OK, I'm about a wit's end. I've had this 10gal tank running for about 2 months now. I know I'm guilty of murder in the first couple of weeks with it running, I did not know anything about "cycling" but I did buy an API master test kit when I bought everything to set it up. After it ran fishless for about a week, readings were at "0" across the board, so off to the fish store I go. I WAY overpopulated it with 6 neon tetra's, 4 zebra danio's and 4 glowtail (or something like that) tetra's.

Within a couple of days, I had a massive die off..... lesson learned. Since that time, I am down to 1 zebra and 2 of the tetra's that have been bulletproof. My tank has been running the past month or 5 weeks with just those 3 fish and since that time, I'm having to do 50% water changes every other day. On the 2nd day, the ammonia levels are at or just above 4.0ppm.

Nitrites and nitrates are still 0ppm, so I'm sure it's still cycling, but why the high ammonia in just 2 days ? I'm not over feeding, In fact I'm only feeding every other day and with the tiny little mouths they have, all I'm feeding is about an average of 2 little mouthfuls per fish every other day.

H - E - L - P me with whatever I'm not doing, or doing wrong !!!!!!

What filter are you using and what media do you have in it? Are you cleaning the filter (a big no no when cycling)? How much are your water changes? Are you getting any readings on Nitrites or nitrates? Also, do you have any corpses in your tank that you might have missed?

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75 Gallon Planted

You don't start a cycling process until you add either fish or an ammonia (tends to be either pure ammonia or fish food). Basically what you did was add too many fish at once for your tank, so your bioload skyrocked as soon as you added all your fish. As far as I am aware until beneficial bacteria builds up (this happens when you add ammonia to the tank), the ammonia can't be consumed. Basically ammonia is consumed by nitrites and nitrites are consumed by nitrates. Check your water levels everyday and may I suggest reading up on fishless cycling: The Fishless Cycle

Also read up on a cycling with fish: http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html

I would suggest not adding any more fish to your tank until your cycle has completed.

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he has had the tank running for 2 months now. he should have nitrites or nitrates in some numbers by now.

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75 Gallon Planted

TypeYourTextHere- That's what I'm thinking, the 3 little fish have been in the tank since almost the beginning (2 months now), and still every other day the ammonia levels are 4.0 or higher, "0" on nitrites and nitrates.....

The second week that I had it set up is when I way over stocked it and lost a bunch of fish, these three have seemed to survive somehow through that die off. At that time, I did change my filter, an Aqueon hang over the back filter. That filter I put at 2 weeks is still in there and that's been the same one for 6 weeks now. No dead corpses in 6 weeks and no over feeding.... I'm clueless. A 50% water change every other day is equaling about 20 gals of fresh water weekly in this 10gal tank.

I am not terribly familiar with the Aqueon filters but If I recall they are just the one stage filters that have the mesh bags that have carbon inside them.

What I would do if I was in your position is

1. Remove any decorations you may have and set them aside.
2. Run a net through you gravel or sand depending on what you have to check for dead fish. This will stir up any remaining food as well which will be filtered out via your HOB filter and immediately do a 50% water change.
3. Rinse your filter material in USED tank water after about 20 minutes after you stir up the substrate to allow the crap floating around to get sucked up(at least some of it). Do not rub/scrape the filter media, just shake it in the bucket of siphoned tank water. This will help preserve any BB that is on the filter.
4. Refill the tank with dechlorinated water... It just occurred to me, have you been using dechlorinator?
5. Replace the decorations and wait for about 4 hours to check your water levels. This will allow the floating crap to settle and not give you false readings.

Hopefully this will greatly reduce the amount of ammonia causing material in your tank and allow your fish to continue to make the bio load instead of rotting food or whatever else is in the tank. This may not be the best action to take, but it is what I would personally do to reduce the ammonia in the tank and help start the cycle which appears to have stalled.

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75 Gallon Planted

Ok, I will definitely work on doing that in the morning. I am using an Aqueon brand declorinator when I do water changes and yes, the filter is a little plastic frame with a small amount of charcoal inside covered in a white spidery webb type material covering. I'll post tomorrow evening how things went with this.

He noted that he didn't know much about cycling with fish or fishless cycling, which is why I gave the links. And if you ask me if your ammonia is at 4ppm the cycle hasn't completed yet.

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I was not disputing your statement. I just commented that he should have some form of BB after that long.

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75 Gallon Planted

oh, well then. Yea there should definetly be some sort of BB by now.

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Hey let me ask this real quick...... I've got a chunk of petrified wood as a decoration in the tank, could this be the culprit possibly ? Although I have had this same piece of petrified wood for probably 15 years now and it's been in 3 or 4 other aquariums I've owned over the years and not had any problems out of any of them, just searching for cures for this one ?

I honestly don't know the answer to that. If you think it might be the issue then remove it until your tank is stable and finishes cycling. After your tank completes the cycle and is stable for say a week or so then add the piece of petrified wood and check your water daily. If the Ammonia spikes then most likely it is the culprit. Other than that I have no answer.

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75 Gallon Planted

Okay, thanks.... I'm going to pull everything out of it like you mentioned and stir up the gravel tomorrow, so will keep this piece out and see what happens after doing all that...... Thanks a lot, you've been a lot of help.

Ok, Wow !!! That just took two hours out of a dreary, drizzling 37* day

I Removed everything from the tank and combed and sifted all the gravel, didn't find anything other than gravel and debris that clouded the water. I was running the filter while doing this and then let it run for another 45 minutes before draining 50% of the tank water. I then removed the filter and sloshed it around in the 50% water that I removed and re-installed it in the HOB, then redecorated with the exception of that piece of petrified wood, then treated and added 50% new water.

I figure I'll let this run till sometime this evening and will post what the water conditions look like.......

Add 4-6 bunches of anachris.

report back in the morning.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Well it's been 7 hrs since I stripped my tank of decorations and stirred the gravel. Just did a test and friggin ammonia is 2.0 and I'm sure will be higher than that in the morning...... Maybe they should invent different species of little fish that thrive in ammonia laden water.....

The last thing I can think of is the filter pad that's in it right now has been the same one for almost 7 weeks. It's the same filter that was in there when I had a die off of 6 fish from overstocking too soon. When I did what I did to the tank this morning, the filter was fairly clean and did not have an odor to it. The last thing I can think of is something is in the filter from the die off, but I know changing to a new filter right now will start this process all over again..... I'm banging my head at this point.

It doesn't sound like your filter has much bio capacity. You need triple stage filtration. Get a small canister filter or at least a HOB filter with a bio wheel. Throw in some ceramic rings. If all you have is a filter pad, you aren't providing much of a home for bacteria.

A new filter system is something I was going to go to PetCo and PetsMart tomorrow and research, but I suppose buying new would mean starting a brand new cycle over right ? Not really worried about that at this point as I'm frustrated to the max with whats going on right now......

If you decide to get a new filter then you can. All you need to do is one of two things. Either run both filters for about 2-3 weeks then remove the old filter, or run only the new filter after shoving what ever media that was in the old filter into the new one with the new filter's media(providing there is room)

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75 Gallon Planted

I forgot to add that if you do go with a new filter get a aquaclear 20. Those are rated up to 30 gallons (i think). they are 3 stage filters and I love mine. I just love my fish more and tend to overstock my tank, which is why I am building a DIY sump.
One other thing to keep in mind is that the lower your water volume is (the smaller the tank) the less forgiving your water will be. You have a ten gallon tank so there is not much room for error with your set up. make absolutely sure that you measure precisely to the drop any chemicals you may use in it. the swings are also far bigger than if you had a 75 gallon.
Do yourself a favor, blast your air pump to its max, turn your HOB filter all the way up kill the lights in your tank and go get something to drink. If by tomorrow night your levels have not dropped some then you can start stressing again, and for the sake of Pete, make sure that you aren't color blind

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75 Gallon Planted