All Of The Things I Dont Want To Have Spiked Since Putting In Some Fis

[Randi]

I would stop rinsing your filter sponges. Let them get good and nasty until your water is stable. At that point you can clean them by swishing them around in the water you removed, but don't squeeze them.

 

[KnC]

Update!!

We did a 50% change last night which is where I ran off to!

Todays test results are much better.
Nitrite & Nitrate are both at 0
Ammonia is still present between 0.5 and 1 but thats better than the 2.0 is was yesterday!!!

Although I have used the ammo lock earlier in the week I'm expecting there to still be ammonia showing on the results until the water changes have got rid of it... Or the filter? I'm assuming thats correct?

Another water change tonight and a fasting day for the fishes as they have eaten much more than they need if the size of the eye is what we need to go by!!

I did not know about that!

Straight after last nights water change another of our Neon tetras died! I'm not sure why this is! Is it possible that they were poorly as all of the other fish seem to be quite happy??

 

[cascadingwaters]

Neon tetras sadly are the worst fish for a non cycled tank Infact most tetras are ment for cycled and matured tanks however glolight tetras and cardinals because they are the hardier of the tetra species. Good luck!!! Wishing you the best.

OH!!! Do you have live plants? If not you should consider java ferns and/or anubias nana. They are low light plants and any live plants will help the water chemistry.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Neons are fairly sensitive, and so the ammonia is probably what killed it.

 

[Caprichoso]

Hornwort is a great, cheap plant that grows like a weed and helps clean the water.

 

[KnC]

If only we had been told at the time we got them! We would have waited to get the tetras! When we got them we did say it was a new tank and asked if it would be a problem for them We do still have 1 that I can't see as showing any symptoms of upset, its lively and the colours are still vibrant. If we keep the chemicals down will it be ok?
Once we are properly cycled we can get a few more! I know they like lots of company in their natural environment!

We don't have any live plants in there just a couple of fake ones at the moment... We weren't planning on putting any live ones in for a while but we can see if the right ones are available locally

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Could I suggest doing a large water change. Just enough so the fish can swim in it.

As if the ammonia is at 1ppm (parts per million) a 50% water change will only bring it down to 0.5ppm. Which is still very harmful. What you need to be aiming for is ammonia rising no more than 0.25 between water changes.

So if you did a 90% water change with ammonia levels at 1ppm then it would bring it down to 0.1ppm.

Dont worry about it being stressful for the fish as swimming in toxic water is far worse, which you have already experianced.