Not sure why you're changing the water that much. Like I posted above, shouldn't change the water like that, only top it off from time to time from evaporation. You're not letting the bacteria from the bio filter establish itself in the water, and do it's job.
Everything that I have read says that when ammonia is that high in the tank that you have to frequently change out some of the water....usually daily water changes are advised and I am trying to do them every other day. Obviously, i'm only taking out about 1/6 of the water in the tank...thus leaving behind a ton of old water with bacteria and such in it. Plus, there is still plenty of ammonia in the remaining water for the bacteria to feed upon.
So, are you saying from your experience then when cycling the tank and going through an ammonia spike that you believe it best to just leave it alone? While some do tend to agree with that thinking, it seems more believe that partial water changes during the cycling process in no way slows it down.
LOL, well, we're talking about a 6 gallon tank here right, which isn't that big at all. You've said your changing out the water everyday with at least a gallon or two. That's a lot of water changing in the amount of time for a 6 gallon tank if you ask me. So you're basically restarting the initial cycling stage over and over. I'm not an aquarium expert, but I'm going to say either -
A) Your water source is already way too high in ammonia and is just compounding it with your large scale water changing.
B) Your changing too much water for the capacity and time given. Essentially re-feeding your ammonia problem with your apparent high ammonia water, at the same time stressing and not giving the suitable amount of bacteria to grow and balance it out, time enough to flourish. Restarting the cycling process.
C) You killed or are starving your bio filter off somehow, again which is contributing to restart cycling process, or with chemicals. And/or bio boosters.
D) You're not giving it and waiting with enough time for it to balance. Like 4-8 weeks, with a little lower water changes than you're doing.
That's about as much opinion I can give you on it.
I did check my water for ammonia coming from my tap and it's clean. Registering exactly 0.
Yes...to me it seems the bio filter did die.
I think back when the problem started and I had 2 dead fish and cleaned the toys and walls and vacuumed the gravel that I did way too much for such a small tank. And then when the LFS told me to use the ammonia chips, I think they furthered the problem.
I haven't put any chemicals, bio boosters or anything else into the tank in the past 2 weeks. I haven't changed filters, I haven't cleaned anything, I've only changed out 15% of my water on a regular basis...and I am only using a water dechorinator in that water...which I now put into the new water 1 day before and let it come to room temp on it's own.
I've very much appreciated your insight. It's always good to get other opinions and thoughts onto the matter.
I'm just trying to get this cleared up so that we can add back an algae eater since our tank is turning green everywhere. The ammonia in the tank killed the other one we tried to add. And my daughter (who is 5) would like 1 or 2 more fish and she is patiently waiting (as best a 5 year old) for the water to come back into check. But with high ammonia, I know that I cannot simply toss in some more fish because 1) it will most likely just kill them or 2) it will just lead to more ammonia because it's more waste.
I was going to ask you about chemicals. They are important. I have a 55 gallon with cichlids. I change a third of the tank every two weeks. If you are changing a third of yours every two days, that is too much. You need to buy some Stress Coat and Stress Zyme. The Stress Coat takes the chlorine out of the water and the Stress Zyme is live bacteria which looks pretty bad, but the fish need it. You might ask the guy at the fish store what you can do about the ammonia if it still is high. I would suggest changing a third of the water, putting in the chemicals, it tells you on the bottle how much to use and letting it go for two weeks before changing any more. Get back with us on how things are going.
PS -- If you have a light on your tank, limit it to ten hours a day. That will help reduce the algae. Buy a timer and it will take care if itself.
Have you taken a sample of the water to the Aquarium shop and have them test the water?
Maybe they can come up with some suggestions on how to get you up and running.
If it were me I would buy a small little Aquarium bowl with a few fish just so my daughter would be occupied while I got the big tank running. IMHO
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