Please advise

[Jbsmomto1]

On the 21 of feb I set up a 20 gallon tanks, with a filter that hooks on the back and a heater, My intentions were to move the fish we had in a 5 gallon into that tank in a few weeks, so I took some water from the 5 in hopes it woudl start teh cycling process. However I went out that evening only to come home and find that my babysitter thougth she woulh help me out by moving the fish from the 5 to teh 20, so needless to say my tank had not cycled, rather than stress the fish out anymore by putting them back in the 5 I simply took the water from the 5 and put it into the 20, took the filter cartridge from the 5 also and put it in the 20 for a few days....in teh 20 we have 7 mollies, 1 platy and 2 swords. I do have about 20 tsps of marine salt in there b/c it is all livebearers.
I have been told my some to do 20% water change daily until the tank has fully cycled and have been told by others to do none at all and just be prepared to lose all my fish, I can deal with losing the fish though I hate to, but i cannot deal with them dying a painful and suffering death. So is it really safe to do the changes or not? This would slow down my cycle hugely would it not? I admit to do a fe wwater changes but the ammonia was so high it wasn't even reading on the charts, it was pretty green (the reading).
yesterday morning my tests were
Ammonia, .25
trites, 1.6
trates, 20
ph, 8.4

This morning my tests were
Ammonia .25
Trites 1.6
Trates 50 Increase from yesterday morning but the same as last night
ph 8.4

Since the ammonia hasn't risen I am guessing its starting to stablelize? maybe? but the niTRATES rose some so now what?......

is it really best to leave it and let it do its own thing, even though the fish may suffer and die or would it be better to slow down the cycling and do the changes daily?

Also we have a 2 gallon tank (1.5 I think is more likely) and i tested it and it is perfect, should I empty that water and put it into the 20 gallon? The 2 gallon has been going since around decmeber 25/26

Farming my fish out is not an option since my only 1 of my friends have fish and they are oscars, my guys woudl be lunch as soon as they hit the water. The pet store is scared of disease so they will not take or buy fish from people unknown or that are not breeders with impeccable conditions, which mine obviously are not

 

[dixienut]

water changes will lesson this, nitrates are there because that is the waste product of ammonia and nitrites after they are eaten by bacteria....
2 types of bacteria one eats ammonia...then its excreated in the form of nitrites......then another bacteria eats nitrites and nitrates are excreated...is what i understand it to be..... dose this help? keep up changes daily at 20% if this isn't enough than increase the % till it keeps them at manageable ammounts no to hurt the fish.. if you add teaspoon of aq. salts per 10g it will lesson the effect of the amm, and nitrites, on the fish by a little,

you amm. amount isn't high enought to harm them the nitrites needs down a little and the nitrates are ok, just do water changes they arn't at deadly levels just unconfortable.. dulition is the solution... not sure if marine salt is best.. your almost there, there are very little bacteria in the water collum so you're not hurting it just keep it at levels safe for your fish, it will take longer for it to cycle this was but your fish and the bacteria both can get along this way.

 

[rsanz]

Those nitrite levels are too high!! I would do a 60% water change right away, and a 30% change every day for a week or so, then see where that leaves you. Water changes do not mess with the cycle. Water changes keep the fish alive.

The beneficial bacteria does not live in the water column, so adding water from a cycled tank doesn't really help. You have to add either gravel or filter media from a cycled tank in order to help along the cycle. Putting in the filter media from your 5 gallon was a good start. Your tank is on its way to being cycled, but just do daily water changes to keep ammonia and nitrites BELOW 0.5, and nitrates below 20.

Good luck.

 

[Jbsmomto1]

Ok so I will do a huge water change, and remove the gravel from the 2 gallon and mix it with the other (blue in the 20 purple in to 2) so it shouldn't look so bad (I hope) I am not happy with the plant placements anyway so will also move them around and see what happens. The fish that are currently in the 2 gallon have home, but the weather has been so bad they cannot come and pick them up yet. I will recycle the 2 gallon (which is goign to be a fry tank eventually, since I have 7 fry, 6 guppies 1 lonely molly) all under a week old.
I will also do a smaller change daily as long as levals are reading high.

Just to satisfy my own nosiness I tested our tap water for ammonia and its ALSO testing positive for trace ammonia....so i thought i was confused before but now i am even more so........

ALSO if I have quite a bit of salt in my tank amd I wanting to read the levals as saltwater levals or as freshwater? I have about 20tsps of salt in there.

 

[jessicar613]

Jbs, if you don't want to mix them if you think it looks bad put the gravel from the 2 gallon in a piece of pantyhose or a mesh bag - drop the whole bag in the tank, then once your tank is established you can just fish it out and toss it. Or you can put the bag of gravel in your filter basket if there's room.