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Hello everyone!
Was just wondering a few suggestions.. I have a new aquarium (about 1 1/2 weeks old) with 3 tetras in it.. lemon tetra, and 2 cardinals..I have been adding live bacteria and the dechlor to treat the water.. I do water changes 2-3 times a week at 20%.. I tested my water today and the PH is normal at I think 7 but the ammonia levels were very high..like 3 I think it was or 1.5.. it was in between.. my fish are behaving okay, but sometimes they don't eat right away, but they swim quite a bit..but they kinda wiggle around real quickly..any suggestions on what I should do with water changes and getting my ammonia level down?
Thanks so much!
Renee

Cycling with those species of fish is likely to prove very difficult. Tetras in general seem to be pretty sensitive to any pollutants in the water, especially ammonia.

Unfortunately, the water changes several times a week is only prolonging the cycle, because when you take out that ammonia you are taking out the bacteria's food. The tetras, however, cannot take ammonia levels much higher than what they are already at. The constant exposure to the ammonia, due to the prolonged cycle, is stressing the fish out (that's what the "shimmying" behavior is from).

I suggest that you take back those tetras, and get some hardy fish like a few danios. What size is the tank, by the way? Generally you want to start out with one small fish for every ten gallons of water. So if you have a 30 gallon tank, you would want to get about three danios. You want to keep the bioload low for the first few weeks so the fish are never exposed to lethal levels of ammonia.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Cory Addict is correct. If you continue to change that much water, you will be stuck in a perpetual cycle. Every time you change a lot of water, you are removing things that are bad for your fish, but you're also removing things that the bacteria that need to grow.

Ammonia needs to be able to spike in order to set off the next phase of the cycle, which is a spike of Nitrites, and lastly, a spike of Nitrates. If you constantly inturrupt the growth process of the bacteria, the colonies they form could be weak, and you might experience another cycle when you add additional fish later on.

The fish you chose are not good fish for cycling an aquarium. If they do make it through the cycle, the stress on their bodies could make them more e to disease in the future. Cory's suggestion of Danios is a good one. Zebra Danios are really common, and are a nice looking fish as well. I am planning on getting a school eventually.

I highly recommend that you read a couple of articles located in the FAQ section of this website: "Nitrogen Cycle" and "Your First Freshwater Aquarium". They're very helpful, and would help you to understand what is actually happening in your aquarium when it is "cycling", as well as what you need to do to make the process a success.

I hope this helps. I am still learning myself, and get a lot of help here at FP. Welcome!

Kari

So basically you have to have high levels of ammonia for the cycling process to take place? Like at what level should the ammonia be at its highest? It was at 3 but I added some amquel because I was worried about it harming my fish.. then as the ammonia turns into nitrite, the ammonia and nitrite levels gradually goes down and then that is the end of the process?
Just wanting to clarify!

Did you read the articles in the FAQ section? If not, please give them a look. They are very helpful. In the article for the Nitrogen cycle, there is a graph which can help you to visualize how the cycle happens.

Yes, the ammonia levels need to spike if you want to have a healthy aquarium. The term "cycling" is the process of beneficial bacteria converting ammonia into nitrates. The end result is a biological ecosystem in your aquarium, which your fish need to have established. These bacteria need to follow a process in order to complete the cycle, and spikes in ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are all a part of that.

I think these are your best options right now:

1. You can leave your fish in there and let the aquarium cycle. Please don't add any more chemicals to your water, as they are just inturrupting the cycle. If you add anything, get a product called Bio Spira. It isn't meant to be relied on to cycle a tank, but I think at this point it couldn't hurt to try use it that way. If you can't find it, look for Cycle.
I don't know if your fish will survive the cycle, or what condition they will be in afterward.
If you do this, it should be okay to do a small water change each week....like 10% or so, but don't do 20% water changes 2 or 3 times per week. Again, by doing that you are destroying the colonies of beneficial bacteria, which you need to have in the aquarium.

2. You can check on taking your fish back to the LFS, and you can either buy Danios to cycle the aquarium, or you can do a fishless cycle. A fishless cycle doesn't rely on fish for ammonia, hence, they are not put through the potentially harmful process. You can do it by adding ammonium chloride, or tossing a few raw shrimp (tied up in a piece of stocking) into the aquarium and leaving them until the cycle is complete. When an aquarium is cycling you must do water tests every day, and keep a record of the test results so that you can make sure the cycle is progressing as it should.
After the cycle is complete (this is after you've had spikes of ammonia, nitrite, and rising nitrate; and when ammonia and nitrite levels are back to zero. At this point nitrates will most likely be high, and you'll need to do a water change of about 50%), I'd add fish back into the aquarium in very small numbers, so that you don't set off a mini-cycle (which would happen if there was not enough beneficial bacteria to sustain the load).

I can't emphasize enough how important it is to be well informed about water quality. I know this now because not so long ago I knew absolutely nothing. Please read up on the Nitrogen Cycle, as well as general water quality info. Maintaining good water quality is probably the most important part of this hobby. Everything can fall apart if the water quality is bad.

Kari

Edit: At what temp are you keeping your aquarium? If your fish can live at 80 degrees, you might consider doing that because bacteria like warmer temps; and it might speed up the cycle a little bit.

Oh I didn't realize that.. thanks a lot! I have it at between 78-80..well my heater is set at like 78 but its showing on the thermometer as between the two.. so I hope that helps.
Also, I figured that if you keep on doing water changes, all the bacterial will go which isn't good.. I just added some amquel because I thought that the ammonia was way too high,.. I mean it was going even a little over 3 which is high toxic and that was only after like a week which I've heard cycling takes 4-6 weeks so I was a bit worried.. but I checked the readings and they are all okay, but I guess I have to expect spike in ammonia, nitrite, and then nitrates when the ammonia and nitrites go down to zero? Plus what is the "spike" readings expected to be for the ammonia and nitrites?

Hi,
As indicated in previous posts - read the FAQ part about
cycling the tank. It has the complete description of
the cycle and has graphs that will describe the "spikes"
that you ask about. Actually it is more of a sine wave,
but spikes are an OK description as well.
As to how high the readings should go, that depends upon
your fish and what is going on within the tank and what
you are doing to the tank during that time.
Specifically, the ammonia can reach 6 or a little higher
and the nitrites can exceed 10 while cycling a new tank.
That is why "hardy" fish are recommended for cycling
and, why most will do a fishless cycle.

Frank


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