Water quality mystery? - With Losing fishes

[Torrey]

@modified lung, thank you for the chart. Should help both Rory & MyFish.

Now, did I have the name recall problem due to my stroke a year ago, or was that grandparent brain where we call out every single grandchild's name..

 Except for the name of the child in front of us😅

[modified lung]

@Torrey this is the first time I've posted this chart on here.

[Torrey]

Cool! I feel mildly better, except I still can't remember who posted originally 😅

[laritheloud]

@Torrey and @Mmiller2001 both gave excellent advice. Change that water, and change a lot of it often. Keep adding Stability/your bacteria of choice, keep testing, and try to have patience. There is no strict timeline for completing a cycle for a tank. My 29 gallon cycled in 10 days, my two 10 gallon tanks cycled in 5 weeks, my 55 gallon cycled in three weeks, and my 20 gallon cycled after 8 to 10 weeks. It's highly variable, and though plants can help, they don't always speed the cycle as I added plants to all of my tanks. If you are adding fertilizer to your tank, that might be the source of the nitrates (or from the stratum) -- I'm not convinced this tank was ever cycled since nitrites haven't been seen and your ammonia is quite high.

The low PH is helpful for keeping your fish safe, so I'm glad that's on your side right now. Hang in there! This can be done safely, but it takes a lot of vigilance, a lot of water changes, and a lot of testing!