Rob14

I have a 20 gallon long aquarium with ammonia issues. It has cycled but I am not sure if I have too many fish. I currently have 5 neon teras, 3 zebra danios, 5 Platys, a Cory Catfish, and 1 Mystery Snail. Any advice or suggestions?

Lucy

Hi Rob, Welcome to Fish Lore
I went ahead moved your question to a thread of it's own.
It's less confusing and you'll be better able to keep track of the advice given.

What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
Looks slightly overstocked, but manageable.
What's your water change routine?

It would be a good idea to start doing daily water changes until your readings are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites with some nitrates showing. If you use Prime as your water conditioner, it'll detox the ammonia for 24 hrs between water changes.

I hope you post some pics soon, I love the looks of the 20 long.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!! great advice from lucy...and ive deleted one of your posts as a duplicate...good luck!

navyscuba

Readings are a good place to start. How long has been running? Where all the fish added at the same time?

Rob14

Nitrates are 20. Nitrites are 0. Ammonia is at stress level. The pH was a little low at 6.2.

Thanks for moving / deleting duplicate posts. I think I have the idea now.

Shawnie

your welcome...you will catch on fast
finding some prime or amquel+ (if prime isnt available near you) is going to do wonders for saving your fish...do the daily changes with one of those, like lucy recommended, and in time you will have a fully cycled tank...what test kit are you using? having nitrates so soon, could mean you have them in your tap water..have you tested that yet?

Lucy

If you could fill in your aquarium info, that would help the members with their advice.
You can find it under My Settings at the top left.

Rob14

All filled in. I did a water change and have the Nitrates and Nitrites at 0. Ammonia is still a little high but it is now somewhere between safe and stress. I did add a pinch on baking soda which brought my PH up to 6.8. I will continue to monitor each day to stay within the safe zones.

Shawnie

did you find prime or amquel+? I wouldnt mess with your ph as that will change as the cycling progresses..and using baking soda changes it too fast and too drastically ...most fish will acclimate to all kinds of ph values.....the water changes are needed as long as you have ammonia..no ammonia is safe..quick dip sticks are very unreliable for testing and you could be negative in ammonia for all you know with some nitrates even......so if you can get a liquid test kit, they are much more reliable and easier to know exactly where you stand...API makes a master test kit thats liquid and you can do hundreds of tests with it ....

Rob14

Thanks for the info ... I will get a liquid test kit on my next visit to the pet store. What a learning process this has become.

Shawnie

it never ends either years from now, you will learn something new everyday ...