Do I Need To Test For Ammonia

[Fawah40]

Hi all,

New to the hobby and enjoying it throughly, I have learned a lot from lurking on the site, AFTER I got the tank and my fish I learned about fishless cycling . Luckily I know enough not to get too many fish all at once; lost 1 out of 7 and that was the very next day so I think he was sick to begin with.

Anyway, its been exactly 3 weeks. I've had 5 fish (2 Mickey Mouse and 3...tetras, got them 1st? (silver with 2 black stripes ~1 inch long) 2 mystery snails and a bamboo shrimp all in for a week.

When I started the tank I added the starter chemicals that came with the tank and put 3 fish in, later getting the Mickey's and snails/shrimp. 2 weeks into it as expected the Nitrite levels rose, 3 days ago the reading was 3.0 ppm per my test strips made by Jungle (Quick Dip). I kept doing my water changes everyday for 4 days straight, kept testing, cut back on feeding (kids didn't like that, they love to feed) everyone seemed happy, never got above 3.0. The Nitrite went from 3.0 to 1.0 over-night and is now 0.

Never thought I'd get so excited about bacteria growth.

20 US gallon tank
Nitrate is almost 0
I have a moss ball and 2 Java ferns.
Hardness between 75-150 (gh) ppm (hard to tell with the strips).
Chlorine (NA I live in the mountains and have a 300' deep well, better not be chlorine in it (its 0)
Alkalinity 120-180
PH 7.2-7.8
#
To my questions, do I need to test for ammonia (thes strips I have don't do it)? If my nitrite went up and then down to 0 does that mean my cycle is complete (again 3 week old 20 gallon tank).

From what I understand from the cycle it's ammonia first then the bacteria to eat that makes the nitrite then the bact to eat that makes nitrate. So if I have no nitrite then I should have no ammonia right?

I ask because I see people posting they have 0 nitrite but some ammonia/sick fish and test for it. No one is sick, they all look great just wondering if I need to blow more cash on something that tests for ammonia.

Thanks for reading my long winded post.

 

[KittyKat]

Firstly, ammonia and nitrite over 0.25 ppm is toxic to fish. Yours most definitely has been over for both, so your fish are very likely to have health problems in the future. The usual advice is that as soon as either gets close to 0.25 ppm, do a 50% water change to bring it down well below.

Test strips are very inaccurate, for the most part they are only useful as a "yes or no" indicator. This is why everyone here will recommend a liquid kit.

You should have no ammonia now, that is correct.

But about the test kit? I would definitely say you need a liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH as you have already had two spikes which didn't do your fish and good. You will be adding more fish later, so that's one reason to have them, another is that you are likely to have problems in the future and will need to know what is causing them.

As for the fish, are the three zebra danios by any chance? If they are, you should swap them for something else because the danios should have at least a 3 ft tank to be happy. Danios, tetras, rasboras, barbs (avoid barbs, usually nasty buggers) and Corys are all schooling fish so should be kept in groups of 6+. You should consider replacing the danios with 6 harlequin rasboras or 6 cardinal tetras, for example.
The platys, figure out how to sex them (males have gonopodium, females have anal fins) and you should keep either all of one sex or 2+ females per male because otherwise the males will harass the females to death. By the way, the platys will breed readily, so don't be surprised by any babies

 

[KittyKat]

p.s. as you are a beginner, I will recommend keeping a bottle of anti-fungal/bacteria medication and anti-ich medication at hand. I would very highly recommend eSHa 2000 for the first (I know it is expensive, but is so much more effective than anything else and is measured out in drops, not cap-fulls anyway) and I have heard good things about the Sera anti-whitespot medication. I keep these two bottles at all times, even though I have never had to deal with whitespot (aka ich or ick) and only use the eSHa as a precaution when my fish fight.

 

[Fawah40]

Firstly, ammonia and nitrite over 0.25 ppm is toxic to fish. Yours most definitely has been over for both, so your fish are very likely to have health problems in the future. The usual advice is that as soon as either gets close to 0.25 ppm, do a 50% water change to bring it down well below.

Test strips are very inaccurate, for the most part they are only useful as a "yes or no" indicator. This is why everyone here will recommend a liquid kit.

You should have no ammonia now, that is correct.

But about the test kit? I would definitely say you need a liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH as you have already had two spikes which didn't do your fish and good. You will be adding more fish later, so that's one reason to have them, another is that you are likely to have problems in the future and will need to know what is causing them.

As for the fish, are the three zebra danios by any chance? If they are, you should swap them for something else because the danios should have at least a 3 ft tank to be happy. Danios, tetras, rasboras, barbs (avoid barbs, usually nasty buggers) and Corys are all schooling fish so should be kept in groups of 6+. You should consider replacing the danios with 6 harlequin rasboras or 6 cardinal tetras, for example.
The platys, figure out how to sex them (males have gonopodium, females have anal fins) and you should keep either all of one sex or 2+ females per male because otherwise the males will harass the females to death. By the way, the platys will breed readily, so don't be surprised by any babies

Thank you for the information on some common diseases and cures, will get the liquid test kit when the strips are gone. I only had that one spike in Nitrite, I managed to keep it just under 3 ppm w/ water changes and now its 0.
Everyone seems very happy, no gasping at the top, fins are up, no spots/sores on them. They eat like I haven't fed them in weeks

No they aren't Zebra's, will have to look next time I goto Petsmart; I just asked for hardy fish to start to the tank off. Was told they would not get any bigger then 1.5 inches.

I was also told for schooling fish @ least 3 is the minimum, is it 6? I already have 9 critters in the tank; I definately do not want to tax the system with too much when I just got my nitrite to 0.

 

[KittyKat]

I only had that one spike in Nitrite, I managed to keep it just under 3 ppm w/ water changes and now its 0.
Everyone seems very happy, no gasping at the top, fins are up, no spots/sores on them. They eat like I haven't fed them in weeks

Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean that there is no damage. Seriously, ammonia and nitrite over 0.25 ppm will have long term effects on fish, including shorter life spans (which you might only find out about in 5+ years for example) and very often they are more susceptible to disease.

No they aren't Zebra's, will have to look next time I goto Petsmart; I just asked for hardy fish to start to the tank off. Was told they would not get any bigger then 1.5 inches.

It would be very interesting to know what they are...

I was also told for schooling fish @ least 3 is the minimum, is it 6?

6+ is a school, 3 is a good excuse for one to beat up the other two.

I already have 9 critters in the tank; I definately do not want to tax the system with too much when I just got my nitrite to 0.

Ammonia is much more toxic to fish, you should have been more worried about that.
A 20 gallon tank will easily take more fish, but be careful when you add them: a fish-in cycled tank that size can usually handle only 1-2 new fish per week. You really should not add any more though until you can test for ammonia.

 

[Fawah40]

I only had that one spike in Nitrite, I managed to keep it just under 3 ppm w/ water changes and now its 0.
Everyone seems very happy, no gasping at the top, fins are up, no spots/sores on them. They eat like I haven't fed them in weeks

Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean that there is no damage. Seriously, ammonia and nitrite over 0.25 ppm will have long term effects on fish, including shorter life spans (which you might only find out about in 5+ years for example) and very often they are more susceptible to disease.

No they aren't Zebra's, will have to look next time I goto Petsmart; I just asked for hardy fish to start to the tank off. Was told they would not get any bigger then 1.5 inches.

It would be very interesting to know what they are...

I was also told for schooling fish @ least 3 is the minimum, is it 6?

6+ is a school, 3 is a good excuse for one to beat up the other two.

I already have 9 critters in the tank; I definately do not want to tax the system with too much when I just got my nitrite to 0.

Ammonia is much more toxic to fish, you should have been more worried about that.
A 20 gallon tank will easily take more fish, but be careful when you add them: a fish-in cycled tank that size can usually handle only 1-2 new fish per week. You really should not add any more though until you can test for ammonia.

Thanks for cont to update my post and no I will not get more then 1-2 a week.
Will find out what exactly I have and maybe get some recommendations on additions; I don't need a ton of fish in it, wouldh rather under stock and have them be happy/healthy.

Thanks again