Ammonia Just Went Up!

[quantumnerd]

I got around .25-1 ppm ammonia in my tank.
(The api test kit's midrange colors look EXACTLY the same)
Haven't tested for nitrate yet, but I did a vac-'n-water change, and lo and behold. My gravel, even after being vacced twice, is filthy with fish poop!
What do I do? Keep feeding my fish low amounts of food, and wait for the readings to drop?
Or should I take the high road, more fish food, in an effort to give the bacteria more food?

Thanks guys!

(I'm sure glad I have a 29 gallon. Water changes keep my arms in a permanent state of sore. 'twould be hard to imagine changing water on a 55 gallon!)

 

[quantumnerd]

Test results just came in: my ph is a relatively neutral 6.6

 

[mdk2424]

good luck, i am in the same boat with my 29 gal but i am in the 5 th week but thanks to this site and people like waterdrop & others which helped me get on track with a lot of good info.
GOOD LUCK.

 

[waterdrop]

In a Fish-In cycle you want to "baby" your fish, not your bacteria! Don't overfeed the fish, feed them lightly.

If you've got a reading of as high as 1ppm ammonia, you are way too high. I would start with a 70% water change (with conditioner and rough temperature matching) and re-measure your stats an hour after the water change. If the ammonia still isn't below 0.25ppm, then, since its been an hour since the previous one, I would do another 50% water change. This should get you below 0.25. From then on you will need to test at least daily, preferably twice, and adjust your daily 50% water changes either up or down in percentage and/or frequency such that you can maintain ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm.

Remind us of the tank volume and number of inches of fish body?

It always amazes people how much debris is in the gravel of their "new" tank. Think of all the hours when you are -not- watching the tank! This is why good maintenance habits are so important. Gravel vaccing each weekend is much better than every two weeks for a beginner's new habit. Gently cleaning the filter media in tank water once each month is a much better starting habit for a beginner than less frequent. Once you get experienced, you may end up choosing to adjust these differently but for the beginning, these good and frequent habits are the safest way to start I think.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Schmill]

I'd be tempted to completely stop feeding the fish.
The general info on this site says that fish can go without food for a week, and that might help you get your ammonia under control (in conjunction with the water changes), as there will be no excess food, and no excess poop.
It can depend what fish you have in the tank though, as some fish might get a bit nippy without food...

 

[petertr]

If I was to do a fish-in cycle, I would probably feed the fish no more than every other day. Maybe even 1 in 3.

 

[OldMan47]

The fact that fish can survive with a poor food supply does not make it good for the fish. What it does is make it possible to withhold food for short periods when you must. The entire time required to cycle a tank is too long to just withhold half of the food the fish need. By the same token, if you are going to make a mistake on how much to feed an adult fish, you are better to err on the low side than the high side.

 

[quantumnerd]

I'm gonna stick with feeding them once every two days.
I have about five inches of fish in there... maybe more, maybe less. I just assume all the fish are an inch long.
And the master api test kit is confusing in the range of .25 ppm to 1 ppm. All the colors look the same.