Fish in cycle not on purpose.

[Ccga]

Hi

I have had my tank up and running for two and half weeks now and it's going reasonably well. It wasn't supposed to be a fish in cycle but my mother purchased the fish as a birthday present for me. This is what I have....

I have very hard water 318ppm taken from local water authority website

Ph 8.2 done with master test kit.

I did a 60%water change on 6th.
I've just done tests using master kit ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0.50ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
So I have done a 30% water change.
I will do all the other tests shortly.

I have 5 fish 3 Black Neon Tetra and 2 Glow Light Tetra 2 Amano Shrimp and a snail but I now think I have a few more snails brought in with the new plants. I feed the fish twice a day with a small piece of flaked food which is gone in seconds. The lights are usually on most of the day until 7 when I put the blue lights on which get turned off about 10/11pm.

I have about 7 plants in the tank and 2 small pieces of bog wood. Picture attached.

The tank is a Superfish home 40. Which I believe I can have about 13 fish in eventually.

So sorry to jabber on but I'm a little worried and don't want to get my tank messed up or loos any of my little friends. Ive been trying so hard bur not i knkw i need some help from the professionals.

Thank you in advance. Clare [emoji4]

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[Byron]

With fish present steps need to be followed to avoid more serious internal damage from the ammonia/nitrite. If either are showing more than zero (test each morning), do a 50-60% water change. Use a good conditioner for the fresh water. You have live plants which will help you as they too take up ammonia, but do the water changes if tests show ammonia/nitrite. Nitrate is OK for now anyway.

I would also advise a bacterial supplement. They do not instantly cycle, but they do speed up the establishment of the nitrifying bacteria, so they cannot hurt. Tetra's SafeStart and Seachem's Stability are two good ones.

Byron.

 

[docpark]

Hi

I have had my tank up and running for two and half weeks now and it's going reasonably well. It wasn't supposed to be a fish in cycle but my mother purchased the fish as a birthday present for me. This is what I have....

I have very hard water 318ppm taken from local water authority website

Ph 8.2 done with master test kit.

I did a 60%water change on 6th.
I've just done tests using master kit ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0.50ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
So I have done a 30% water change.
I will do all the other tests shortly.

I have 5 fish 3 Black Neon Tetra and 2 Glow Light Tetra 2 Amano Shrimp and a snail but I now think I have a few more snails brought in with the new plants. I feed the fish twice a day with a small piece of flaked food which is gone in seconds. The lights are usually on most of the day until 7 when I put the blue lights on which get turned off about 10/11pm.

I have about 7 plants in the tank and 2 small pieces of bog wood. Picture attached.

The tank is a Superfish home 40. Which I believe I can have about 13 fish in eventually.

So sorry to jabber on but I'm a little worried and don't want to get my tank messed up or loos any of my little friends. Ive been trying so hard bur not i knkw i need some help from the professionals.

Thank you in advance. Clare [emoji4]

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

********************************************************************
The water conditioner Prime will protect your fishes from ammonia and nitrite poisoning until your cycle is complete. It doesn't remove ammonia and nitrite but it does lock it up in a chemical form that's less toxic.

 

[Ccga]

With fish present steps need to be followed to avoid more serious internal damage from the ammonia/nitrite. If either are showing more than zero (test each morning), do a 50-60% water change. Use a good conditioner for the fresh water. You have live plants which will help you as they too take up ammonia, but do the water changes if tests show ammonia/nitrite. Nitrate is OK for now anyway.

I would also advise a bacterial supplement. They do not instantly cycle, but they do speed up the establishment of the nitrifying bacteria, so they cannot hurt. Tetra's SafeStart and Seachem's Stability are two good ones.

Byron.

Thank you Byron. I use Tetra Aquastart dechlorinator and Tetra Safestart. I have done a waterchange today after doing the tests. I'll do another test tomorrow and depending on that result I'll do a waterchange if needed. I hope that this is the right way.

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[Byron]

********************************************************************
The water conditioner Prime will protect your fishes from ammonia and nitrite poisoning until your cycle is complete. It doesn't remove ammonia and nitrite but it does lock it up in a chemical form that's less toxic.

I neglected to mention about Prime previously, so glad you did. During cycling, Prime is a good conditioner. There is another that also detoxifies ammonia and nitrite, called Ultimate; forgot the manufacturer, think it might be Aquarium Solutions (?). But either of these work here.

Something to keep in mind though, is that the "binding" capability of Prime (not sure about Ultimate) respecting ammonia, nitrite and nitrate is time-limited. Seachem says it works for 24-36 hours, after which the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate if still present will revert back to the toxic forms. This means that Prime is a good conditioner to use during cycling issues, but water changes daily are still needed if these substances remain, i.e., until ammonia and nitrite both test zero for consecutive days.

 

[Byron]

Thank you Byron. I use Tetra Aquastart dechlorinator and Tetra Safestart. I have done a waterchange today after doing the tests. I'll do another test tomorrow and depending on that result I'll do a waterchange if needed. I hope that this is the right way.

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Sounds good. You might want to see if you can get a bottle of Prime (or Ultimate) which both detoxify ammonia and nitrite at least temporarily. This is useful during cycling. I spell this out more in the preceding post. Prime is highly concentrated, so a small bottle should get you through this, if you can find it locally.

 

[Ccga]

Can you add this prime stuff in with the Aquasafe and safestart does it all just go in together?

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[Byron]

Can you add this prime stuff in with the Aquasafe and safestart does it all just go in together?

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Prime is a conditioner, so it should be added to the fresh water at each water change. Aquasafe is also a conditioner but one that doesn't deal with ammonia and nitrite; you don't want to use both, as this is of no benefit and is detrimental in that more chemical stuff is getting in the water and thus into the fish. Either or, added to the replacement water (and sufficient only for the volume replaced).

SafeStart is a bacterial supplement, so it can be used as directed on the label, after the water change for which Prime (or Aquasafe) will have been used. There shouldn't be an interaction between the conditioner and the bacterial supplement, but I can't say for certain. Prime is known to do things in certain situations.

 

[Ccga]

Prime is a conditioner, so it should be added to the fresh water at each water change. Aquasafe is also a conditioner but one that doesn't deal with ammonia and nitrite; you don't want to use both, as this is of no benefit and is detrimental in that more chemical stuff is getting in the water and thus into the fish. Either or, added to the replacement water (and sufficient only for the volume replaced).

SafeStart is a bacterial supplement, so it can be used as directed on the label, after the water change for which Prime (or Aquasafe) will have been used. There shouldn't be an interaction between the conditioner and the bacterial supplement, but I can't say for certain. Prime is known to do things in certain situations.

So I shouldn't be adding my safestart to the fresh water I've just added dechlorinator (aquastart) to before adding it to the tank. Should I add it directly to the tank? Sorry for the confusion x

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[Byron]

So I shouldn't be adding my safestart to the fresh water I've just added dechlorinator (aquastart) to before adding it to the tank. Should I add it directly to the tank? Sorry for the confusion x

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Yes, the SafeStart goes into the main tank and for the total volume, or whatever the instructions say.

 

[Ccga]

Thank you. I'll make sure I check my levels first thing tomorrow then I'll let you know how I'm going. And next time I do a water change the dechlorinator goes in the water before in the tank then once it's in the tank I put safestart enough for my whole tank. Sorry to keep repeating myself I just want to ensure I protect the few fish I have.

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