birdie_bernie

Hi all,

I am brand new with a question. I have a 12-gallon tank that was fishless-cycled. I added my first fish, 4 zebra danios, one week ago. I have been testing ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates every day or two. Tonight I got a .25 PPM for ammonia (all other readings have been 0). I will do my first water change tomorrow. However, I am wondering if I am overfeeding.

I have been feeding them about 3 flakes, crumbled up, one time a day. They eat it all in about 30 seconds or so. But then I read about the eye/stomach rule. I am confused because the flakes are about as big as my fingernail. But my fishes' eyes are only as big as a sesame seed. So should I be breaking off four tiny pieces from a flake and that is all they get for the day?

If I'm not overfeeding, do you have any other ideas as to what has raised my ammonia?

Thanks so much for any help.
Birdie

mommybaby295

if you don't have any nitrates, i don't think your tank was cycled. can you explain how you cycled it?

you'll have to do daily water changes to get rid of the ammonia. treat the water with Prime to detoxify the amonia for 24 hours at a time. You do this daily until you are consistently getting 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10-20 nitrate readings.

Fish_Face

Welcome to Fishlore!! If you started your tank on October 10th (in your aquarium info), then your tank might not be cycled all the way, yet. The aquarium has to run for about 6 weeks or so before adding fish. There might not be enough bacteria to eat the ammonia in your tank, yet. I'm new, too, and I ran mine for 2 days before I added fish (it was also before I knew about the nitrogen cycle!). Of the three I added, one died within a couple days. I still have one other one, though, and he seems to be doing fine. Just keep an eye on the parameters, and you should be fine. Good luck!!

Nutter

Sounds like the tank wasn't cycles properly like mommybaby295 suggested.

The eye & stomach rule is just that a fish has a stomach about the size of it's eye. I wouldn't worry about that though. If your fish are eating ALL the food you give them as fast as you say then you are definitley not over feeding. So long as they are eating it all.

Butterfly

The eye/stomach thing is mostly a guideline to help you not over feed. Most fish will eat all that is put into the tank even if it's more than they need thus making them produce more waste. More waste may cause an ammonia spike, so you see why we try to find an easy way to know how much to feed
I'm with the others i don't think the tank is fully cycled so keep an eye on it and do the water changes need to keep your fish safe.
Welcome to FishLore we're glad your here
Carol

birdie_bernie

Thanks all, for your quick replies to a newbie!

I actually started the fishless cycle back in August. I think I put too much ammonia in because it took forever to drop off, but finally I started getting nitrite readings. Then it took the nitrites forever to drop, but finally they did. And when I added 3 drops of ammonia, it would be back to 0 in a couple of days. So I thought it was done but truthfully, I never thought to check nitrates until right before I added the fish. I didn't know there was supposed to be a positive reading.

So I may have done something wrong with the cycle, that I didn't get the right bacteria in there?? Is there anything I can do now that the fish are in there, other than water changes and adding some Prime (which I will go buy tomorrow -- hopefully they have it at Petsmart). Thanks again for your advice!

peacemaker92

WELCOME TO FISHLORE!

So sorry to hear you're going through this problem. Great advice above! ^^ JUst work on your water changes and some prime and you should be on your way. Keep us posted.

Best of luck

aquarist48

Hello Birdie and Welcome to Fish Lore. Glad to hear you did a fishless cycle! Congrats!
For one reason or another it seems your tank is experiencing a mini cycle. Do 30 to 50% daily water changes, add your Prime to detox the ammonia for the 24 hour period until it's time for the next water change. Hopefully it won't take long to get your cycle back.

If you can't find Prime, Amquel + is good too. However, if you use Amquel + you may get false readings of ammonia in your tank for 24 hours but it won't be toxic. I use Amquel + and love it.
Hope you enjoy the site. It's nice to have you on board!
Ken

birdie_bernie

Thanks for the welcomes!

I did a 30% water change today and added Prime, and tonight I got 0 ppm ammonia and 0 nitrites. Not sure if that mini-cycle is over or not but I will keep monitoring closely and will check for nitrates tomorrow -- hopefully some will show up since I am supposed to have a few! Thanks very much again.

aquarist48

Hello Birdie. I'm glad to hear that you were able to do a water change today and add the Prime. After adding Prime or Amquel + I recommend to re-test after 24 hours for a more accurate reading. It will get easier!
Best wishes.
Ken

jprime84

Those danios are hardy though, so its unlikley that even in mini cycles they will die fromt he ammonia. Good idea to keep an eye on things for a while though.