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HELP! What do i do... i did a 25% water change about 4 hours ago... all other readings:
PH: 6.8
KH: 120
GH: 200
Nitires: 0
Nitrates 40

What should i do? I just added some ace to it... what else should i do other than the 25% water change and ace? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. oh yeah... it's a 10 gallon with 4 2" mollys 3 half" corys and 1 pleco.... and 11 fry... i need help bad

The tank seems kind of small for your fish load, even being generous about the size of the pleco and the fry. Come to think of it, I didn't think there existed a pleco that could comfortably swim in a 10-gallon tank at adult size.

Is the tank cycled? What's the most recent addition to the tank, and when did you add that fish? How are you feeding the fry?

The tank is cycled. I added 3 corys and the pleco today... and the fry are barely 1/2 an inch each. cories are 1" and the pleco is 2". I am feeding my fry frozen bbs and crushed up flake food. We have a 30 gallon filter on the 10 gallon so the water is crystal clear and everything else is fine... what is going on?

He's already answered you - I know the stocking may seem okay, but crystal clear water means nothing, and if your ammonia is at 3, that's a pretty unmistakeable sign something is wrong. Do a series of water changes until you can get it down, but some of those fish are going to need to move out.

-Molly
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I'm getting rid of the fry ASAP. thats about all i can say right now *sighs*

The new fish are probably the reason why your ammonia has spiked.

What type of Pleco is it?

I wouldn't keep any type of Pleco in a 10 gallon.

-- Gomer

Could be have a mini-cycle due to the fish that were added. Even with the larger filter on that 10 gal there is only after all 10 gallons of water. Larger tanks are more forgiving when adding stock and the amount of ammonnia released by the fish, over feeding and etc. is dilluted due the larger volume of water. The water may look crystal clear, but so is ammonia. Like everyone before me said you need a larger tank, but don't we all.

I have a larger tank... just no means to actually have the money to set it up.... no stand... etc...... ahhhhhhhh... and i have a total different plan for it... i don't know what i'm gonna do... maybe get rid of the 2 pregnant mollys and the fry when they get old enough and keep the 2 small mollys and 3 cories... and the pleco i plan on getting rid of when he's too big anyways... my lfs is always looking for large plecos from there customers... anyways... yeah... water change in a sec

clown pleco gomer?

The reason why i would not keep any sort of Pleco in a 10 gallon is the fact that they are known poop machines, and will dirty up a small tank quite quickly.

djprincessx what type of Pleco is it you have?

The reason why you have this ammonia spike is most likely because you have added an extra source of ammonia to the tank (i.e. the new fish) and the bacterial colonies are in the minimal numbers to turn over the amount of ammonia produced by the inhabitants of the tank before you got these new fish. The bacteria at the moment are like a post office swamped with letters. They just don't have the numbers to deal with the demand.

The ammonia should settle again within a few days. On another note, your pH is only 6.8 which means that the ammonia is partially in its less-toxic form as the ammonium ion, and this is a good thing.

Your tank is potentially overstocked, and by potentially i mean at the moment it is not overstocked in regards to the bioload, but as those fry mature, and the fish grow, you will be greatly overstocked.

My advice is, pick out one male Molly you like, and two female Molly's which you like, keep them. Keep the corys, and take the fry back to the LFS once they have grown abit larger, and are suitable sizes to be sold for the LFS. Maybe you could get a little bit of store credit, or trade them for abit of fish food or something. Also take the Pleco back, especially if it is a common pleco, or other large growing species. Even if it is a smaller species like a Bristlenose, they will be cramped in a 10 gallon when older, and will probably have stunted growth.

-- Gomer

[span class="edited"][Edited by Gomer 2004-08-18 01:27][/span]

I already have the male outta the tank and plan on giving back the mollies after they are done having there 6 months of babies.. or even maybe before then.. i don't know... and with the pleco.. he is just common and i let him grow in my tank until he's too big and then i put him in the 29 til he's too big and then give him back to the lfs for store credit for something cooler since there main source of large common plecos are customers... and the corys are going nowhere... wish i knew what kind they were though... bought the suckers at walmart as an asst. cory.... great huh? wish i could take pics... and pls don't slap me for buying fish at wal-mart

I might be barking at the wrong tree her but can I ask what kind of water conditioner you use? The reason is that some types like AmQuel when used will give a false positive reading for ammonnia.

You also haven't mentioned that any fish are suffering so I am assuming that they are all acting okay?

yeah... amquel was used in the tank... but it was also used in my other tank which gave a reading for ammonia of .5 so i think it;s the tank... but the fish seem to be acting normal.

Amquel only gives a false positive for ammonia when it actually locks up ammonia, and in this case it's only regarded as a "false positive" because Amquel-locked ammonia isn't toxic. If you started with distilled/RO water (no chloramine) and added Amquel then ammonia should still read zero.

The Amquel might be preventing the ammonia from poisoning the fish, but there's still no question that there's an ammonia problem in the tank.

I know... i keep on doing 25% water changes... already did one today... might do one later...