New Aquarium -Need Help

[DiNew]

Hello,

I bought a tropical fish care book and got advice from the LFS, then read about cycling on this forum and could use some help. I am brand new to fish.

I have a 10 gallon tank recently (in last four and five days) stocked with 4 neon tetras and 4 platys and moss ball plant. I read on this forum about cycling and tested my water tonight using the API freshwater test kit. I got pH of 7.5, ammonia of 2, nitrite of 1, and nitrate of 20.

I have read about doing a water change of about 20%. Do I use the vacuum (siphon hose) and how do I make sure I do not over do it? The store told me not to do anything with the tank for a month, so I am confused, but trying to do the right thing.

Thank you.

I meant four neon danios. Sorry!

 

[Questions?]

have you cycled your filter? never take advice from fish stores, most of it is bad. also your tank is overstocked. i have also never heard of neon danios, unless they are those glofish.

 

[DiNew]

Thanks for the reply. No, I have not cycled my filter. Yes, they are glofish.

 

[mike455555]

ok well your LFS is wrong, you should be doing a 90% water change on that tank to make sure the fish dont die, you'v read about cyceling ammonia will kill your fish in a short time, you need to grow the bacteria in your filter. id be doing a 50% water change every day or every 2 days for afew weeks until your ammonia and nitrites both read 0 and then you should be doing weekly water changes of 20%

 

[DiNew]

Thank you, will do.

 

[toshapetriji]

The important thing here is to keep your ammonia level at zero at all times. Ammonia even in very small quantities is toxic to fish.
 
As you are 'fish in cycling' at the moment you need to be prepared to do very large water changes (maybe up to 90%) in order to achieve zero ammonia, possibly even more than once a day.
 
I regularly provide 'mature filter media' to people who are able to collect and this usually cycles a tank within a week and I would suggest you try to source some, there is a link here though I'm not sure how up to date it is now.
 
For water changing I use a length of pipe of suitable length and syphon it directly to the bath, for refilling I dechlorinate the tank directly then refill using a hose connected to a garden tap. To temperature match the tank I add one or two buckets of warm water.
 
Good Luck. 

 

[Gilli]

Read up quickly on cycling a tank with fish in on the link below on this forum. If you dont act quickly all your fish will die as they are living in toxic water. the link below will explain everything.
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/
 
Im afraid you should expect the neon tetras not to survive anyway - they should not be added to an uncycled tank nor any tank under 6 months old as they are very sensitive to bad water quality.

 

[DiNew]

My de-chlorinated water (not in tank) tests positive for ammonia. Is that normal? Could be testing kit be bad?

 

[phoenixgsd]

what test kit are you using, and what is the reading exactly? some areas do have a little ammonia in there tap water but a cycled filter will deal with it very quickly, as your fish in cycling your sort of on a uphill battle

 

[daizeUK]

It is normal if your tap water contains chloramines.  The dechlorinator converts the chloramine into ammonia (depending on your brand of dechlorinator, this ammonia then may or may not get temporarily detoxified).  My tapwater reads about 0.20ppm ammonia after dechlorination.

 

[balajake]

I suggest buying a bottle of seachem prime to help keep ammonia and nitrite levels low in a fish in cycle, especially if there is ammonia in the tap water.

 

[DiNew]

Thanks all for the advice. I am using the API freshwater test kit. I get a low reading of ammonia in my tap water, about 0.25 ppm. It is a color comparison for the reading so it may be slightly lower. I asked a local store near my house about water in the township and they said it did not have ammonia. The fish are not tetras, they are danios. I am working to get the tank right and do appreciate the help.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

What is the LFS you are using?  Is it Seven Seas?