Cycling cycling cycling my tank

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heresyoftruth

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I started my 10 gallon tank on the last day of march with 2 "sacrificial goldfish", and then started my research. (I am an idiot and should have reversed the order!) I then read about cycling, and all the goodies that my lfs didn't tell me about. They are okay, and talk to me about it now that I know what to ask, but hadn't really volunteered the info when I started. I feel pretty awful about being told I need "sacrificial goldfish" by the lfs, and if I had been smarter and researched I would have gone with fishless cycling. (Thier terminology was "sacrificial goldfish")

So then I read about the happy bacteria I needed, and took some decorations from an aquarium my husband has, along with some water to jump start the cycling process. I am currently down to 0 amonnia, and then took my water into the lfs to test yesterday and was told my nitrite was high. I didn't get exact readings from her, though.

One of the two goldfish got ick, which I treated with ick gaurd, and a few days later the second has it, and looks like they are dying. I was curious, once contracted do they ever come back from it? I am sure the poor water quality is to blame.

My question, after that intro of doom, is whether I can speed up the process. Could I cycle tank water out of my established tank into my new one? The established on is healthy and fine, 0 amonnia and I really need nitrite, and nitrate test kits for the rest. Will this help with a nitrite spike? How close is this to the end of the cycling process.

Oh! I almost forgot. I have a snail, that exploded into baby snails (I wish I knew they did that before I bought them, again with the research!) and was wondering if they produced the same kind of waste that fish did, or if that could upset the balance of the tank.

Thanks a lot.
 
First off, Welcome to the forums! I hope you learn as much from your time here as I have. :thumbs:

Regarding your cycle, now that you've started with the fish, you should follow through and try to keep them alive and healthy. I would strongly suggest a big water change of 25-50% and further water changes every day until the ick is gone. Goldfish are prodigious waste producers. The most important thing you can do to rid them of the ick is those water changes. You need to keep the Nitrite levels below 1ppm if possible.

Water changes should be done with water around the same temp as the tank water and with dechlorinator added.

What do you plan to do with the goldfish once the cycle completes?

Regarding snails, if the population grows too large, place a saucer in the tank with a piece of lettuce on it. The snails will be attracted to the lettuce overnight and you can remove them with the saucer in the morning. This won't get rid of them, but should keep the population in check.

And finally, congrats on seeking advice to keep your fish and tank healthy. You've come to the right place.

I think the most important thing to have is PATIENCE... Hang in there! It's worth the wait!
 
Thanks! Sorry it took so long to reply.

Thanks for the advice on the water changes. I had been scared to pursue that too aggressively and was doing a 20% change every other day. Unfortunately the last gold fish died, for which I am sad. (Still kicking myself for not doing a fishless cycle.)

Thanks for the advice on the snails. They seem fairly hardy and outlasted the goldfish.

I think I will round out my test kits with a nitrate and nitrite tester so I can keep an eye on where i am going. At least if it will take a while, I will be able to watch it's progress that way.

I called my lfs and they said I didn't need any additional fish to finish the cycling process. I am hoping that's true because I don't want to have any more "sacrificial fish". On the nice side the lfs here will take the fish you use to start your tank back once your tank is set up.

Thanks again for the advice, I really appreciate it.
 
Sorry to hear about the last goldfish :-( You may not need a fish to finish the cycle but you are going to need some source of ammonia to keep the bacterial colony alive. You are reading 0 ammonia right now because the bacterial colony is large enough to handle the ammonia your fish was producing. This type of bacteria needs ammonia to produce nitrites if there is no food for them then no nitrites are produced and soon the nitrite level will be 0 and it will look like your tankis completely cycled when really it is back to square one.
So if you do not place another fish in the tank then you will need to add pure ammonia in small amounts to the tank. You can tell its pure by shaking it. If it foams up it is NOT pure. HTH :)
 
I agree. Go to the supermarket and buy plain, pure, 100% ammonia. At this point, you're better off fishless cycling. Fish added in the middle of the cycle won't have the opportunity the original inhabitants had to slowly adjust (as best they could) to the increased ammonia/nitrite levels.
 
I went out and bought a nitrIte test kit, and did some water tests on my tank. I came up with .25 nitrIte, and 0 ammonia. I know any amount of nitrItes are bad, but since this is on the way down, how is the tank doing? Just me being anxious.

Oh, by the way, you guys are amazing. I am so grateful for all the advice I am getting.
 
Nitrites are probably coming down because as the others have stated, without the fish there is no ammonia to feed the bacteria. I would agree that at this point it would be best to switch to a fishless cycle. Get your pure ammonia and start adding this daily to feed that bacteria. Though I am not sure how much you would want to add. Maybe someone else can help here, as I am used to starting from scratch. But I would guess to add ammonia to get a reading of 3-5ppm immediatly after adding it. Then adding this amount each day until cycle is complete? But perhaps someone else would be better suited to help on that part.
 
I haven't been in that situation before, but given where you are in the cycle I would add enough to bring your ammonia level to ~4ppm. Then add half of that amount daily until you're at 0 and 0 again.

Good luck! :thumbs:
 

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