Help!

[alstermania]

I set up my 5 gallon fluval chi, added ammonia and waited for it to cycle.It reached a spike and then decreased, and did so for 3 weeks. I then decided to add in a betta I bought on Aquabids. It was perfectly healthy, and had no frays on its tail. 2 weeks later ammonia levels suddently reached 4.0 and I saw that my betta had red spotting on his tail along with what seems the early stages of fin rot. I changed 70% of the water and got the level down to .50, which is still very high. What should I do? I don't want my betta to suffer and die....I am willing to buy any supplies recommended and don't mind doing 20-30% water changes daily till I see a drop in ammonia.
NOW_ ammonia-.50 ph-6.8
haven't checked for nirite or nitrate
Please help!

 

[fluttermoth]

You need to more, or larger water changes. You aim is to keep the ammonia (and nitrite) under 0.25ppm at all times.

When you bear in mind that your fish will be producing ammonia all the time, you really need to do enough water changes to get the ammonia (and nitrite) down to zero. Keep testing and hopefully the ammonia won't rise to 0.25ppm until the nest day, but you can never be sure; you may have to do two 90% changes a day, it's hard to tell.

The only thing that will help you is a donation of already mature media; either from your LFS or a friend with a cycled tank.

 

[alstermania]

Thank you for the reply! I'll keep testing the water throughout the day. I was thinking about moving my betta into a 2 gallon for the time being, since its easier to change the water. By moving him, I can try to cycle the 5 gal with some mature media (like suggested) and keep adding ammonia. I ordered some instant-cycle aquarium bacteria and some ammonia detox to see if that would alliviate the problem for now, but I wouldn't use this long-term....