Sorry I am green when it comes to this hobby...but I so much enjoy them.

I have a new tank (10 Gal. w/ 2 fish), 'bout 12 days old now. I have a fish "Dega" that was floating. Found out he was injesting to much air from eating floating food. I got alot of advice from a few of you. I have been soaking his food as instructed. Has worked like a charm. For that I am grateful! Dega is doing much better, however, the tank ammonia level is still 2.0. I did a 50% water change 3 days ago. Should i do another 50% water change to bring the levels down? ph is 7.2 and nitrite is 0. I prefer hearing from y'all that have been there done that!!!

Luv ~ Chris

Hey Goldfish Rookie, I am in the middle of the cycle and just got done with the step of high ammonia just like you. You should change your water again, 2.0 is still high and toxic to your gf. I would change 25% of your water daily until you are through the cycle, maybe even more if you can't get your ammonia down.

There is a product called Prime which is a great water conditioner and will make the cycle probably a little bit easier on your fish. Good luck through the rest of your cycle and there is alot of helpful info on the site that will also get you through it.

Good luck with your GF and I warn you that this hobby gets very addictive

Very addictive indeed!!

I did a water change. I will test the water in the morning. Can anyone explain my fish swimming around very rapidly, like they are "freaking out" for 3-5 seconds...then it stops. Is this mormal? Dega and Dude were both doing it a few days ago but, it has stopped as far as i can see. Right now they both look fantasic...alot better than a few days ago! I was very worried about losing Dega. I just gave them peas a bit ago and they r both swimming around like "super fishies"... so vibrant and full of life. I hope I am doing things correctly as this is all new to me! THANK YOU...for your input and putting up with all my questions. I love them both dearly in such a short period of time!

Thanks again! Chris

What does it mean when your tank is "cycled"?

Told y'all i was green!

L ~ Chris

I'm in the same stage too. Mine might be a little farther now, my ammonia is gone and the nitrites are spiking.

My fish did that "freaking out" when my ammonia was high. Just keep an eye on it. Buy some Prime if you can find it. It works great and solves almost all problems with the tank water. It will also make the ammonia less toxic to your fish.

The ammonia thing your going through is completely normal. It's just one step in the cycle process. Read this article about cycling of your tank.

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/cycle.html

Hi Goldfish Rookie

the above link that mrbowlerdude posted is a great read! I recomend it. It will help explain whats going on with your water.

As for the fish "freaking out" this is probably due to amonia burn, it hurts them so they may swim erraticaly trying to get away from it.

Unfortunately 2 fish in 10 g is overstocked so your cycle may take longer then the average, this will be due to the fact you will have to do more waterchanges to keep the waste/amonia down then if you only had one fish in there.

If you can I recomend testing the water morning and night and do waterchanges acordingly. Try to keep the amonia under 1, this may mean you do a waterchange, test water again and may need to do another waterchange.
Its alot of hard work initially but its well worth it.

It going to be like walking a tight rope here, you need the amonia down but cant do 100% changes and kill the cycle, so you got to find a happy medium. With your tank gallons and amount of fish you may hve to do more changes then usual and take longer to cycle.

Sorry if that overwhelmes you, its not my intention at all, but you may be looking at partial daily changes here.

I wish you the best of luck and please ask as many questions as you want
All of us will try to help.

Thank you evryone for your help!

I did a 50% water change last night and the ammonia still reads 2.0. I will another 50% tonight. I vac the tank just to make sure i am getting a much waste out of there as possible. Ty bolwer for the link, it gave me more insight about my tank. I know having 2 fish in a 10g is overstocked, but I couldnt have just one. I guess that is just being selfish. Anyone fimiliar with ammo lock? Should i add some of that or is it basically a water conditioner? Boy i cant wait until i know what i am doing! I dont mind the hard work one bit....as long a my lil guys are healthy.

Thanks Again! Chris

ammo lock is not going to help, i think i heard in another thread it interferes with cycling. Go natural and do daily 50% water changes. That is what I did and I didn't even have a testing kit for the levels and everything turned out ok. I have had the fish for 2 yrs now. Just keep up water changes, I think I did mine for at least 2 months. Good Luck, keep us updated.

Thanks Love!

And everyone else for their advice... I will keep in touch.

L ~ Chris

I cycled my 10 gallon w/two gf in 3 1/2 weeks with the help of Bio-Spira. This is an awesome product, if you can afford it. It aids in speeding up the cycling process. I did not hear of it until I was 2 1/2 weeks into the cycle; but once I learned of it, I jumped on it. It is not the cheapest product on the market, but I believe well worth every penny.

Also, you may want to think about salting the tank to help protect your fish from the high nitrItes, which will come eventually.

Good luck!

just be patient and everything will work out for the good...cycling takes some time

A friend of mine stopped by and suggested salting the water. It is 1 tsp per gallon, correct? Also, Dega is starting to float again. Not as bas as he was the first time. When he stops swimming he floats to the top but does not stay there, he is swimming at the bottom of the tank looking for food. He has been fed twice today. I soak their food. I am also seeing some white stringy poo floating around. I have no idea which fish it came from. Dude seems to be in a blah mood and not moving around to much. His fins are not clamped and is eating normally. Should i still do the 50% water change or add the salt or both? I will look for that product Tazz thnaks!

had the tank for 13 days now.
ph 7.6
ammonia 2.0
nitrite 0

Chris

The white poo came from Dude and he did a few second of the irractic swimming. He started to move around a bit but has went back to not moving much.

Chris

1 tsp per gallon is correct for salting the water but you want to wait until you get to the nitrite phase of the cycle before you salt the water. It doesn't really do anything for the ammonia. Lots of water changes and patience will get you through the ammonia phase!! I would still do the 50% water change but no salt. The erratic swimming (darting) is most likely due to high ammonia levels.

There is a link on this site that describes the different kind of goldfish poop. (If I were computer literate I would add the link here!) Anyway it describes a couple of different types of white stringy poop. You may want to check that out.

Hope that helps!! Hang in there--cycling seems to take forever but you will get thru it!!

Just do your best to keep that ammonia down, if I remember right (please correct me if I'm wrong) it is best to keep you fish on a light diet, meaning don't give them a ton of food. Of course give them enough but just be very very careful not to overfeed. Overfeeding just leads to more fish waste and uneaten food in the tank, which greatly contributes to the ammonia problems.

Don't despair, things will get better for your fishies!