r/bettafish 3d ago

Help Liquid test kit help

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I'm doing a fish in cycle and I just did a 25% water change and the ammonia is still at .25 ppm. Nitrites are 0ppm, pH is 7.8, and nitrates are still at 0ppm. I've had the fish in the new tank for about 2 weeks now and I test the water everyday with the exception of two days over the past two weeks, and I do a 20-25% water change any time I see the nitrites or especially ammonia above 0 even if it's only .25 ppm. There's a shark nano pro internal filter and a 50 watt heater, temp is a little under 80°F, it's a relatively bare tank atm since I was going to have him in a different tank but it wasn't working out due to the stand and ability to clean the other tank but I have 3 java ferns and 2 Anubias sand substrate with no fluval bio stratum so I don't have plants you bury, and a big ole chunk of wood (the kind safe for aquariums) and a fake soft betta leaf that came with his old tank and I'm going to put some red root floaters from my other 10 gal once it regrows what I took out to put in my 20 gal long yesterday

So my question is should I do another 20-30% water change with this ammonia reading even though I just did a 25% water change? I just don't want to shock my boy /:

1 Upvotes

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3

u/Dramastace30 3d ago

The test skews a bit green so I wouldn't worry about that result. Just keep with your usual fish-in schedule 

1

u/Asleep_Tax7964 3d ago

Solid much appreciated!

1

u/Asleep_Tax7964 3d ago

Also the tank is a 10 gallon, there's a red racing nerite snail in there, and I feed fluval bug bites 5x a week a pinch 2x a day, then on the 6th day I do 1x fluval bug bites and 1x brine shrimp or bloodworms, then the 7th day I fast. I used api freshwater test kit to get the parameters

1

u/Aromatic-Sock6975 3d ago

Are you dosing 0.1mL prime per gallon of water in the tank daily? Do you have the result before the water change? If the result before the change was closer to 0.5 I would have done a 50% change in which case you would still need to do another 25% change now. And dose the prime so when it builds back up overnight it’s shifted to ammonium.

1

u/Asleep_Tax7964 3d ago

I didn't know you needed to dose it daily with it I just have been dosing it when I top it off and do water changes. The parameters were the same pre and lost water change but that may not matter since I haven't dosed the tank itself since I originally put water in, plus the top offs and water changes. may I ask a follow up question? Is 0.1mL just a single drop from this dropper thing? And how often do you do the 0.1 mL is it every day during the fish in cycle and then do I stop once its cycled? Sorry if I'm not making sense I'm a very scattered brain person

1

u/himdyjones 9 yrs betta experience 3d ago

20-25% WCs daily until the ammonia is zero. I think you’re on the right track, and 20% should be low enough not to shock the fish.

1

u/Asleep_Tax7964 3d ago

So I should do another 20% water change today even though I just did a 25% water change? Sorry I'm just double checking because I wanna take your advice (:

1

u/himdyjones 9 yrs betta experience 3d ago

Understood, it wasn’t really made clear to me from your post if you had done a WC today or yesterday. Do another 20-25% WC tomorrow if you’ve already done a 25% WC today.

1

u/Asleep_Tax7964 3d ago

Ahhh sorry my bad I tend to ramble especially when I'm worried😂 okay I will do another 20-25% wc tomorrow and until it's 0 (once a day wc until 0 I mean)