Hello. I am new to fish keeping.

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August Vukosovich

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To make a very long story shorter. I bought a 5 gallon tank. I was told by the employee there to put water conditioner in it then wait 24 hours before adding fish. So that's what i did. I added 2 male guppies and 3 female guppies along with a bottom feeder called cat fish something or other. I has no idea it was over stocked. I did some research and bought an API Master test kit. The ammonia was high at .50ppm and the nitrites were at 5.0ppm by day 5! I was confused and started to research. That's when i became upset. There were too many fish too soon. The males started to die off one by one. I got a ten gallon and transferred the bio filter to it for 24 hours. I primed the water and put them in the ten gallon. I lost the last male amd thats when i decided to come to your forums. I felt like i killed 3 pretty male guppies. More and more research and learned about water changes which i have been doing. In the new tank i now have .25 ammonia and .25 nitrites with 5.0 nitrate. What should i do now please and thank you.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

The following link has information about cycling an aquarium. You will be doing a fish in cycle and I will explain about that below.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

Anything that breaks down in water, be it fish food, fish waste, dead fish, dead plants, will produce ammonia. Ammonia builds up in the water and poisons fish, shrimp, crabs, snails or anything that lives in the water.

Over a period of time you get beneficial bacteria that grow in the filter and they eat the ammonia and convert it into nitrite. A few weeks after that and you get more beneficial bacteria that grow in the filter and these eat nitrite and convert it into nitrate. When there are enough good bacteria in the filter to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at 0, the filter is considered cycled. This process normally takes about 4-6 weeks but can take longer.

Because ammonia is caused by fish food and waste breaking down in the water, the best thing to do is reduce feeding to 2-3 times per week. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding to reduce any ammonia caused by the food. You should also monitor the aquarium water and do a 75% water change any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Don't worry about the fish starving during this time. Unlike mammals that need to eat to stay warm, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding environment (the water). This means any food they eat is used to grow and to move. This allows fish to go for weeks or even months without food and not die from starvation. Feeding the fish 2-3 times per week helps keep the ammonia levels low but still provides enough food to keep the fish healthy.

Once the filter has cycled, you can feed the fish more often and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.

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During the first month of a tank's cycle, you monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels. You normally get ammonia readings for the first few weeks. The ammonia goes up and as the beneficial filter bacteria build up in numbers they gradually convert the ammonia into nitrite. After a few weeks the ammonia level will suddenly drop to 0 and the nitrite will start to go up. A couple of weeks later the nitrite levels drop to 0 and the nitrates start to go up. You get rid of nitrates by doing water changes.

During the cycling period you do not test for nitrates until the ammonia and nitrite have gone up and come back down to 0. Nitrate test kits will read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading. So you monitor ammonia during the first few weeks and then start monitoring nitrite as well. Once they have both gone up and come down to 0, you start monitoring nitrate.

When you buy test kits, try to get liquid test kits rather than dry paper strips. The liquid kits are more accurate.

Do not buy test kits that are kept in a warm room or near a heat source or window because heat will cause the chemicals in the kits to break down faster. Check the expiry date on them too.

When you get the test kits home, keep them in a cool dry place away from sunlight. I kept mine in an icecream bucket in the bottom of the fridge.

*NB* Make sure children and animals can't get the test kits because the chemicals are pretty toxic.

*NB* Wash your hands with soapy water after doing water tests.

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The information about buying test kits also applies to buying fish medications. But do not buy fish medications unless the fish is sick and you know what is causing the problem. Most fish health issues are caused by poor water quality and doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate each day for a week will normally fix most issues.

The following link has info about fish health and what to do if your fish gets sick. It is pretty long and boring but worth knowing. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help you fall asleep.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/#post-3804819

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Do not clean the new filter for the first 6-8 weeks. This allows the filter bacteria a chance to settle in properly and stick to the filter media. Two weeks after the filters have finished cycling, you can start to clean the filter.

Established filters should be cleaned at least once a month and every 2 weeks is better.

To clean a power filter or internal sponge/ box filter. You get a bucket of water from the aquarium and squeeze the filter materials out in the bucket of tank water. When they are clean you put them in the aquarium. Wash/ rinse the filter case and impellor assembly (for a power filter) under tap water. Remove any excess tap water by tipping the filter case upside down, then put the filter materials back into the filter and set it back up and get it going.

If you have an undergravel filter, that will be cleaned when you do water changes and gravel clean the substrate. You can buy a basic model gravel cleaner from any pet shop and they are worth getting. You only need a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link. Do not buy the expensive fancy types because they are no better than a base model gravel cleaner.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

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If you get any sick fish, start a new thread and post pictures of them.
 

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