Emmy

i have a 20gallon freshwater tank. i set it up jan7th'09, going by instruction from LFS i added 6 guppies jan10th. a few days later i found this forum and realized i needed to do something to protect my new friends from the dreaded ammonia. i began doing 50% water changes, daily. on day 5 with the fish, ammonia levels were at .25-.5 day 17 ammonia was at .5 day 17 i noticed one guy had some red spotting on his tail, day 19 was the spotty guy's last day. still carrying on with daily water changes and adding prime. week3 another one got spotty and came to the same demise. feb24th third one gone. ammonia level steady at .5 all this time.

it was at this time that i decided to stop the daily water changes. i figured if i'm going to lose them anyway, might as well get on with the cycling and move on. well, i have done only one water change since then and only 25% monday the ammonia was back down to .25-.50... less than before! i should add that my nitrite tests have yet to show any trace. today (wed) i checked the ammonia, it's at zero now. with zero nitrites. my remaining 3 fish are doing really well, all healthy.

i don't understand why the ammonia isn't spiking and why still no signs of nitrities. is it because of the prime i'm adding? i've been advised by several fish experts in this forum that the prime doesn't remove ammonia, it merely makes it less toxic for the fish. so i don't get it. i'm getting anxious to start adding my corys... then my neons... then my ghost shrimp (over a few weeks of course, to avoid upsetting the balance).

any ideasadvice are appreciated, thanks!

Llama

Probably the less fish (and .: less ammonia production) coupled with the fact that it was cycling while everything else was going, means that ammonia is going down.

Lucy

You have bio support listed in your aquarium info. What are you using?

Emmy

oh i have bio support but i don't use it. i'm only using a small amount of prime, daily. i guess i should take that off my aquarium info... unless i should be using it?

Lucy

What's your nitrate reading?

Emmy

i haven't done a nitrate test cos i was waiting for the nitrites. i'm getting a nitrate test tomorrow and will check then. will keep you posted.

Lucy

Yeah, def. do a nitrate test. You might be surprised and find your tank is cycled since you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. If you weren't testing everyday you could have missed the nitrite spike.
Good luck...come on nitrates!! lol

Edit: What test kit are you using?

Emmy

i agree, bring on the nitrates!!!

i've got the API test stuff but individuals, not the master kit.