Ammoniaaaaaa!!!

[Ravenstar]

I've been battling ammonia for over a month now. I'm fairly certain it's what's killed my first betta (;_, and I'm determined not to let that happen to my other fish. I've been testing and testing and water changing to dilute the ammonia but I can't ever get it below 1 ppm. Well, I finally did a control test and just took some tap water and tested it, and even IT comes out 1ppm! Why is my untreated tap water coming out with the same reading as my conditioned tap/tank water? And even more importantly, HOW DO I GET RID OF IT! Cycling the tank isn't an option at the moment, unfortunately, as I'm in a dorm and I can only have iddy biddy tanks (I have 2 x 2.5G, with one male betta in each). Any input is appreciated!

 

[Whiskers]

if your tank isn't cycled, no matter what you do it will try to cycle. if your tap water is the same as tank water, i've got to ask, are you doing the test correctly? your tanks do have filters in them correct? do you know what your nitrite readings are? just wondering ,to try to help come up with possible solutions.

 

[homebunnyj]

Take a sample of your tank water and your tap water to the fish store and have them test it for ammonia. (Might as well get the readings for nitrite and nitrate while you're at it. Be sure to get the results in numbers. Write it down if you aren't sure you'll remember what they are.) If their results don't agree with yours, you either have a bad test kit or are doing it incorrectly.

Your tank will establish a nitrogen cycle naturally, as long as you aren't doing anything to interfere. The tricky part is safeguarding your fish's lives while this takes place.

 

[Ravenstar]

There are no filters in the tank, and I use the API Ammonia test kit (with two dropper bottles). I followed the instructions to a T, and the tank water gets conditioned and aquarium salted before putting the fish in it. I don't have a nitrate/nitrite test kit yet because I didn't think I'd need them right off since I wasn't actively cycling...>.>

I posted in the betta forums a while back about my fish basically dying, and when I did an ammonia test there it was at 4 ppm (down to 1), even with meticulous cleaning, conditioning, and temperature monitoring. Does that mean my tank is cycling, and if so, am I interfering?

 

[Whiskers]

you need your ammoina to be below 1ppm. the first part in the cycling process in a tank is ammoina going up but since you don't have a filter to help grow good bacteria, your ammoina will not get broke down by the cycling process. so every time you change water your ammoina will go back up to levels that will cause your fish to die. so to answer your question, no, your tank isn't cycling

a suggestion would be to read the stickys on cycling at the top of the beginners section or find posts by missfishy and in her siginature is a link on how the cycling process works.

if you don't want to use filter and do the cycling process (which is recommended) you will need to change water in tank every 2 days to keep ammoina low enough not to kill your fish.

 

[homebunnyj]

Your tank will grow a little bit of bacteria in the substrate and on the sides and ornaments, but you'll have to do frequent water changes to maintain your tank, because the standing water will get stagnant. You can get a tiny filter for a 2.5 gallon tank. It will make life easier on you and on your fish. Right now, with no filter, the 2.5's are glorified fishbowls. Here's one and here's another that I like better. They also make heaters for tiny tanks, and you should probably get one if your room temp drops into the 60's.