Struggling With My Betta Tank

Hi! Firstly I want to say that I am fully aware of the nitrogen cycle sadly, after I bought my betta. So now I'm stuck trying to cycle with him in there and for background info I have a 5 gallon tank and it's been running for 18 days, for 17 I've had my fish in there because I was wrongly told by petsmart that it was okay to add fish after 24 hours.
After I did research I quickly bought prime and stability in which I've been dosing the proper amounts. I started dosing on 8/26/2019.
And then I quickly realized even though I'm doing these things, I have no idea what's going on in there so I gave in and bought the API Freshwater test kit.
the readings were
Ammonia: in between .25-.50 (I left it because I figured prime would protect him for the 24 hours before water change)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates: 0.
I did test my tap water as well and there is no ammonia.

I don't think my stability was alive because I do live in the south, and it probably died in the heat in transit.
I was thinking of buying TSS but I'm really confused on how that works and if you can even do that with a fish-in cycle since parameters might get too dangerous for the fish and you can't do any water changes with it?
I just really want it to cycle
He's completely fine in there I have a couple of live plants and a couple of silk. I highly doubt the amount of live plants I have are enough to eat all of the nitrates. I'm almost positive there are just no nitrates being produced because its not cycling. Probably because either stability died in transit or because I've been changing too much water every couple of days (25-30%)

Any tips would help !!!!

I forgot to say I do have a heater and filter the filter is integrated!! I keep the temperature around 80
and the ph was around 6.8-7 (I was told this is fine for a betta)

 

the tank is still in the process of cycling- the process can take upwards of 45+ days. I'm not sure what you mean by saying your stability died?? Stability's bacteria are inactive while in the container and thus can withstand extreme temperatures. They only become active once put into the aquarium. There's not really anything you can do to speed it up- just keep following the instructions on the bottle.

 

the tank is still in the process of cycling- the process can take upwards of 45+ days. I'm not sure what you mean by saying your stability died?? Stability's bacteria are inactive while in the container and thus can withstand extreme temperatures. They only become active once put into the aquarium. There's not really anything you can do to speed it up- just keep following the instructions on the bottle.

Yes I know all of this but I figured it would've moved at least a little by now but I guess I'm a bit too impatient lol. And I know that about the stability but I saw that if it gets to a certain temperature too cold or too hot it could kill the bacteria? I don't know how true this is but I figured if it was working in my tank would it still take that long for it to move on to nitrites?

 

Welcome to FishLore!

I think TSS+ is a great product and I am a big fan. It is actually designed for doing fish-in cycles, though it can be used for fishless cycles also.

If you want to use TSS+ here's what you should do:
1) Do a large water change to get ammonia and/or nitrites levels as close to 0ppm as possible
2) Wait 24 hours. This is very important. Using TSS+ less than 24 hours after using a water conditioner can cause it to fail
3) Add entire, well shaken, appropriate sized bottle of TSS+
4) Do nothing but lightly fed your fish for the next 14 days (no water changes, no adding any chemicals, don't even test unless your fish looks distresses since the results can scare you into doing something that will cause the TSS+ to fail)
5) On day 14 test. If all worked correctly, congrats...you're cycled...Easy Peasy.

Best of luck!

 

Yes I know all of this but I figured it would've moved at least a little by now but I guess I'm a bit too impatient lol. And I know that about the stability but I saw that if it gets to a certain temperature too cold or too hot it could kill the bacteria? I don't know how true this is but I figured if it was working in my tank would it still take that long for it to move on to nitrites?

Welcome to FishLore!

I think TSS+ is a great product and I am a big fan. It is actually designed for doing fish-in cycles, though it can be used for fishless cycles also.

If you want to use TSS+ here's what you should do:
1) Do a large water change to get ammonia and/or nitrites levels as close to 0ppm as possible
2) Wait 24 hours. This is very important. Using TSS+ less than 24 hours after using a water conditioner can cause it to fail
3) Add entire, well shaken, appropriate sized bottle of TSS+
4) Do nothing but lightly fed your fish for the next 14 days (no water changes, no adding any chemicals, don't even test unless your fish looks distresses since the results can scare you into doing something that will cause the TSS+ to fail)
5) On day 14 test. If all worked correctly, congrats...you're cycled...Easy Peasy.

Best of luck!

Thank you so much!! That sounds so scary lol but I'm sure my boy will be happier to have it over with rather than it taking another month at least. I'll give it a go! I did do a water change yesterday but it was only around 15% so I'll be doing another one maybe tomorrow? I don't wanna mess with him too much and then I'll add TSS the next day! Thank you for your help

 

You are welcome. Good luck (not that I think you'll need it)

 

Right now, you have no nitrate being produced, so you want want to put some fertilizer in there for the plants. I like Thrive for smaller tanks. If you don't they will start developing deficiencies and die.