Tank Cycling

[Fishda45]

so for the first two weeks i was doing a fish less cycle and decided to do it with fish.

so now i'm in my third week of cycling and in my first week of fish-in cycling. i've been doing 20%-50% PWC 1-2 times daily depending on my ammonia results.

i don't know if i did something wrong but everyday i've been getting higher ammonia result in my 5.5gal tank with 3 platies.

 

[littlenemo]

over feeding

 

[fluttermoth]

It maybe that your water changes aren't big enough? What exactly is the level of ammonia coming out as?

I'm afraid that's a lot of stock for a 5g tank; platies are quite a chunky fish and it's probably not really big enough for them. Personally, I wouldn't put anything that grows to more than an inch in a tank that size, except possibly a betta, who are very sedentary.

 

[Fishda45]

over feeding

i only feed them once a day though.

It maybe that your water changes aren't big enough? What exactly is the level of ammonia coming out as?

I'm afraid that's a lot of stock for a 5g tank; platies are quite a chunky fish and it's probably not really big enough for them. Personally, I wouldn't put anything that grows to more than an inch in a tank that size, except possibly a betta, who are very sedentary.

about .25-1 ppm. i have no choice though. i have 1 male and 2 female. if i only put 2 platy my male is harassing my female.

 

[Fishda45]

I just really do feel that there's something off with my tank.

 

[OldMan47]

You need to do real big water changes, not tiny 50% ones when you put fish into an uncycled tank. If you truly do large water changes the fish will survive the next 4 to 6 weeks while the tank cycles. It is why we always recommend a fishless cycle. With a fishless cycle you could just be testing water instead of changing most of it every day.