Tank Cycling & Ammonia Poisoning

[bigcheed]

too be honest if your talking about that red bar that runs down his face it just looks like his natural markings to me. bettas can flush their colours depending on their mood. the fact that he may be a little stressed might be influencing his colouration. my female bettas flush quite noticeably when I feed them. my male is quite dark in colour so it isn't as noticeable. your fish is quite pale in comparison so I would imagine it would be more prominent. he would have to have been exposed to the ammonia for a while before burns developed on his skin. his gills would be red raw before any markings on the skin. his fins also look okay to me. he looks like a crown tail. the fins would melt away first as well. bettas are prone to fin rot. its usually the first indicator that they arnt happy.

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Oh thank you sooo much. That is a huge, huge relief. I am so glad he isn't burnt. 
 
I thought he might have been a crown tail. They are so pretty.
 
On another note - does anyone know if it is good to 'flare' your betta? I.e. put a mirror near them and get them to flare at their reflection? I've heard it's good exercise to do this for a minute or two a day, but I am not sure... is it actually bad and stressful for them?

 

[bigcheed]

its not something I do. you'll find he will flare at you given time. usually when he wants food.lol. drop a ping pong ball in the tank and watch him push it around for an hour a day. mine loves it. also the décor on your tank should give him places to explore. ornaments with caves or holes are good. live plants to swim in and around. bettas love to play hunt for food. mine loves squeezing through the roots of a large anubias in the tank. he loves lurking.lol

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Okay, here are my test results for today using API Master Kit:
 
PH - 7
Ammonia - .25ppm
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

 

[bigcheed]

okey dokey then. your tank is starting to cycle. the idea now is to keep the ammonia at 0.25 through regular water changes. test ammonia and nitrite every day. once the bacteria start to grow you will see a decline in the ammonia and an increase in nitrite. this is gonna shoot right up quickly as well. just keep water changing and testing. the nitrite will fall to zero very sharply. you should then test for nitrate. follow the api instuctions for this test to the letter. shake the hell out of bottle no2. optimum level is 10ppm or bellow. but 40ppm is considered acceptible. weekly water changes will help keep the nitrate level down. live plants will also help as they use nitrate for food. cycling your tank can be a test and sometimes seem to take forever. be patient and stick to the regimen. then you can begin to enjoy your fish.

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Day 2:
 
PH - 7.2
Ammonia - .5ppm
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
 
 
 
 
Thanks... I will keep at it!

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Results Day 3:
 
Ph - 7.2
Ammonia - .5
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

 

[the_lock_man]

the idea now is to keep the ammonia at 0.25 through regular water changes.

 
Below!!!!!!
 
The theoretical idea is to keep ammonia (and nitrite) at 0ppm on the tests, but people obviously have to eat, sleep, work, eat chocolate (or is that last one just me?), and can't be constantly testing and changing water, so the 0.25ppm is the practical upper limit. With your pH at 7.0, ammonia is reasonably toxic, so it is something that you need to keep a close eye on.

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Okay I'm kind of freaking out here
 
Each day I've changed the water about 50%.
 
Ammonia won't go down  
 
I just put in some API PH down, will that help?
 
I asked the guy at the aquarium store if I should get some Prime, and he said no, since I am already using API Stress Zyme + Stress Coat... but not so sure. Maybe I should get Prime?
 
I don't want to harm little Kasai

 

[the_lock_man]

Assuming you are checking the levels at roughly the same time every day, that just means that at the moment, the fish is producing as much ammonia as you are taking out - if you increase the proportion of water you are changing to 75%, you should see an improvement.
 
I personally hate pH chemicals. Whilst having a lower pH will decrease the toxicity of the ammonia (which is obviously a good thing), if you don't get things right, the pH can whizz back to its original level quickly. THis quick change, along with the consequent increase in toxicity of ammonia could easily kill your fish.
 
I think getting some Prime would be good - it temporarily detoxifies both ammonia and nitrite (I believe for about 48 hours), whilst still allowing the filter bacteria to use the ammonia to grow. Stress Coat doesn't do that.

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Okay thanks. I'll go to the store tomorrow and grab some prime.

It irks me that the guy at the aquarium didn't urge me to get it... I don't trust that place. They weren't very helpful or interested.

 

[the_lock_man]

Many LFS staff are not experts. They are just salaried employees working to live, not the other way around. To him Prime is a dechlorinator, as is Stresscoat so he thought he was saving you money. On that level he was right.

 

[bigcheed]

I apologize if my advice seems wrong. lock man is right your over all aim is to keep the ammonia down to zero. but in a cycling tank your never gonna get zero unless you change all the water. I simply meant to keep it at the lowest acceptable level during the cycling process. as for prime I can vouch for  its quality. best stuff you can get.

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Thanks both of you. I didn't get a chance to go to the LFS today. 
 
I tested again after a 75% water change;
 
pH - 7.4
Ammonia - .5ppm
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
 
It doesn't matter what I do

 

[Sophie]

How long are you leaving it after a water change until you test it?
If it's .5 then if you do a 50% water change it should be .25 - make sure you are following the instructions to the letter and shake the bottles like your life depends on it.
The ammonia test can be hard to read in different lighting. Try looking at it indoors, outdoors and in natural and artificial light, you might see a dramatic difference.
 
Agreed with TLM - Don't use pH products if you can help it, especially the liquids. The liquid is more likely to cause a pH crash than a buffering powder but even then, unless it's 100% necessary, don't bother. Your pH level is fine for the fish and when you do a water change, the pH will fluctuate repeatedly from you lowering it then replacing it with tap water. Fluctuations in pH and things like temperature can be more detrimental to the fish than you think.