Fish Cycling, Second Week - Ammonia / Nitrite Levels, PH.... Advice Please

[Blaizze]

Well, as most of you may know... the pet store gave me the usual bad advice and told me it was fine to get the fish etc...

Thursday June 8th, I bought and set up the 29 Gallon Tank and put water in it. Had the filter running.

Saturday June 10th - Bought 4 Guppys and 2 Gold Gouramis and added them.

3 Guppys have died so far, all within about 3-4 days of each other... They we're replaced and so far no fish have died since.

Its now been just one day shy of two weeks since the fish have been added and tank has been set up so there was NO CYCLING PRIOR TO ADDING THE FISH

Now I believe my ammonia and nitrites are rising... Ammonia has been around .5 for the last few days, and I've been doing 10 percent water changes every second day... Last night I did a larger water change as the ammonia was a bit high and also my Nitrites are reading at .25

PH is about 7.2

So heres the summary.

Ammonia at .50
Nitrites at .25, perhaps getting close to .50 soon
PH at 7.2

29 Gallon freshwater tank, 4 Guppys and 2 Gold Gouramis

3 Plants of Baby Tears, 2 of Malayan Aqua Fern and 3 small Java Fern's.

Tank Temperature is average 25 Degrees.



Are my fish going to be fine, should I continously change the water and does it affect the cycle?

Any information would be helpful.. I'd like to keep these fish alive, not let them suffer.

Last night I added an extra hose coming in from my air pump, which is set on low, which makes 2 hoses bringing air into the water.

Also before the large water change, I made a mistake of dropping 3 drops of my PH test indicator fluid in, instead of PH Down, but I did the large change and they seemed healthy today.

Also, I have been using Cycle... First put it in last week, then again on Wednesday... I know the bad reports on the product but I really don't know what to believe about it... Why sell something and boldly state that it works in such great detail as the booklet enclosed does if it doesnt?

They state the bacteria is not active until added, has the highest concentration of bacteria around, and it attacks the ammonia / nitrites to help reduce them and eventually secure a colony in the tank.



I know this is a long post, and I know it seems I haven't contributed enough to the site with regards to helping others, but I honestly do not feel my knowledge regarding the keeping of fish to be up to par with the others. Once I feel I can provide useful helping information to other members, you will see me more active in that sense.

All help is greatly appreciated here.... I love my fish and want to get more once this cycle is over

 

[phanmc]

Keep doing water changes to lower the ammonia and nitrites, it won't affect the cycle process and will ensure the health of your fish. you'll want to do 25% rather than 10%, keep the nitrites below .25. The entire process normally takes 4-6 weeks.

Don't play around with your pH by using pH Down, unless the pH level is very high (over 8) it's not necessary. Most fishes will adapt the the pH level and the bigger danger would be a fluctuating pH level.

The bacteria added in 'Cycle' is not the same bacteria in the cycling process. 'Cycle' may work short term since I do think it contains a strain of nitrifying bacteria, but I just don't know how effective it really is.

 

[Rbishop]

Stop using Cycle.

Stop using any pH adjustment chemicals, only dechlor at water changes.

Keep water changes large enough and frequent enough to keep ammonia and nitrites below .25

Do not feel you have to contribute, just to get help. Your contribution is you are asking for help and looking out for ideal conditions to provide for your fish.

Research Bio Spira on here, it may help to jump start your cycle, but you must follow instructions exactly from what I hear.