I really need help with ammonia!!

[Joeyb1731]

So if youve read my other threads I mentioned I started my tank cycle with tetra safe start about 2 weeks ago(a little more). I have 6 fish in there who all seem to be doing fine, however I noticed my ammonia hovering around .25 and .50 so I began doing 25% water changes daily. 3 changes in 3 days and my ammonia is still the same. I tested my tap water, and i tested my tap with my dechlorinator in it which is APIs tap water conditioner product all those give me a 0 ppm ammonia. I did not know what to do so I called a local store who actually will come to your house and help your fish if your having issues, I told the guy my story and he said that because of the length of time my tanks been cycling the water changes im doing are acutally restarting the cycle each time I do it. He said go get another bottle of safe start, put it in the tank and DONT DO WATER CHANGES for a little while, he said let the water start to get a little cloudy, then your ammonia will drop and then you can start with the water changes again once ammonia is at 0.

Its been 2 days and I am only feeding the fish every other day a very small amount. My ammonia has gone up above .50 ppm I dont think its at 1.0 yet but the colors of the master test kit are hard to be exact I have a 55 gallon tall tank my pH is at a constant 7.4, Nitrites Are at 0, Nitrates are at 5.0 ppm and Ammonia is somewhere between .50 and 1, probably closer to 1 at this point. I have 2 parrots, 2 gouramis, and 2 red tailed botia loaches. The fish seem fine swimming normally, eating normally, and acting fine. Please help should I wait it out? Or should I just do a water change? Im so confused.

 

[brian1973]

a fish in cycle takes longer IMO opinion because of the water changes, really if it isnt up to 1ppm then i would just keep watching it, if it gets up to 1ppm then do a water change, I would use Prime as your water conditioner, it renders the ammonia harmless but still allows it to be used by the bacteria you need. I would also add prime now, my tap water typically registers 1ppm of ammonia and has for months, I use prime and I have had no problems. You really just have to decide what you want to do, their is a risk if the ammonia rises quickly and you dont catch it but then again you may be fine, or you can keep the water changes up to keep that ammonia as low as possible.

Just as a reminder for anyone that might say "add bio spira"...safe start IS biospira...Tetra now markets marineland freshwater Biospira as safe start..

 

[Joeyb1731]

thanks brian, trust me there is no way I wont catch it, Im checking the water too much, so much its making me crazy, im like loosing sleep over it, I just feel like even with all the research I THOUGHT i did before starting this tank, since ive started it, ive learned so much more but it just feels like everything that can go wrong is going wrong, and its stressing me out more then it seems to be stressing my fish out. I just hope that I dont sacrifice these fish to learn the hard way. Thanks again for your feedback