# Jon's Feeshy Feesh Adventure ~~



## Jonthefish (Jun 16, 2014)

Hiya ! Just came back from our crap overpriced LFS . Lol . :roll:

Ponyo hit his back on the siphon and so I went to the local fish store to grab some mess and a water testing kit . Turns out their kit is 50$ !!! Heck no . So I ended up just grabbing ph and ammonia because the guy said that is all I would need . I also grabbed stress coat because I heard that's good for regrowth . The guy also tried to sell me Melafix ? I've never heard of it so I turned it down and he said that the stress coat would be enough . I also got a free little four pack of tester strips .

I wanted to know when you test the water ? I want to do it today but I did water changes yesterday so I'm not sure if that effects the results . In other words when should I check water parameters to get proper results ? Or does it not matter when ? :-?

By the way , I reply quite fast and check the forum often . So if anyone ever needs help or wants to tell me somthing I'm here ! :-D


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

You need more than just ammomia test you also need nitrite and nitrate test kits (unless you have no filter.. In which case people will tell you that you should get a filter). Ammomia is not the only thing that will harm your betta. $50 *is *idiotic, you can get one online and even with shipping save $20.
Please get the other needed test kits.
Right after a water change is the most useless for testing ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. However you can check pH at any time. You should also get a GH and KH test... If you have hard water it buffers pH which means it's less likely to fluxuate. 
As for ammonia nitrite and nitrates in the tank, if you do say a 50% water change it will cut those # in half, 25% will be 3/4 what it was before. BUT every time a fish exhales, exretes, or food or dead plany matter decoys... ammonia is generated. In a tank that is cycling (or finished cycling) bacteria consume the ammonia which produces a byproduct: nitrite. Another bacteria consumes the nitrite and generates nitrate. Nitrate is the least harmful if these 3, but high levels are still harmful.
All that said... If you want the "real" levels, do a water test right before your water change, to see how high the levels are. If you are cycling a tank or have no filter and just do water changes then every day or every other day you should test water and do a water change after as needed to keep water liveable.


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