water testing

trreherd

i went to the fish store and the guy said i only needed amonia nad nitrite so thats what i bought.How do i know when my tank is cycled?The amonia was hard to tell but i think it was 0.25-0.50ppms and as far is i could tell the nitrite was near zero the tank has been running for a week with a snail does that sound rite.I bought three neon tetras and a snail at the stoer the guy said i need them to cycle my tank.

crazie.eddie

(Message deleted by poster)

Nick

You should of just bought the master test kit because you will need ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and gh or kh...and also Neon Tetra's are not hardy enough to cycle a tank at all. If they are in there now than I'm sorry but expect them to die. I would get some Platy's/zebra danios/ or mollies.


Nick

trreherd

what exactly will kill the tetras?/amonia nitrite nitrate what?is there anything i can do about it?

trreherd

also while cycling the tank what kind of matanece should i perform and how often?

willow

hi
to protct the lives of you fish,as your tank goes through
the cycle,you can preform small water changes,but Please
don't touch your filter as that is where your bacteria is growing :)
once your tank has cycled then you can have a maintainance
of filter cleaning once a month,remembering never to wash
anything in Tap water,and never replace all filter material at one time,as this Will kill your bacteria that has grown.(you will have to re-cycle)
amonia burns the gills of the fish,and nitrIte poissons them
(if i'm wrong here i am sorry)
you can watch the fish for Red gills,also gasping at the top of the tank
that's a couple of signs that they are suffering.
if you have a friend with a tropical set up,you could always ask if they could spare a filter pad,as that would help your tank. :)

trreherd

thank you very much lainey i just did i parcial water change in an atempt to lower amonia but it dident do much does anyone know what amount of amonia is harmful to fish-will carbon lower amonia?

trreherd

also my causin has a non heated tank with a betta in it can i use that fillter media or will the bacteria die in the warmth of my tank

willow

hi
i would have thought that the warm water
would help the bacteria.
i would give it a go,there won't be much bacteria on the pad as
he only has the Betta,however filter goo,is filter goo at the end
of the day,and anything to help you and your fish is good.
Thank heavens for friends. :)
don't know if you know this or not(sorry if you do)
but don't forget to use de-chlorinater when you do a water change.
any Amonia i'm affraid is not good,however water changes
will dilute it at least.

trreherd

my dad is going to take me to petsmart tomarrow to buy a amonia detox it makes amonia safe for fish but the amonia still gets consumed by the bacteria so its a win win situation :D