Tropical Fish Forums

[jshaver316]

OK I set up a tank a 55 gal with light brown gravel, some plastic (for now) plants, and a couple ornaments so as to make it look good and provide cover for fish that prefer it...it has 2 lights up top, and I am using an aqueon 55 quietflow filter running...once all was in and water, I have it holding at about 78 degrees, used conditioner in the water, for a couple days then let it sit and got the ammonia to .25 ppm, pH is about 7.4, nitrates are about 5 ppm, and nitrites are about .5 ppm
held these levels for about a week before getting fish...
while getting the fish I also got startsmart complete to help lower ammonia some more, added as directed about an hour before putting fish into tank..
I put in 2 tuxedo platys, 2 albino corys, and what I believe is a pictus cat( just have poor memory from what it said at the store) levels held steady for 2 days then last night started to cloud and wheni checked this morning ammonia had started to climb now at .5 ppm is this normal and let it go or should I be looking to correct this
I have been using flake food and was feeding twice a day until today switched to once in case I am over feeding and causing the clouding
will post a pic of the tank when I get one and figure out how to put it on here

[Marcos Avila]

The only "steady" levels of ammonia and nitrite are zero and zero, anything different from that means the tank is unbalanced and needs intervention.

You added the fish before the cycle was complete and the bacterial colony was properly established. What you need to do now to minimize damage is feed very sparsely (every other day), measure ammonia and nitrite levels every day and do partial water changes (about 30%) every few days until both are zero.
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Success with a fish/tank is measured in YEARS, not months or weeks...

[jshaver316]

will do, thought a week and a half was long enough but apparently I was wrong.. got bad info somewhere before I found this site

[RadicalFanatical]

just do small 30- 50% water changes every 5 days and keep measuring your waste levels and you'll be fine. You may want to get rid of the pictus catfish as he gets big and will eat your other fish when he grows up. Good Luck.