Api Test Purchased

[Gillette1985]

I've just gone and bought the AVI water test kit.

Can someone please give me an idea how my water is on my results please?

Ph 7.6
Ammonia 2.0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate just below 5ppm

are these readings any good?

 

[fluffycabbage]

No - your ammonia must be zero at all times. You need to do as full a water change as possible (eg 90%) immediately. If you dont your fish will be poisoned, simply put. Make sure you use dechlorinated water. Do you have dechlorinator?

 

[Gillette1985]

yeh i use dechlorinator every water change
what causes the ammonia?
i'll do a water change straight away

 

[BigIan]

the ammonia is caused by fish waste, here is a usefull link to explain about it.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=271928


and heres a usefull link to explain about cycleing your tank

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=175355

 

[Gillette1985]

can i just overcome this then by doing daily water changes? i've just done a 30% change.
im supprised on how few fish can produce such an amount of ammonia

from what im reading then, im still in the tank cycling period. from those readings, can you tell how far into it i am?

 

[BigIan]

yep daily testing and water changes are the way to control your ammonia during cycling, id test your water agaon and do another water change to try and keep the ammonia below 0.25ppm

 

[Gillette1985]

how long after a WC should i wait to test it again? wont the constant WC cause stress to the fish?

 

[BigIan]

not as much as the ammonia. ammonia burns there gills and can cause other problems.

you can limit the stress by warming the water to the same temp as your tank before adding it.

testing can be done almost instantly

 

[Gillette1985]

just done 2 ammonia tests, both around reading 1.0ppm
should i do another WC and test again?

 

[BigIan]

yep the magic number your looking for is 0.25 or bellow.

have a look at the thread of members willing to donate media, this will speed up your cycle.

 

[Gillette1985]

just done another 30% WC, so we'll see what the test comes back as

 

[elisew]

how long after a WC should i wait to test it again? wont the constant WC cause stress to the fish?

As fluffy suggested, a 90% wc would have brought the readings down lower, quicker and there wouldn`t even need to be a consideration of the fish getting stressed by continuous wc`s. Did you see the reply you got from fluffycabbage?

Fingers crossed your readings will be lower again after the most recent wc

 

[Gillette1985]

current reading still 1.0ppm

 

[BigIan]

do a large water change 75% or more, that should brng the levels down.

could you tell us more about your tank? what size it is, filter, what fish are in there, and how long its been running.

 

[Gillette1985]

its the fluval edge, 23 litres with the edge filter. been set up for 3 weeks. i've got 5 neon tetra, 3 male guppies and 6 cherry shrimp. the guppies and shrimp only been added today, neons been in for 2 weeks.

There was me thinking the water was ok as i have been using the strips last 2 weeks