I could really use some help. I'm going to try to keep the story short so it isn't such a long read. I got my son a dwarf puffer fish in a 5 gallon tank for his birthday knowing nothing about aquariums (pet store said it would be fine!). Naturally, it died from ammonia poisoning about a month ago since the tank wasn't cycled. In the meantime, someone gave us a betta. It is in a vase right now, but I would like to put it in the 5 gallon. I haven't changed the water in the 5 gallon since the puffer died because I was hoping to cycle the tank. I have been monitoring the conditions and the ammonia is slowly increasing (it's at 1.5 ppm today). Nitrate and Nitrite are at zero. PH is 6.0 or lower. It has a heater and stays at 77 degrees. A fliter has been running on it (the carbon insert hasn't been changed in 5 weeks). When I initially set the tank up, I added Stability for 7 days to help kick start the cycle, aquarium salt, and Prime water conditioner. A few weeks into it, I added PH up. After talking with 3 different pet stores now, they all tell me to do a complete water change and throw the betta in. They seem to know nothing about cycling a tank, though. They all look at me like they have never heard of such a thing; hence the reason my puffer died! I realize that there is a huge difference in caring for a betta and caring for a puffer, but I was also hoping to put some other compatible fish in with the betta, which is why I want to cycle the tank. I noticed today that there is some fuzzy growth on one of the ornaments in the tank, which makes me think that is a good thing. I would like to know from some experienced aquarist if I should do a complete water change and just put the betta in or if I should wait out the cycle. How much longer would it take? It's already been about 5 weeks since the last water change and I feel like I'm getting no where.
Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this!
Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this!