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High ammonia in black molly tank

23 16:16:19

Question
I'm pretty new to aquariums (tried a few months ago with  goldfish, but with sad results). My current setup is this: 10gal tank with ~13 black mollies. I know, WAY too many for 10gal, but almost all of them are really small (babies, probably 1/4 inch or less). The largest is maybe 1 inch.  I plan to upgrade when they get a little bigger (plus I think the biggest molly is pregnant, so I'll HAVE to have more space SOON).  I've got a Marineland Bio-Wheel Penguin Power Filter 100.  And I've been adding Cycle daily since I set up the tank (about 2 weeks ago) to help boost the bacteria growth on the bio-filter.  I've also gradually been adding a just little aquarium salt when I do H2O changes (like 1/2tsp to 2.5gal/H20) because I heard that mollies (and most freshwater fish) do better with a little salt.  The tank has one live plant (anubias), and I've ordered another variety of anubias and some java fern.

Anyway, the fish are all acting just fine & seem healthy & happy.  No weird behavior, no losses.  BUT, after close to 2 weeks, my ammonia levels are still high (2.5-5.0ppm).  pH is ~7.8, nitrite is running around 0.1-0.2ppm, and nitrate is ~10ppm.  From what I've read, the presence of nitrite @ nitrate shows that the tank IS cycling, but I don't understand why the ammonia isn't going down.  I've been doing 20-25% H2O changes about twice a week, but the ammonia level doesn't change much.  I've been trying to be careful to not overfeed.  Little buggers always seem hungry, though, so I'm kinda scared that I'm UNDERfeeding them.

Is there something I'm doing wrong?  Is there anything else I can do to get the ammonia level down, besides the H2O changes?  Is it OK to do more frequent H2O changes, or will that stress the fish too much?   I have some Ammonia Clear tablets, but I'm kind of afraid to use them (for fear it might mess with the cycling process, and I've read that it will give false positive ammonia readings afterward).  Also, is it really a huge problem for the ammonia to be this high?  Like I said, the fish seem fine - I'm afraid maybe I'm being too paranoid & obsessive about it, and I might harm them more by monkeying around trying to fix the ammonia problem.  

Thanks for listening to my ramble, and I really appreciate any help you can offer.  :)


Answer
Lantha:  The tank is still cycling and it will for a while.  You will need to add more bacteria to the tank to help combat the extra fish food, fish poop, and urine.  Oh the joy of over stocking your tank.  Water changes need to be between 10-20 percent.  The ammonia is not going away because something in your gravel is rotting and there is not enough bacteria to consume it before the decomposition process gives off ammonia.  Because the tank is fairly new I would just stir the gravel up really good and let the filter take some of the particles out... You can gravel vacuum lightly if you need to especially around ornaments, etc.  Gravel vacuuming will deplete bacteria too if you are too thorough with it so wait for a couple more weeks before you gravel vacuum.  dave