yegor2000

I have a new 55 gal. tank which I've set up about 10 days ago. When I set it up, I added both API Stress Coat and Stress Zyme to treat the water. 3 days later, I added Tetra Safe Start to the water and put 3 Tiger barbs, 3 Gold barbs, 5 Zebra Danios and 1 Pleco. About 3-4 days ago my water has become really cloudy (white cloudy color). As far as I understand, that is the bacterial bloom taking place, but I was expecting the water to clear up in day or two -- yet it hasn't. It seems to be getting slightly more cloudy every day. I've tested the water every day for the last week and here are the results: 80 deg F, 7.2 pH, 1 PPM (mg/l) ammonia, 0 Nitrites and 0 Nitrates. I've treated the water with Stress Zyme for ammonia, but for some reason my test kit still shows 1 ppm of it every day. Any ideas why my ammonia levels aren't decreasing? Could it be that I'm seeing deactivated ammonia in my water? (or is there even such a thing?)
I'm trying to decide whether I should do a 25% water change in order to decrease the ammonia level, but if my bacterial filter hasn't established itself yet, I'm concerned that I'll screw up my nitrogen cycle. Any recommendations? Is it better to leave the water as is and take a risk with the ammonia or do water change and lose some of the beneficial bacteria? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

matt6765

change the water... it wont hurt the bacteria

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!! unfortunately, you are using two products that do the opposite of one another...TSS and Stress zyme...the stress zyme is going to make the TSS bacteria die as it contains another bacteria that isnt self sustaining..so you are having a war between the 2...at this point, stop using stress zyme, and do a few days of water changes..you can either get more TSS to use it alone and leave the tank be for a week after adding it, or do daily water changes until the tank is cycled....goodluck!

gmen4life

yeah should be doin water changes i learned the hard way i added way 2 many fish like a week into my cycle and was doin 25 percent changes daily for ever it seems but it cycled and i lost one fish through it i also tested daily and made sure the ammonia never got 2 bad wich is the first part of your cycle so good luck and with hard work youll make it

yegor2000

All,

Thanks for all your comments! I've had fish in my tank for exactly 3 weeks now, but for some reason my ammonia levels are only temporarily decreasing when I do the water changes. I'm not seeing a decrease in ammonia which should come with the establishment of the biological filter, and when I test the water, I still get 0 nitrites. Also, adding Stress Zyme seems to have no effect on ammonia levels. What could be the reason for ammonia levels staying in the range of 1-2 ppm? Am I doing something wrong?

Lucy

Hi Welcome to the forum
As Shawnie advised above, stress zyme contains the wrong kind of bacteria. It's not allowing the tank to develop it's own bacteria to process the ammonia.
I would also suggest you stop using it, do daily water changes and use Prime as your water conditioner. Prime will detox the ammonia for 24hrs between water changes but still make it available to the bacteria.

How many fish and what kind are in the tank?