Having Problems With My Tanks

[Mr&Mrs Newb McFish]

hi all over the last week i have been having high spikes of ammonia and nitrite in my main tank, i have done water changes everyday and cleaned the gravel at the same time but it only seems to go down to AMMONIA 0.25 AND NITRITE 0.25.

the main tank is a 60l and has 3 dalmatian mollies , 2 guppies and 2 neon tetras it has been up and running now for 7 weeks

do i just keep doing the water changes or is there anything else i can do.

2 of my mollies are pregnant and if the dates are right from the last drop i had they are due to drop very very soon will the spikes affect them dropping or the fry.

also having the same problem with my fry tank but this one wasn't set up before the fry came along its only a 8l and the 4 molly fry seem happy in there but the levels are really high and we keep changing the water cleaning the gravel we do daily checks of the water and the levels just don't move.

the fry are 4 weeks old now and 3 of them are really big and one just doesn't seem to grow at all

 

[OldMan47]

You are having a problem that is all too common with new fish keepers. You failed to cycle the tank the way we would have suggested here on TFF and are now faced with a fish-in cycle. That is not the end of the world but does make your job a bit harder. What I would suggest is even larger water changes than you have been doing to get things better than a mere 0.25 ppm each day. That is what you want as the worst condition that your fish ever see, not the best they ever see. After a short time, less than another month in most cases, you will find that the ammonia and nitrites are taking care of themselves and you can back off the water changes to a more typical 30% each week or even a bit less. Something that you can do while chasing the ammonia problems is to reduce the amount that you are feeding. Food eventually becomes waste and feeding the minimum that your fish really need, put them on a weight loss diet, will reduce the amount of ammonia produced.

 

[KAISER]

May I ask what make your 60l tank is?

 

[Mr&Mrs Newb McFish]

it a juwel

 

[KAISER]

I was just wondering because at seven weeks in you should have finished the cycle, not have it just starting. I know with the Hagen elite tanks, the filters have zeolite in them which stops the cycle from taking place for a while then it suddenly happens a couple of months in when the zeolite can no longer accept any more ammonia. I have no idea if such a thing would be present in a Juwel filter tho...

 

[omega59]

I agree do 90% water changes daily until it is good, and hold back on the feeding. Another thing that may help is to remove a fish alternating as you change the water it will help reduce waste. You can also try getting mature media perhaps your shop there sells them or can give you a sqeez in a bucket so you can mix your sponge in the water.