Ammonia

[Lloyd]

When I first set the tank up I let it run for about two weeks and the pet store told me to add a couple of fish (black skirt tetras). I checked the levels on a constant basis and while it never disappeared the ammonia levels were low. I would do partial water changes every few days and added ammonia detox and ammo chips to my filters. I thought I had the problem solved so I added a dwarf gourami and three albino cory's over the course of about two more weeks. No problems! Two weeks later I added a couple of small silver dollars and the next day they were dead. I checked the water and the ammonia was really high so I changed the water (15 gal.) and added more detox. The fish appear to be ok but I can't get rid of the ammonia. Now I'm thinking that my filter's not good enough so I'm thinking about getting a Magnum 350 with the bio wheel. What do you think.

[fins_n_fur]

What type and model of filter do you have? It sounds like you are doing a fish cycle (planned or otherwise). When doing a fish cycle, you typically need to do a lot of water changes to keep the ammonia within parameters that allow your tank to cycle, but keep the harm from fish as low as possible. This means testing often, even once a day, and doing water changes appropriately based on the ammonia/nitrite levels. What are your ammonia and nitrite levels now?

[Cameron]

dont forget to mention how big your tank is, that will help with some future questions ; )

[fins_n_fur]

It's a 50 gallon tank...I moved this post to here from Introductions and forgot to add that part.