Question re water changes

[DogFish]

I have a 2.5 gal minibow with one Betta in it. I started it 5 days ago. I did not cycle the tank. (I will definitely cycle any other tank I get because now I am so attached to this fish I don't want anything to happen to him!!)
Yesterday I checked the water for the first time, the ammonia was around .25 - .5 and nitrites 0. The water smelled mildly of ammonia. I panicked and changed about 40% of the water. I checked it again today and it is pretty much the same. I have been reading posts, and am wondering if I should just be doing a 10-15% water change every day until the nitrites build up.

Question 2.
I have now got a bucket with water sitting in it. Can I just condition it, and let it sit, and use some of it with each water change. Does it "go bad". And then do a new bucket once a week or so? It is hard with such a small tank, to condition just a few litres of water.
Thanks!

 

[Bol]

The water changes probably wouldn't hurt, but it may lengthen the time of your cycle.

Out of curiosity, what dechlorinator do you use?

As for question 2, in my opinion, it probably wouldn't hurt to use that method, providing you go through the bucket in a week or so. It'd be better, I think, if you could somehow cover the bucket. Perhaps not airtight, but at least covered.

edit: for info, I use one-gallon milk jugs in the same way, for top-offs due to evaporation. One gallon is about the smallest volume I feel I can accurately measure the dechlorinator for.

 

[DogFish]

Thanks Bol. I just read that I don't need to worry about the ammonia level unless it gets over 1 ? Is that right?


And I threw a bag loosely over the top of the bucket. Good Idea. I will see if I can find a 1 gal container with a lid that I can use, it would be easier to tuck it away somewhere than this bucket.
Thanks!

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Dogfish

Ammonia burns the fish even at levels below one, it's just minor and you can't see it, but continued exposier is doing damage whether you see it or not.

The first priority should be the fish and not the cycle, so do as much in the way of water changes as you need to to keep the ammonia as close to 0 as possible. Water changes of 50% will not harm the fish if the temperature is similar, I do it all the time.

If you use dechlorinators there is no reason to 'age' the water, since they work instantaneously, but it shouldn't do any harm either.

 

[Bol]

Personally, I get concerned whenever I see any ammonia, but I have larger tanks, and 2.5 gallon tanks have many more "burps" than larger ones.

Again, I would ask what dechlorinator you use. I ask this because I'm pretty sure that if ...

a) your water supply contains chloramines (sometimes used for water treatment), and
B) you're using a dechlor product that only neutralizes chlorine (and not chloramines), then

your dechlorinator will strip the chlorine from the chloramines, and you end up testing positive for ammonia.

 

[DogFish]

I have AquaSafe (Tetra) which is what I have been using. I also put Stress Zyme in the first time. I also have Stress Coat which I have not used. All came with the package that I bought. I havn't bought a bottle of anything else.
Are these good products Bol?
I would think that I have ammonia in there, simply because I can smell it. Right?

Thank you thecichlidaddict I am going to do more water changes. I worry about Nemo.

 

[Bol]

Tetra AquaSafe is a good product. It also happens to remove chloramines, so that shoots the chloramine idea down. By the way, for info, I'm pretty sure that AquaSafe is basically the same as Marineland Bio-Safe and Kordon AmQuel (if so, the active ingredient will be called 'Sodium hydroxymethane sulfanate' or 'Sodium hydroxymethand sulfunic acid').

Personally, I think Stress Zyme is near worthless, but it shouldn't hurt.

Stress Coat is also a dechlorinator (and chloramine neutralizer), but adds the benefit of helping to enforce the slime coat on fish. It is usually recommended when transferring (netting, bagging) fish, and when fish have wounds.

And, no, I don't think a concentration of 0.5 ppm ammonia would be noticeable by smell. I could be wrong.

 

[DogFish]

I just re-read the packaging, and I see that AquaSafe neutralizes chloramine and chlormine both.
I was planning on buying AquaPlus by Hagen when the samples run out.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

You only need one of the dechlorinators, there is no point in using both. Dechlorinator is the only additive that you need.

 

[DogFish]

Thank you for the help. I went through the stuff I picked up and I have a small bottle of StressCoat. That and the samples are the only conditioner (chlorine remover) I have. I think I will pick up a bottle of AquaSafe (not AquaPlus) because the sampler isn't very big. I will keep the stress coat for new fishies, or sick fishies.
I will do up to 50% water changes to keep the ammonia level down, and watch and wait for it to cycle.
Thanks.