high ammonia and nitrite levels

[reinhart]

i got my tank 5 weeks ago. it is 10 gallon with 1 cory, 2 mollie, 3 tetras

about a week ago, my light bulbs busted so i ordered new ones and a water testing kit online

i installed the lights 30 mins ago and noticed that the water seemed dirty

ammonia tested for about 6ppm and nitrite levels were high as well. even though i had done a water change 6 days ago, i immediately did another 25% water change. i made an effort to push the gravel around with the siphon so that i could suck out more feces and uneaten food. ammonia still tests at 4 ppm

what should i do? is it b/c i have too many fish, b/c i don' have enuff bacteria to filter out ammonia, or b/c i need to keep my tank cleaner by vacuuming out more fecal matter?

 

[tstenback]

You are in the middle of the cycle and your dirty water is most likely a bacteria bloom which will go away by itself as the bacteria settles onto the various surfaces of your tank and filter. Dont go crazy vacuuming the gravel as this is where a good bit of your beneficial bacteria is and any uprooting of the gravel will destroy it and make your cycle even longer. Feed your fish less they can go many days without food so feed them max once a day and only enough so that there is nothing left in the tank within 2 minutes. The ammonia level is to high because the bacteria colony has not established yet and you do have a lot of fish in there for cycling. Normally you should have 1 fish per each five gals when cycling. Anyway you are on your way now so lets deal with it. Do water changes until your ammonia level gets down below 1 otherwise you can really hurt your fish. also this should help bring down the nitrites as well as the nitrite can actually burn the gills of the fish so try to keep that down as well by water changes. This may slow the cycle slightly but it should save the fish a lot of stress. HTH

 

[reinhart]

thanks

what's a bacteria bloom?

am i STILL in the cycling process? i figured that since the fish were still alive, there was enuff beneficial bacteria in the tank already

 

[tstenback]

The bacteria bloom is the creation of many bactereia at one time. They are used to break the ammonia down to nitrite and the nitrite down to nitrate. With a high ammonia reading and a high nitrite reading you are still in the middle part of the cycle. Your tank is cycled only when your ammonia level is zero, nitrite level is zero and you have a positive nitrate reading. When you have fish in there during the cycle youhave to monitor all levels daily and will most likely have to do daily water changes to keep the levels down where the fish will be least affected. For mor info on cycling have a read of This HTH

 

[Fawke]

hi there

just wanted to say that I too am in the middle of cycling my tank. I have been doing daily water changes of 30-40%. I understand how time consuming this is but IMO worth it as you can see how much happier the fish are after

everyone on this site has been really helpful, you are not alone in this
good luck!