Important Question About Cycling Freshwater Planted 50 Gallon Tank

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jishu1990

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Hi All,

I have been new to fishkeeping. My wife had brought two fish bowls to surprise me before my scheduled ACL ligament surgery 3 months ago. Since then we have come a long way and we have now a 50 Gallon planted freshwater tank.

First I will give the details of my tank.

50 Gallon, 10 Guppy (2 different species), 20 Neon Tetra, 8 Glowlight Tetra, 2 Golden Chinese Pleco, 2 Panda Corydoras

Various plants on ADA Amazonia substrate 18 litres and a driftwood. Eheim BioPower 240, 80W tubelight..

Now the tank is only a week old. Besides this tank, I also have a 10 Gallon tank where I ran my filter for 1.5 weeks. I have put in the substrate on Day 1. Filled up the tank. Did a 95% water change for two days. And a 50% water change on Day 3. Water was pretty clear. Then I put in the filter from the 10 Gallon tank to this one adding all the compartments (Due to less height I had to remove to biological filter compartments while putting in the 10 Gallon). I have added the fishes on Day 4.

Today is Day 7. My water is almost crystal clear. I have done a 30% water change today. But while doing water change the substrate gets messy slightly even after I pour the water on glass sides or through the driftwood. I have done a water test today using API Freshwater liquid test kit. Below are the results.

Ammonia: 0.25-0.50 ppm (the indicator color was more inclined towards 0.25)
Nitrite: 0.25-0.50 ppm (again more towards 0.25)
Nitrate: 5.00 (between 4.00-5.00)
pH: 6.8-7.00
High pH: The color was below the lowest level on the guide i.e, below 7.4

I have been using Seachem Prime during water changes. I have also ordered Seachem Stability to help establish the tank faster.

Something amazing happened today morning. One my my female Guppy gave birth to babies. I was preparing for a water change when my wife noticed a small fry in the bucket. We immediately separated the pregnant guppy and she gave birth to few babies in a fish bowl.

I suspect she also gave some babies in the tank and other fishes ate them.
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However, now I really want to grow the babies. For now I have kept the babies in a net in the main tank so that others cannot eat them. I am feeding them crushed Hikari guppy food and micro pellet.

One of the male guppy probably has a tail rot. I separated it and have been waiting for Seachem Paraguard to arrive to start treating it.

Now my questions are:

1. Are my tank parameters okay?
2. Can I keep the guppy babies the way I did in the main tank?
3. Since one of the male guppy has a tail rot problem, should I go ahead and treat the entire tank with Paraguard?
4. Would adding Paraguard harm the guppy babies?
5. Can I add Flourish Excel without harming the guppy babies?
6. Anything else I am missing please advise me.
 
You have set up what will likely turn into a bad situation. Your are at the very start of the cycle and the problems have barely begun to appear.
 
1. You have way too many fish to be able to have any control of your cycle. At best I would suggest perhaps 8 smaller fish in a 50 gal to do a fish-in cycle. There is no such thing as a "Golden Chinese Pleco" as plecos are only native to South America. However, the odds are good this is a fish that will harass slower tankmates and as it gets older and bigger may even be killing them. This fish will get much bigger than the rest of your stock- thing 7 inches or more. Please read here http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/gyrinocheilus-aymonieri/ as this is the fish I think you most likely have.
 
2. Stability will not do a heck of a lot as, despite what SeaChem would like people to believe, it does not contain any of the bacteria that actually handle nitrification. I am not sure what you can find in India, but your best shot would likely be Tetra Safe Start if it is available.
 
3. You have two good options here, and both are laid out in this article http://Rescuing A Fish In Cycle Gone Wild - Part I If you are unwilling to get a lot of the fish out of the tank, then your really need to read this http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/433778-rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il/
 
4. Crystal clear means nothing relative to cycling. A tank with enough ammonia/nitrite/nitrate in the water to kill fish can be perfectly clear.
 
5. The one plus you have are the live plants. They use ammonia. However, high levels of ammonia can harm or kill some plants.
 
 
Now as for your questions:
 
1. Are my tank parameters okay?
Today they are close to OK, but this will not last.
2. Can I keep the guppy babies the way I did in the main tank?
Most people do oneo f two things with fry. Either raise them in the tank where they are born or else raise them in a tank dedicated for this. The problem is your guppies are just starting to spawn, you are about to have a "zillion" babies born if the tank conditions do not get too toxic.
3. Since one of the male guppy has a tail rot problem, should I go ahead and treat the entire tank with Paraguard
You have a new tank that is nowhere near stable in almost any regard. Cycling with fish is very stressful for them/ Stessed fish are more susceptible to diseases etc. Medications will only complicate this. I have never used Paraguard but in reading SeaChem's description, I doubt I would. It caliams to treat a number of things that required different meds, so it is a blend. That means the odds are good that a portion of the ingredients have no value in treating a specific problem, they treat other problems. Fin rot is usually either fungal or bacterial in its cause and should be treated appropriately. In any case, even if the medication might help the sick fish, it will only make the rest of the fish more likely to suffer the effects of cycling. If you must treat the sick fish I would suggest using an uncycled hosptial tank which is heated and has an air stone or small filter on it (you need surface aggitation). You will need to be doing regular water changes on the H tank and dosing meds in a way that accomodates water changes.
 
4. Would adding Paraguard harm the guppy babies?
It might. But the bigger issue is that fry are more at risk from ammonia and nitrite than older fish.
 
5. Can I add Flourish Excel without harming the guppy babies?
Yes, as long as you do not over dose it.
 
6. Anything else I am missing please advise me.
See my points above. It is my firm belief that most new fish keepers almost always have issues trying to do a fish-in cycle. There is too much to learn and too little time to master it.
 

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