Betta Ammonia Level Help

[Alien Anna]

According to the chart, anything above 0.5 ammonia is treading into the danger zone. So naturally, I'm trying to keep everything as clean as possible without halting the cycle process. I'm just anxious to get the tank fully cycled, I suppose. I'll maintain the every-other-day small changes to keep ammonia in manageable levels and hopefully the tank will cycle in the next week or two.

Any ammonia in a fish's water is dangerous - there is no "danger zone". Also, you should be doing 10-15% water changes at least daily until the tank is cycled. The vast majority of the beneficial bacteria you need are in the gravel (and filter if you've got one), not in the water, so water changes are unlikely to slow things down much.

Be warned that that nitrite phase of the Nitrogen Cycle can take even longer than the ammonia phase, but is just as deadly. So, if you can get some used gravel from another, matured tank (even a goldfish tank), that would helpful. Someone on the forum the other day used some filter floss from her relative's pond, which is another idea.

Otherwise, keep doing the daily or twice daily water changes and test the water every day. You definitely will need a nitrite test.

Thankfully, bettas are tough fish, but ammonia and nitrite can damage a fish's immune system and some poor fish never totally recover, so you are right to be concerned. Keep feeding down to a minimum - he won't starve and that will produce less ammonia in his water. Good luck, and do keep us posted.

 

[Alien Anna]

Well, my tank is finally making some cycling progress! I didn't make any water changes for 5 days, since it appeared my water changes were preventing the cylce

Is that a radical change for a 5 day period? I've noticed that he's been sluggish lately and refusing food too, so I did a 10-15% water change this morning after testing the water quality.

Any thoughts on how I can improve the water quality without compromising the cycle progress? I would like to prevent major stress on my betta, but not at the cost of starting the cycle all over again.

Very few of the beneficial bacteria are found in the water. Provided you don't take too long when doing a water change, so that the bacteria in your filter die off, water changes shouldn't make a significant difference to the length of time it takes a cycle to complete. Cycling with fish is always a slow process (up to 2 months), with is why Fishless Cycling is definitely the way to go.

OTOH, by not doing a water change your fish is being steadily poisoned and it could potentially kill him. That is the biggest stress on him that you need to worry about.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Jay~
I had some troubles with my 50 and the nitrite last week and I tried a product called PRIME,it's a dechlorinator that also breaks down ammonia and nitrite so that it's easier for your bacteria bed to break it down ,it dropped the nitrite to zero in less than 3 days, I'll never ever use another dechlorinator, you might want to try it

But otherwise ...it looks like your tank is coming along

 

[jaywings19]

I did a partial water change yesterday and then again this morning... got the nitrite level down from 2.0 to 0.5 while ammonia is still at 0.0ppm

Hopefully, I can get those nitrites down to zero this week!

 

[Jaws]

lol wow this is gonna make everyone go OMG lol... i guess about a year ago i bought a 10 gallon starter kit type of thing that came with a filter, hood, bulb and i think thats it.. i took my little brothers aereator he didnt need and stuck it in there. i bought this black goldfish looking thingy which they labeled as a "molly" but i reaaally dont think it is one.. thats a whole different story and ill post that later. so anyway i also got 7 neons and eventually i was seeing my water become yellow. so i would change the water and clean tank... i didnt KNOW lol so plz dont start yellin hehe but i emptied the tank down to about 1/4 (after putting fish into a small tank) and i would carry the tank outside or to the bathtub where i would clean it... lol yeah i cleaned it with a hose outside, rinsing the gravel several times.. it always ended up gettin yellow so i never figured that it was a problem, that everybody did it. so whats all this about cycling? lol. thanks

 

[jaywings19]

Okay... the tank appears to have finally cycled! Woohoo... rejoice. Ammonia and Nitrite are both at 0.0ppm as of this morning.

However, my Ph has dropped from 7.0 to 6.4 since the tank has cycled. I've read that bettas can tolerate a range of 6.0-8.0 Ph level. Should I adjust my tank's Ph level? How would I do that?

 

[sandyd]

Since you said your ph had dropped, I was wondering when you last did a water change? If you have soft water, you will notice that your ph fluctuates. Mine does. I used to use those ph adjusters in my water, but in my opinion it only causes more stress on the fish. I would do was 10-15% water change and see if it does not come back up on its own. I try not to add any chemicals in the tank unless it is absolutely needed. Hope this helps. Sandy

 

[Alien Anna]

Okay... the tank appears to have finally cycled! Woohoo... rejoice. Ammonia and Nitrite are both at 0.0ppm as of this morning.

However, my Ph has dropped from 7.0 to 6.4 since the tank has cycled. I've read that bettas can tolerate a range of 6.0-8.0 Ph level. Should I adjust my tank's Ph level? How would I do that?

No - leave it alone! More fish get killed by newbies trying to adjust the pH (or even more experienced fish keepers) than ever get killed by slightly inappropriate pH. I have bogwood in all my tanks, when drops my astronomical pH down from 8.5 to something more sensible. In my betta tank the pH is around 6.5, which is ideal because he shares it with tetras who like a lower pH.

If you want to raise it a little, naturally, add a lump of tufa rock. Otherwise, leave well alone!

The important thing is that your tank has cycled. We can all make a sigh of relief now.