I recently set up a 3.4 gallon tank for my new betta fish. Unfortunately I was under the impression that bettas are very hardy and don’t need a cycled tank. I now understand that ALL fish need a cycled tank, but I’m not sure what to do with my betta. The tank has been set up for about three days (the fish was just added today) and has a heater and a filter. I added a bacteria supplement to the water, though I’m not sure how much it will do in the long run. What should I do ?
Didn’t cycle tank... please help
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Bacteria suppliments are garbage. Don't add this to your tank as it will just cause further problems. First thing is first, you need to do a water change of 25% to 50% just to be safe. Second, go out and purhcase an API freshwater master test kit. These liquid test kits allow you to do 100's of tests and are much more accurate and affordable than those lousy test strips. One kit costs about 30$ at petsmart. You will need to start testing your water every day, better each morning and each night, to make sure your water parameters are in safe levels while you do a fish in cycle. You will need to do water changes probably every day depending on your test results until your tank cycles. Make sure you have water conditioner handy. I highly recommend you go to walmart and get the tetra aquasafe large bottle. It's about 12 dollars and you get about... 200-300 gallons worth of water treatment? Just be sure it says AQUASAFE and not EASY BALANCE (which is garbage) as the bottles are identical except for that one bit of wording below the tetra label.
Another alternative is to return the betta or rehome him and do a fishless cycle, which would be easier and more humane for your betta. Another handy tip, if you know ANYONE (besides the big box petstores as their tanks are full of sick fish) with an established freshwater tank see if you can get some used filter media from them. Make sure that the filter media you get is kept in a container or baggy with tank water, never dries out or comes into contact with regular tap water, or gets too hot or cold. Make arrangements for the filter media to be put in your tank ASAP. This borrowed filter media will have a beneficial bacteria colony already inside it, and it's the bacteria colony that determines an established tank. This will help kickstart the cycle and cut your waiting time down.
At this time all you can do is a fish in or a fishless cycle and monitor your tank until it is cycled. I will give you a flink to read over explaining the cycle. I'm sure there are plenty of guides you can research yourself, as well as other members more versed than I on this topic. (Byron or Nickau will probably swim on by for a peek soon, they are very knowledgeable members of the forum).
Water cycle. https://aquariuminfo.org/cycling.html
If you decide to keep the betta, when you test as FroFro described whenever you see a reading for ammonia and/or nitrite do a water change to get it to zero. Water changes will not harm the betta as long as the new water is dechlorinated and at roughly the same temperature as the tank water. Fish 'poop' ammonia so at first you will see only ammonia. Then ammonia eating bacteria will start to grow and they 'poop' nitrite. Once you have a lot of these ammonia eaters you will start to see nitrite. You will then go through a phase where ammonia slows down but nitrite builds up fast. Then nitrite eating bacteria will grow and they 'poop' nitrate so that will start to go up higher than the amount in your tap water. Eventually both ammonia and nitrite will stay at zero without water changes, and then you can go to weekly water changes.
One thing you could do which will help a lot is get some live plants. The best kind are floating plants, and even duckweed would be beneficial. Plants use ammonia as fertiliser, and the more help you have in removing ammonia from the water the better.
If you decide to return the betta and do a fishless cycle, follow the method on here http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/ It is better than the methods on other sites.
One thing you could do which will help a lot is get some live plants. The best kind are floating plants, and even duckweed would be beneficial. Plants use ammonia as fertiliser, and the more help you have in removing ammonia from the water the better.
If you decide to return the betta and do a fishless cycle, follow the method on here http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/ It is better than the methods on other sites.
I have done the same new to the hobby I did not cycle my tank I filled it up and put fish in there it has ornaments and stone and artificial plants , it is 57L tank filter ,pump ,light and heater are all there I got the tetra starter tank come with everything tetra aquasafe and tetramin (food) I did not know about the cycle that needed to be done I put 6 glow light tetra 3ballon mollies and 2 golden barbs it has been 2 days and my water is cloudy (white) I don't know water parameters I am going to pets at home tomorrow to buy a API freshwater master test kit is there anything I can do to help these fish from dying I am feeding every 2 days the white cloudy water has happened over night was clear when I went to bed cloudy when I woke up please help
Thank you so much!
Thank you! I do have a couple of live plants in the tank, so hopefully they will help a bit.
Okay new question: So I have a bucket and a spare heater that I kept him in for a few days before moving him to his tank. He seemed happy and blew a giant bubble nest... Should I move him back to the bucket and do a fishless cycle or should I just leave him in he tank?I feel like it would be easier on him to be in the bucket instead of having to deal with the ammonia spikes but I’m not entirely sure. Suggestions?
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Since the bucket is also uncycled, there is no point in moving him. Leave him in the tank and do water changes as indicated by the test results - do a water change whenever ammonia or nitrite or both are not zero.
@Jack123 Until you get a test kit, change 50% of the water every day. Make sure to add dechlorinator to the new water and get it to the same temperature as the tank water. Feeling it with your hand is close enough.
The white cloudiness is a bacterial bloom, which is common in new tanks. Unfortunately these are not the bacteria we want to grow. The cloudiness will go away but how long it will take is impossible to say as every tank is different. It won't harm the fish - but ammonia and nitrite will.
One thing you can do to help is return the mollies and golden barbs to the shop as they both need bigger tanks than you have - at least 90 cm/36 inches long. Even the deformed balloon mollies need a bigger tank. With fewer fish it will be easier to do a fish-in cycle.
Or even take the tetras back as well and do a fishless cycle.
As I mentioned in a previous post, adding live plants to the tank will help.
You mentioned going to Pets At Home for the test kit - please do not listen to any advice about fish or cycling at this shop. It does not have a very good reputation. Ask here instead
@Jack123 Until you get a test kit, change 50% of the water every day. Make sure to add dechlorinator to the new water and get it to the same temperature as the tank water. Feeling it with your hand is close enough.
The white cloudiness is a bacterial bloom, which is common in new tanks. Unfortunately these are not the bacteria we want to grow. The cloudiness will go away but how long it will take is impossible to say as every tank is different. It won't harm the fish - but ammonia and nitrite will.
One thing you can do to help is return the mollies and golden barbs to the shop as they both need bigger tanks than you have - at least 90 cm/36 inches long. Even the deformed balloon mollies need a bigger tank. With fewer fish it will be easier to do a fish-in cycle.
Or even take the tetras back as well and do a fishless cycle.
As I mentioned in a previous post, adding live plants to the tank will help.
You mentioned going to Pets At Home for the test kit - please do not listen to any advice about fish or cycling at this shop. It does not have a very good reputation. Ask here instead
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I have been and got test kits not master as pets at home had 0 in stock I got api strip test for ammonia and some other api strip test for ph ,nitrite ,nitrate, carbonate and general hardness I also bought some tetra safe start 50ml for 60L water and put the correct amount for 50L inside , will this help the cycle and help my fish oh and pets at home refused to take the fish back (no idea why) company policy I have no other lfs to take these to the general hardness is 30ppm ,carbonate hardness is 180ppm , ph is 7.0 to 7.5 , nitrite 0.5 nitrate 20ppm all strip test , back to safe start will it Help
Tetra safe start and any bacteria in a bottle will not work. It's a waste of money and adding these things to the tank only disrupts the cycle. Your best chance is to keep up with daily testing and partial water changes until the cycle is complete. Read my first post above and try to get some borrowed filter media from someone you know with a healthy tank.
The Tetra Safe Start is one of the brands that is known to work provided it has been kept correctly since manufacture. If it has got too hot or too cold at any time on its journey to your tank it won't work - and that includes sitting for hours in a delivery truck in the middle of winter. And even if it does work it will only speed the cycle up, it won't cycle the tank instantly. You still need to monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and do water change s when they show above zero. I have not used TSS myself, but I think someone once said the instructions say not to do any water water changes? if this is what they do say, ignore it. Leaving fish in water with ammonia and nitrite will harm the fish.
Tetra safe start contains beneficial microorganisms which rapidly establish a safe biological environment and this enables the fast introduction of fish into a newly set up aquarium
-Quickens the run in phase -prevents fish loss-reduce harmful ammonia and nitrite
-50ml for 60L aquarium water
-Application 1. Condition water with tetra aqua safe 2. Shake well add 5ml per 6L aquarium water 3.introduce moderate number of fish 4. Feed carefully during the first 2 week and no more than fish can eat in 3 minutes always feed quality food like tetramin , that's all it said on back so assuming you should still change as bacteria doesn't float in the water anyway right it clings onto a surface , gravel,filter etc my fish seem fine swimming round normally no eratic behaviour
-Quickens the run in phase -prevents fish loss-reduce harmful ammonia and nitrite
-50ml for 60L aquarium water
-Application 1. Condition water with tetra aqua safe 2. Shake well add 5ml per 6L aquarium water 3.introduce moderate number of fish 4. Feed carefully during the first 2 week and no more than fish can eat in 3 minutes always feed quality food like tetramin , that's all it said on back so assuming you should still change as bacteria doesn't float in the water anyway right it clings onto a surface , gravel,filter etc my fish seem fine swimming round normally no eratic behaviour
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