Ammonia and Bettas

[minkymink]

I've been trying to cycle my tank for a while and it's taking longer than expected, perhaps I'm not doing something correctly. Apparently my tank is consistently .25 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites and nitrates. Is just .25 ppm of ammonia really that harmful to a betta?

[callistra]

Short term it is harmful but you may not see any obvious effect, Long term it can be lethal. You should be doing a water change any time you see that much ammonia. You should also be monitoring nitrites and once you see nitrites you need to keep an eye on nitrates. Ammonia and nitrites should never go over .25ppm.http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=47838

Cyling can take up to 2 months. How long have you had it running? What filter are you using? What is the temp and size of the tank?

[minkymink]

Probably about a month. I'm using a power filter that came built into my hood, I have a marineland eclipse hexagon 5 gal, the temp stays on a steady 78-80.