Ph And Ammonia Issues In My Beginner's Freshwater 10 Gallon - What

[WhaleControlToMajorErin]

Hello everyone,
I just joined up here to see if I could get some help for my ailing freshwater 10 gallon tank. I hope this is the right place to put this thread. If not...I'm sorry
In February I was given a 10 gallon tank, which I started entirely on my own. No one I know has any experience with tanks, so I bought a book (Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies), and did my best with help from the Petco guys. All seemed to be going well throughout cycling, and my fish seemed healthy (I've got a community aquarium) . When I used my pH/ammonia test kits, however, they showed I was at a worrisome pH of 6, and my ammonia was literally off the charts.
At first I thought it was just part of my cycling, and didn't really do much about it. When the levels remained at this state, however, I started with much more frequent water changes (about 10-15% 2-4 times per week) but it pretty much did nothing at all. The fish, oddly enough were and still are acting healthy. They eat and swim normally and don't look like they have ammonia poisoning. Starting to be concerned, I went with the advice of my local Petco, and bought pH Up and Ammolock. I also began even more frequent water changes.
At this point, neither one of the chemicals appears to be doing me any good. I began using benifical bacteria in a bottle, thinking I screwed up the cycling process. I also upgraded to a new filter, one that is supposed to be for a tank twice my size (my old filter was rather old, and didn't seem to be doing the job quite right.)
I'm starting to be at a loss for what to do. Did I mess up majorly in the cycling? Did I get too excited and overstock the tank? (Right now I have 6 platys, 2 tetras, 2 corys and 1 gold gourami, added gradually over about 3 months.) Should I do water changes with more water, more frequently? Like I said, I don't know anyone I can go to for help, and my book isn't much help at this point.
I would appreciate any help you guys can give me, as I'm a bit desperate

(I actually posted this same issue on another forum, I need as much help as I can get.)

 

[Mowbz]

Im quite new to this too, and i can tell you someone will be along to help you soon!

I can see a few potential problems though. From reading this forum, the "beneficial bacteria" your local fish store sold you sits in a bottle for potentially months before being sold, so you can probably guess how "beneficial" this is by the time it reaches your tank.

The "Ammolock" stuff does just that from what ive read. It locks up the ammonia from harming your fish, but makes it nigh on impossible for the nitrite bacteria to process it, so it just rises in the tank, hence your nuts ammonia readings.

You also mentioned you swapped the filters over. Did you seed the new filter media (the filter sponge) with scrapings/dirt (beneficial ammonia eating bacteria) from the old one. If not, you've got nothing to "eat" the rising ammonia in your tank, again leading to rocketing ammonia levels. If the old filter has been out of the tank water for any more than an hour, they will all be gonners

Maybe someone can jump in with some emergency "fish-in" cycling help?

Hope you get it all sorted!

EDIT: Spelling

 

[fluttermoth]

I would have thought you ought to be well on the way to being cycled now; the fact that you've got very high ammonia readings shows something has gone wrong somwhere, although the new filter won't have helped.

For a start, your water changes are nowhere big or frequent enough. As an example; if your ammonia is 1ppm, and you do a 10% change, you're only bringing it down to 0.9 and it can soon bounce back up again. If you do a 90% change, it'll come down to 0.1; a considerably better result!

Forget about using the ammolock; in fact all chemical additives except for your dechorinator, as they will only interfere with your cycle.

Just test daily (or with that amount of fish, you may need to do it twice daily) and do enough water changes that the ammonia doesn't go above 0.25ppm by your next change.

If you have to do 90% changes, or more than one change in a row, then that's what you must do; lor large changes will not stress your fish our upset your cycle.

Make sure you switch your heater and filter off so they don't run dry if you're doing large changes, and remember to be very gentle cleaning your filter; a swish in old tank water is all that's needed.