# 2.5g still has ammonia



## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

It's been two weeks since my 2.5g tank has been set up and I still have ammonia in it! 

At first, I had ammonia, nitrite and nitrates in there but unlike my 10g when I had first set it up, this tank is being the complete opposite with me. In my 10g the ammonia went away first, then the nitrites and finally the nitrates but with the smaller one, both the nitrite and nitrates are now gone but the ammonia is still there. I've been doing small water changes on it every day in hopes that it'll soon disappear but it keeps coming back.

I have some pond snails and a golden apple snail in there right now and I can't see them being the reason for the ammonia because I had snails in my 10g when it was first set up and I never had this problem.

I'm using some Wisteria stems as floating plants and I have a small Water Lettuce head in there from my 10g as well as a small sprig of Hornwort. Some of my H. polysperma have reached the water's surface so I'm hoping that'll help get rid of the ammonia soon. All of the plants in the tank are growing very well.

Does anyone know why it's taking so long for the ammonia to go down to zero in this tank? I didn't let the soil air out like I did for the 10 because I didn't have enough time to do that so could that be the reason? I'd put that vile Duckweed in there but none of the nurseries in town here have any and they won't be getting any of it until May.

Anyone have any suggestions on how I should deal with this? I just want to be able to put my guppies back in there so they have more swimming room. ray:


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## mommyeireanne (Oct 24, 2007)

I had this problem, too. I had to buy new soil, didn't air it out because I had plants that needed to go in, and had about 3 weeks of a low ammonia read. I don't have a good answer for speeding things up, though. But I did see growth in my plants immediately, during this time. I think they liked it, at least. I empathize- I have a terrible time waiting for changes in my tanks. I'm not very patient.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

mommyeireanne said:


> I had this problem, too. I had to buy new soil, didn't air it out because I had plants that needed to go in, and had about 3 weeks of a low ammonia read. I don't have a good answer for speeding things up, though. But I did see growth in my plants immediately, during this time. I think they liked it, at least. I empathize- I have a terrible time waiting for changes in my tanks. I'm not very patient.


I don't know what your ammonia was at but mine is lingering around 0.25ppm or lower. I don't think I'd care so much if I didn't have any fish for the tank but since I do, I just want to get them back in there so they can enjoy their home.

I'm seeing the same thing with my plants. They are growing extremely well! On some of the floating Wisteria, the roots coming from the nodes are almost down to the substrate!


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## mommyeireanne (Oct 24, 2007)

I had a low ammonia for 3 weeks, then it went to none on the Seachem indicator. Still none. For some reason I thought it would take about a month, but I can't remember where I got that. Hang in there. It sounds like your tank is set up well.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Thank you.  I hope it clears up soon for my guppies.


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## Shurik (Mar 22, 2008)

Dear Mandy! I just discovered your thread and just wanted to say hello. Oh, how upsetting all that ammonia business can be and how deadly it can turn out for the fish! 

You saw my thread… Thanks for sharing your experience and all great advices. I really appreciate you giving me some priceless information on time.

Cheers!


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Shurik said:


> Dear Mandy! I just discovered your thread and just wanted to say hello. Oh, how upsetting all that ammonia business can be and how deadly it can turn out for the fish!
> 
> You saw my thread&#8230; Thanks for sharing your experience and all great advices. I really appreciate you giving me some priceless information on time.
> 
> Cheers!


Thank you, Alexandra! :hug:

Before I got into fish keeping, the word ammonia was just that, a word to me but now I've come to despise it.:mad2: I was almost tempted to tear down the tank and start over again with a different type of soil or actually try adding Bio-Spira to the water to see if that would help.

I'm just glad I can help!  I've gotten a lot of help from the people here and it's nice to be able to return it to those who need it. I know what it's like to start a thread asking for help and having to wait for days before getting a response so I try to reply back as soon as possible.


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## rangersnoopy24201 (Feb 7, 2008)

try adding the white charcoal to your filter for couple days. the white is designed more for ammonia


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Thanks for the tip, rangersnoopy24201 but on the 23rd of April, both the ammonia and nitrites finally cleared up. 

My guppies have been in there ever since. It almost took a full month for the plants and bacteria to remove the ammonia and nitrites.


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## Shurik (Mar 22, 2008)

Dear Rose!

I am so happy your tank is settling down. Mine tanks are finally done spiking too. Phew!... 
My gold fish you saved is still doing fine. 

But... Last night I did something stupid to my danio community and now I don’t know what to do. We brought 6 glow light tetras and of coarse danios are not the best companions to them. So I’ve decided to get danios out and move them to our friend’s tank. 
Yea, right! I could catch 6 danios out of 8, and the remaining two are absolutely impossible to get. 
I guess I will have to live with it like that – watching my own stupidity in action. 
6 glow lights and 2 danios in 20 gal. Do you think it is REALLY bad?  
Danios are periodically chase tetras around, but they survived the night. 
I spent all last night and today I am still trying to get those danios out and… They are so smart!


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## DaFishMan (Dec 4, 2005)

It takes approx a month for cycling to occur - squeezing a filter sponge or using some gravel from an established tank into the new one will kickstart the bacteria colony and eliminates the need for Bio-Spira (which isn't available in Canada) 

Good luck with the new tank


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Thank you, Shurik!

I'm glad that your goldfish are well and that your tanks are starting to settle down. Isn't dealing with ammonia a pain?

I've never had danios or tetras before so I don't really know anything about them. Are Danios a curious type of fish? When my Dad had bought my first two fancy guppies, the stupid woman at the fish store said it would be okay to also house common guppies with them. Well the common guppies started to tear up on of the fancy's tail so I had to remove them. I found that when I just left the net in the water, they would come up to it to check it out and when they were close enough, I quickly scooped them out! You could try that with the danios to see if it works.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

DaFishMan said:


> It takes approx a month for cycling to occur - squeezing a filter sponge or using some gravel from an established tank into the new one will kickstart the bacteria colony and eliminates the need for Bio-Spira (which isn't available in Canada)
> 
> Good luck with the new tank


When it comes to natural planted tanks, most of the time, they are cycled either the first or second day after being set up. The only reason I had so much ammonia was because I didn't have a chance to air out/soak the soil before adding it to the tank. If I had done that, I know it would've taken a lot less time to be ready for the guppies.


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## Shurik (Mar 22, 2008)

Danios are a lot of fun and I like them. They are most hectic fish I can imagine, they are constantly all over the place, and they like to explore everything in the tank. They are definitely fun to watch. They are not aggressive, they like to play and they like chasing each other.
Also they are hardy but… they are totally annoying to tetras. I spent literally several hours last night, I had many attempts to catch them and I got 6 out of 8. But those two guys… You wouldn’t believe it. They see me when I approach the tank and puff! Gone!  They see me holding the net, and they know what it is. They will hide until the net is out of the water and I am gone back to the distance of like at least 4ft away from the tank. I tried putting the net down, tried food, tried different light, no light at all, I waited till they will fall asleep, I would fall asleep myself waiting for them to get to the net :heh: but they are much smarter then that. 

Now they see me on the opposite side of the room typing and if I get up – they are gone behind the plants. 

I can tell you they impress me a lot, they are more interesting then I thought at the store. 

I wonder how they would do with fancy guppies. I should look it up on the web! 

As of ammonia… I hate this word! 
I did air out the soil for at least a week before using in the tank, I did bottle tests and all was clear, so obviously there where some other factors to causing such spiking, but what I’ve learn for the rest of my life for sure is that it is a good idea to wait for a couple of days to make sure nothing spikes like crazy.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Shurik said:


> Danios are a lot of fun and I like them. They are most hectic fish I can imagine, they are constantly all over the place, and they like to explore everything in the tank. They are definitely fun to watch. They are not aggressive, they like to play and they like chasing each other.
> Also they are hardy but&#8230; they are totally annoying to tetras. I spent literally several hours last night, I had many attempts to catch them and I got 6 out of 8. But those two guys&#8230; You wouldn't believe it. They see me when I approach the tank and puff! Gone!  They see me holding the net, and they know what it is. They will hide until the net is out of the water and I am gone back to the distance of like at least 4ft away from the tank. I tried putting the net down, tried food, tried different light, no light at all, I waited till they will fall asleep, I would fall asleep myself waiting for them to get to the net :heh: but they are much smarter then that.
> 
> Now they see me on the opposite side of the room typing and if I get up - they are gone behind the plants.
> ...


My first two guppies use to hide when something would come close to the top of the tank. Sometimes, they would even do that when someone approached the tank to look at them but my two newest little ones couldn't care less and they love to come to the front of the tank to greet people. lol

I know that fancy guppies are compatible with neon tetras but I don't recall ever reading anything about them and danios.

I despise that word too! That and nitrites!  I know now that even if I did let the soil air out, I would've still ended up with ammonia but it wouldn't have been as much for as long as I had it. I had found out not too long ago that the soil I've been using for my tanks contains some compost in it so that's probably where most of the ammonia came from. The next time I go to set up a tank, I'll be waiting a couple of weeks before I add any fish to it!


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## helenf (Mar 24, 2008)

Since the danios are curious and intelligent, maybe a fish-catcher would work.

You get a soft drink bottle and cut the end off just where it starts to narrow to the lid. Then you invert the cut off end back into the bottle and you have a fish-catcher. They can't see it too well, especially if you remove the label.

Put some yummy food in there, submerge it in the tank and wait. Because of the shape of the entrance, they can go in easily, but can't go out so easily. Hopefully you'll catch the right fish first time, but if not, just let the ones out that you caught and wait again.

I found when I tried to use this to catch a siamese algae eater that all I got were the guppies. And netting the SAE was impossible in a heavily planted tank without much space to manouver. So I tried a different stategy - sink the catcher into the tank on one of the fish's normal routes, then gently herd the fish with a net or a stick or something, so it swims into the catcher. You have to be a little patient and careful so they go in the catcher and don't swim out at the entrance, but I find by very slowly moving the net I can persuade them to go in the catcher without freaking them out. Then you just take the catcher out and you have the fish in a bottle all ready to move. It;s great because the fish never leaves the water, not nearly so scary as being netted, and they don't risk getting damaged by the net either.

When I used this system to catch a cardinal tetra, my most delicate fish, it didn't even lose colour, like they do when netted, so its obviously a much less stressful procedure on the fish.

My explanation isn't very good without pictures. Here's a link to where I got the idea, with pictures:
http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/798/


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