ammonia problem

[smokeypea]

Hi, i have a 20 gallon tank, got it 3 weeks ago, since then i had to treat fish with Rid Ick, changed 25% of water each day while using rid ick, also use Aqua Safe each time and Amquel plus as i was advised to do this to help ammonia problem, during treatment i did not use carbon filter I bought a penguin Bio wheel power filter 150 and have an airstone in tank also, fish seem very healthy and water clear, i put the filter back in yesterday, only feed them once a day and watch they eat it all, when i clean the tank i vacuum the gravel for decaying food ect, had water tested today and still high ammonia HELPPPP, domnt know what else to do, should i stop putting in Amquel?? i only got 12 small fish in tank now, and a catfish . Also is NovAqua plus better than AquaSafe for the water conditoner?? really confused. thanks for any help.

[William]

Did you cycle the tank when you set it up?

[smokeypea]

i was told by the petstore that i could put a couple of fish in the tnak 48 hours after i had set it up, does that count?

[William]

It depends. How long did they go in the tank before you added any more fish?

[smokeypea]

it was about one week , then i added a few more.

[smokeypea]

the fish are all healthy, eating well and everything seems ok, yet they tell me the ammonia is still a bit high, i am doing all i know to stop this but now i just dont know nwhat else to do, in was told that maybe adding amquel could be making the test appear to have to much ammonia in the water, yet if i dont use it wont that make the problem worse?? thanks for helping.

[William]

The problem can be related to that the tank is still young. Try feeding a little less during a couple of weeks and it might improve. Change 20% of the water twice a week during this period and remove any remove any dead plants parts and other debris you see.

If the problem remains we might have to analyse the problem deeper but at the moment it is likely that your problem is simply due to the low age of your setup.

[NorthernBoy]

I think you need a full cycle started. My suggestion would be to return all but about 2 fish to the store you purchased them at and allow the tank to cycle properly to aviod killing too many fish unnecessarily. Allow the few fish that remain to cycle the tank...about 7-14 days. Tank will probly go very cloudy then clear again. Tank will then be ready to add a few fish more. I suggest no more than 2 or 3 a week till fully stocked. While I agree with William about water changes although I think with the reduction of fish to a few you can try maybe 1 change a week of about 20%. I believe all your fish may die if you don't properly cyle the tank prior to adding too many fish, which you have in my opinion done. I would also stop buying fish at the LFS that you are buying at now if they are advising you to add that many fish to a 2-week old tank. I generally suggest (and follow myself0 going at least 4-6 weeks with a maximum of 2 hardy inexpensive fish.

Just my 2 cents.

[smokeypea]

ok thanks for all the advice, i will let you know how things go, i want to do everything right but the more i read and research the more muddled it becomes, so thanks guys for your help.

[NorthernBoy]

i suggest you download williams ebook

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/downloads-cat-10.html#cat

[kimmers318]

If you know of anyone who has an established tank ask to steal some of their gravel and hang in the tank in a filter bag....that will help speed things up quite a bit. I once used a biowheel from an existing tank for a new tank and never saw a spike in either tank! When a Q tank spiked only nitrites for 2 days after medications, water changes didn't bring it down quick enough for my happiness I put some gravel from another tank in, and the next day levels were back to 0. You need good bacteria to counteract the bad (fish and food waste)