel like I am posioning my fish every time I do a wc.
This just doesn't make any sense unless the container you are letting the water sit in has ammonia in it.