What am I doing wronggggg - Perpetually cloudy water

[Petersgirl]

Do you have any plants in your tank, Omgitsmogo? They'll start eating up your nitrates for you. I've had to suggest this for my brother, who had a catastrophic series of illnesses and spikes which completely wrecked his tank. Water changes will give your bacteria a fighting chance to convert your nitrites lickedy-split. I was also wondering if your axxie was still in the tank? It might be worth moving him into a separate container while this cycles itself out. Prime will render the nitrite and nitrate non-toxic but...well...I'm a worrywart

Keep us posted, hope your tank settles!

 

[Kaysie]

Had a nice chat with the guy at petco who suggested more sand could be helpful to host bacteria and he also suggested ammo-chips since he thinks it could be an ammonia problem.

Of course he did! You walked out buying stuff, didn't you? More sand will just lead to anaerobic (read: toxic) gas pockets, and ammo chips are unnecessary: the best way to handle ammonia is through water changes. Why bother 'treating' it when you can just remove it completely?

I also don't recommend using Prime, as this will bind your ammonia in a way that makes it biologically unavailable to your beneficial bacteria, starving them and crashing your cycle. Simple dechlorinators (no ammonia removers, heavy metal detoxifiers (unless necessary), aloe, etc.) are best.

If your water quality is bad, just do water changes. Don't add more stuff to already bad water.