What happened!?

So, I did another water change this evening, and tested the ammonia, and it's back down to about .75 ppm. Not ideal, but much much better than it was! I'll do another change in the morning and test again.

I doubled the amount of water conditioner I am using -- with 2.5 gallons of water I am using the 5 gallon amount of conditioner. Is there a problem with doing this? It seems like it worked :)

I have no idea what that huge ammonia spike was yesterday, and why my nitrite and nitrate are at 0 all of a sudden. Does anyone know what could have caused something like this?
 
Today I tested the water after doing another change. Nitrites are barely starting to show again. No nitrates whatsoever. Ammonia is between .5 and 1.0. So it looks like things are on their way again. Aquarium inhabitants seem to be doing just fine today.

I was thinking again about what might have caused the drastic changes, and I remembered the free packet of StressZyme that I got with my test kit. I figured, what could it hurt, so I dumped it in. A day after is when the ammonia more than doubled. Everything that I have read since finding Aquaria Central tells me that StressZyme does nothing, but maybe... could it have caused this problem in my tank?
 
I don't know what is in stress zyme but it may have done something. I stick to a basic water conditoner (no chloramines for me) and that is it excpet for plants fertilizers. There is no need to treat for all those other things. Proper water changes with the appropriate water conditoner is all you need to keep things healthy, IMO. So stick with what you are doing now, let that tank cycle continue on its way and keep those ammonia levels below 2ppm (you are already there it seems).
 
I did a 50% water change today and I am confused... yet again. :D

Ammonia .35 ppm
pH 7.0
Nitrite 0
Nirate 0

So my ammonia is going down, but no nitrites whatsoever today.

Also, my pH has been steady at 7.4, but yesterday, it tested at 7.2, and today, it looked more like 7.0. Is this a problem? What might be causing this?
 
7.0 is the perfect pH for any tank. I'm pretty sure that that fluctuation should be ok.

~hc
 
It can take a little time before nitrites appear as the new ammonia eating bacteria strat to grow. Keep testing the water over the next few days. 0.35 ppm of ammonia shouldn't be a hassle to the fish.

I would like to see nitrate growth though. Don't do a water change for the next few days (as I said the ammonia at that level isn't a problem) but keep testing to see how things are progressing. If the growth in nitrite bacteria is small enough and the you might not see a jump but you will still see nitrates.
 
Thanks so much for the help. Here's my results from this morning:

Ammonia .5 ppm
Nitrites 0
pH 7.0

I didn't bother testing for nitrates. pH is holding at 7.0 for two days now after dropping from 7.4.

I will hold off on water changes unless the ammonia gets too high and post results here.
 
Hi twelve, I may be able to help. First off I think youR doing to big of a water change. 50% is to much for a 10gal. tank on a daily basis.Try only doing 20% - 30% so you can give your tank a chance to build up beneficial bacteria. If you dont have enough bacteria than there is not much to off your levels. Maybe even try doing water changes on 4-7 day basis because your tap water has high levels. Whenever you setup a new tank you need to allow lots of steady filtration, by doing a water change everyday your taking any bacteria that may have started to settle in the gravel or in the filter. 2nd buy leaving old food and syphoning around it your creating more amonia. When you dont clean it up it soaks into the gravel and can create a deadly pocket of decayed waste in the gravel. Never purposely leave waste. 3rd, plecos leave a lot of waste, I suggest buying CYCLE waste control and CYCLE bacteria, these will really help. You want your tank to run without using any chemicals just try these to products intially. I conditioned a brand new 60gal. in 4-5 days buy using big amounts of CYCLE bacteria. Works like a miracle. Trust me I've had your same exact problem with a 20gal. Last I suggest you stay away from live plants till your levels are level consistantly for atleast a month or two. Plants dont always help. Well hope this helps. Just give your tank sometime actually cycle the water. If your fish have survived through all your water changes and high levels they should be able to get through this, but fish can only strive for so long before they get sick. A dead fish in the tank for a day will definately rise your amonia.
 
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Cycle is a product that isn not proven to work and I would stick to what you are doing right now. It contains bacteria that don't establish in an aquarium.

Plants would be a big help as they would use ammonia and protect the fish. In fact silent cycling of a tank is a very well known method in which you use large quantities of plants to eliminate the spikes in a cycle.

And while large water changes aren't needed right now due to the low levels of ammonia, large water changes will not slow a cycle down as the bacteria is not free floating. If you could disrupt the cycle with a water change then I would be disrupting it every week, but yet I do not.

As I said stay the course, don't add any unneeded bottled product and keep testing. If the ammonia gets much higher do a water change. Hopefully this will work itself out. Also feeding every other day might help. It won't hurt the fish and will mean less waste in the tank.
 
Thanks all for the suggestions. :D

I have a few plants in the aquarium, but unfortunately, I got them at Petco and wasn't told the names.

I have one that is a bulb type, it's got huge leaves that end in points. The frogs like hiding in this one.

I got a couple bunches of long frilly type plants. They are doing the best out of all the ones I picked; they are putting out roots all over their stems.

I also got one that has long stems with a round leaf at the top of each one.

I plan on getting some more this next weekend -- I need some floating plants that will block some of the light. The frogs aren't too happy about the lighting arrangement -- they don't like being in the spotlight!

The 2" baby pleco is the only fish in the aquarium, and the most sensitive to the water, as he has to breathe it, while the frogs do not. So as long as he looks like he is doing alright, I will try not to worry.
 
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