ANY amount of ammonia is a bad thing. It should be clearly the lowest (meaning zero) level of the chart. Ammonia in the tank means that you are either overstocked, overfeeding, the tank never fully cycled, or something went wrong with your filter.
Even for the small plecos, I would recommend against keeping them in a 10g tank. Granted you should be supplementing them anyway, small tanks just don't have the space for them to graze on algae and wood like they ought to.
A red tailed shark definitely shouldn't be kept in a 10g tank....you did indeed get lucky. Keeping fish in a tank that is too small not only compromises water quality, but the fish can become internally stunted, leading to early death.
As mentioned, don't mess with your pH. 7.8 is fine. You do much more harm messing with the pH. A stable pH is FAR more important than some arbitrary target pH.
A black tail on those tetras, huh. Can you show us a picture? I first thought of maybe buenos aires tetras, serpae tetras, bleeding heart tetras...but the black tail is throwing me off.
Also, in the future, and especially in a smaller tank, it is best to stick to small groups of one species if you are dealign with schooling fish such as neons. They do best in groups and there just isnt' enough space to have an adequate sized group of each in a smaller tank.
Definitely up your water changes to once a week or more. You essentially just want to keep your nitrates under about 20 ppm (as close to zero as possible)....but ideally never less than once per week/week and a half.
As for the sickness, try beefing up your water maintenance. Sounds like your fish are exhibiting signs of stress due to water quality.
Let us know how it goes
Even for the small plecos, I would recommend against keeping them in a 10g tank. Granted you should be supplementing them anyway, small tanks just don't have the space for them to graze on algae and wood like they ought to.
A red tailed shark definitely shouldn't be kept in a 10g tank....you did indeed get lucky. Keeping fish in a tank that is too small not only compromises water quality, but the fish can become internally stunted, leading to early death.
As mentioned, don't mess with your pH. 7.8 is fine. You do much more harm messing with the pH. A stable pH is FAR more important than some arbitrary target pH.
A black tail on those tetras, huh. Can you show us a picture? I first thought of maybe buenos aires tetras, serpae tetras, bleeding heart tetras...but the black tail is throwing me off.
Also, in the future, and especially in a smaller tank, it is best to stick to small groups of one species if you are dealign with schooling fish such as neons. They do best in groups and there just isnt' enough space to have an adequate sized group of each in a smaller tank.
Definitely up your water changes to once a week or more. You essentially just want to keep your nitrates under about 20 ppm (as close to zero as possible)....but ideally never less than once per week/week and a half.
As for the sickness, try beefing up your water maintenance. Sounds like your fish are exhibiting signs of stress due to water quality.
Let us know how it goes
