Neon1977
Fish Fanatic
Hi, completely new to this forum and the hobbie for that matter! 
To say iv had a rough start would be an understatement! Without going into boring details i had to start over with my tank because of conflicting advice from an inexperienced fish store and hopeless staff who quite frankly didn't seem to have a clue about fish or their needs! Anyway long story short, i have a 25L tank and was told i can have maximum of 12 Neon Tetra's in there eventually as well as some shrimp in 4-6 weeks when the tank has properly cycled. I bought 6 Neon Tetra's last Thursday (27th Feb) as i was told this was a good number to start and if all was ok then to return the following week and buy 6 more. Because of what happened to me last time i became paranoid about ammonia and started testing every day. The first day of having the fish the guy at the shop told me to add in quick start while the fish were floating in the bag getting used to the tank before popping them in. The next day i tested the ammo and i started to see a tiny increase (if any 
) around the pad on the test strip. My paranoia set in and i then went back to the shop to ask the guy how i can keep ammo levels from increasing quickly and he sold me a little box of Stop Ammo vials, there was 6 in the pack. He told me i wouldn't need to add one of these the day after putting the start up in as it would do its job but if i wanted to use these then 1 vial a week in my 25L tank should make sure the ammo levels don't rise to dangerous levels. He also added that i can't overdose the fish on these vials 
Now, me being me paranoid as ever decided to put one in nearly every other day with the words 'you can't overdose the fish' fresh in my mind because when i was testing the water it never said 0 ammo, it was always 0.5 on the strip test so i thought i was doing a good thing by not letting them rise any further! Safe to say the 6 vials in the box was gone within 7 days. Now getting to the point of the story... My Neons started acting aggressive towards each other 4 days ago! (3rd March) Not swimming together, chasing each other/fighting a hell of a lot! It was strange behaviour compared to how they first were when introduced to the tank so i rang the shop this morning and explained what was going on and that my ammo levels didn't seem to be returning back to zero yet even though i had used a full box of ammo stoppers within a week and the start up when buying the fish! I told her they weren't gasping for air and were all eating fine but when i mentioned the fighting/being aggressive she said it wasn't normal behaviour and to bring in a water sample ASAP. Now i had done an ammo test in the morning on the strip and it was still showing between 0.5 or so it looked to me. I haven't been keeping a close eye on my nitrate and nitrite levels as much as ammo becausei had read somewhere that low ammo levels meant low nitrate/nitrite etc so i didn't think to check those before taking my sample to the shop. I did check it a few times though during this week and every time i did it read between 0-20 on nitrate and 0-0.5 on nitrite on the strip test. Now this must of gone through the roof over the next couple of days of me testing as when i got to the shop my water sample (which they did with the liquid test kit) showed up dark pink on my nitrite!!!! So really dangerous levels and 0.2 on the ammo test which she said was fine and no cause for concern. She put my high nitrite levels down to over dosing the fish on the ammo stoppers! 
Now i didn't like to say well the shop owner told me i couldn't overdose my fish on the ammo stoppers incase i made myself look daft and he didn't actually anticipate me using them within 7 days! I have not overfed them based on the fact they told me they literally need a tiny pinch of pallet food a day so i know that's not the cause and i did my first water change on Thursday (5th March) and rinsed out the sponge in my filter in the water that i took out of my aquarium. I changed 2 litres of water that was all and added fresh clean water in straight away of which i used tap safe. They told me to come home and do a 50% water change immediately and to try and siphon any leftover food and poop off the top of the sand and not to add anymore fish until the water is under control. So came home, did all that and i have just recently tested the water again and it read on the test strips 0 Nitrate, 0 Nitrite and 0 ammo. Is this normal for ammo and nitrite to completely drop to zero only 4 hours after a 50% water change? And is she telling me correct info.. were my dangerous Nitrite levels caused by the over use of Stop Ammo vials???
Sorry so long winded! This is my tank.. 25L with ciano cf40 hang on the back filter, 2 fake plants (i removed the little ones in the middle at the back after i took this pic and kept the two big ones) with a Betta premium aquarium heater with gaurd set to 27 degrees, a decoration and four pebbles at the side and currently 6 Neon Tetra's present. (they werent in the tank as of yet when i took this pic)
To say iv had a rough start would be an understatement! Without going into boring details i had to start over with my tank because of conflicting advice from an inexperienced fish store and hopeless staff who quite frankly didn't seem to have a clue about fish or their needs! Anyway long story short, i have a 25L tank and was told i can have maximum of 12 Neon Tetra's in there eventually as well as some shrimp in 4-6 weeks when the tank has properly cycled. I bought 6 Neon Tetra's last Thursday (27th Feb) as i was told this was a good number to start and if all was ok then to return the following week and buy 6 more. Because of what happened to me last time i became paranoid about ammonia and started testing every day. The first day of having the fish the guy at the shop told me to add in quick start while the fish were floating in the bag getting used to the tank before popping them in. The next day i tested the ammo and i started to see a tiny increase (if any ) around the pad on the test strip. My paranoia set in and i then went back to the shop to ask the guy how i can keep ammo levels from increasing quickly and he sold me a little box of Stop Ammo vials, there was 6 in the pack. He told me i wouldn't need to add one of these the day after putting the start up in as it would do its job but if i wanted to use these then 1 vial a week in my 25L tank should make sure the ammo levels don't rise to dangerous levels. He also added that i can't overdose the fish on these vials Now, me being me paranoid as ever decided to put one in nearly every other day with the words 'you can't overdose the fish' fresh in my mind because when i was testing the water it never said 0 ammo, it was always 0.5 on the strip test so i thought i was doing a good thing by not letting them rise any further! Safe to say the 6 vials in the box was gone within 7 days. Now getting to the point of the story... My Neons started acting aggressive towards each other 4 days ago! (3rd March) Not swimming together, chasing each other/fighting a hell of a lot! It was strange behaviour compared to how they first were when introduced to the tank so i rang the shop this morning and explained what was going on and that my ammo levels didn't seem to be returning back to zero yet even though i had used a full box of ammo stoppers within a week and the start up when buying the fish! I told her they weren't gasping for air and were all eating fine but when i mentioned the fighting/being aggressive she said it wasn't normal behaviour and to bring in a water sample ASAP. Now i had done an ammo test in the morning on the strip and it was still showing between 0.5 or so it looked to me. I haven't been keeping a close eye on my nitrate and nitrite levels as much as ammo becausei had read somewhere that low ammo levels meant low nitrate/nitrite etc so i didn't think to check those before taking my sample to the shop. I did check it a few times though during this week and every time i did it read between 0-20 on nitrate and 0-0.5 on nitrite on the strip test. Now this must of gone through the roof over the next couple of days of me testing as when i got to the shop my water sample (which they did with the liquid test kit) showed up dark pink on my nitrite!!!! So really dangerous levels and 0.2 on the ammo test which she said was fine and no cause for concern. She put my high nitrite levels down to over dosing the fish on the ammo stoppers! Now i didn't like to say well the shop owner told me i couldn't overdose my fish on the ammo stoppers incase i made myself look daft and he didn't actually anticipate me using them within 7 days! I have not overfed them based on the fact they told me they literally need a tiny pinch of pallet food a day so i know that's not the cause and i did my first water change on Thursday (5th March) and rinsed out the sponge in my filter in the water that i took out of my aquarium. I changed 2 litres of water that was all and added fresh clean water in straight away of which i used tap safe. They told me to come home and do a 50% water change immediately and to try and siphon any leftover food and poop off the top of the sand and not to add anymore fish until the water is under control. So came home, did all that and i have just recently tested the water again and it read on the test strips 0 Nitrate, 0 Nitrite and 0 ammo. Is this normal for ammo and nitrite to completely drop to zero only 4 hours after a 50% water change? And is she telling me correct info.. were my dangerous Nitrite levels caused by the over use of Stop Ammo vials???Sorry so long winded! This is my tank.. 25L with ciano cf40 hang on the back filter, 2 fake plants (i removed the little ones in the middle at the back after i took this pic and kept the two big ones) with a Betta premium aquarium heater with gaurd set to 27 degrees, a decoration and four pebbles at the side and currently 6 Neon Tetra's present. (they werent in the tank as of yet when i took this pic)
