Freshwater Tank

Question
Hi,

I have a 10 gallon tank. For about a year we had a single goldfish in it. He died on monday from what i suspect was ammonia poison. Everywhere i go i get different advice in all these fish stores so i am a bit torn on what to do.

How often should i do a partial water change? I set up the tank again after cleaning it well incase it was disease. I added the water conditioner and the live bacteria.  So about 24 hrs later the ammonia says its about 1.0. Is this a safe level... Is there a safe level and how long should i wait before introducing a fish to the tank again?

Any advice you could offer would be a huge help.

Thanks!

Answer
Melissa,

The best way to cycle the tank is to let it run without fish for 2 to 4 weeks. Since you are adding the bacteria, test the water daily. Ammonia and nitrite have to be at zero at all times. With the reading you have now, any fish added will die. DO NOT add any fish until both the ammonia and nitrites are reading at zero for 5 to 7 days in a row. 1.0 reading on ammonia is very high. 25% water changes need to be done weekly. If you are going to put goldfish in again remember that the ratio for them is 20 gallons of water for the first one and 10 gallons for each fish added. This is the minimum tank sizes where 20 gallons per fish is better. For example, if you want 2 goldfish you will want nothing smaller than a 30 gallon tank. Goldfish do not have a stomach and their waste comes right back out as ammonia. If you put one goldfish in the 10 gallon tank you will want to do the water changes every 3 to 4 days or twice a week. I hope this helps and if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.