uncycled tank

[jay_]

had recently come home to visit my parents a few days ago, and the same day my little brother had baught a tank and some guppies ... the tank was never even close to cycled so i ran out baught some live plants quick, borrowed a filter from a friend who's had his tank up in running for a few months, baught some cheap ph7.0 equalizer and added a bit of aquarium salt and a water de-chlorinator.
was it all in vain and the gups will die or will they somehow make it maybe?
i haven't got around to checking the nitrate, nitrite or amonia levels yet and wondering if i even should since they might just die anyway

 

[suemack]

hay jay

how big's the tank and how many guppies??

It would be worth doing the tests so you know whats happening in there - then why not show your little brother how to do small regular w/changes just using the dechlorinator, talk to him about feeding - share your passion with him - hopefully if things aren't too bad in the tank the fish will survive and we'll have another fish0holic

good luck

 

[jay_]

it's just a 10 gallon tank, it had 5 guppies but i took out a male cus his fins were frayed but cant tell if it's from nibbling or fin rot, so have him sitting in a little tank with a little box filter till i know for sure. theres about 20 live plants in the 10 gallon, i baught 2 groups of 10 and yeah, almost i really have no idea how much the testing stuff costs, i usually got my friend to test my old water

 

[suemack]

is it possible to pop down to the lfs with a sample - a lot of them will test the water for you

 

[guppymonkey]

Not all fish will die during the cycle. If it was a discus it would die almost immediately but guppies can survive sometimes. It will suck for them but they can survive. Partial water changes can help immensely. Do them once a day or once every few days.

 

[Kissifish]

I don't know where you are located, but here you can purchase BioSpira which is live bacterial cultures that you can add to help jumpstart a cycle. I have tried it with fish (in an emergency) and it cycled in about 3 weeks. The fish will suffer less this way and you may not lose any.

It is actually sold with new tanks so that you can add fish the next day (NOT)........But it does add Nitrobacter to help process the ammonia. When you add it, do not change the water for at least one week, regardless of the ammonia content. A few days (3 or 4) will not be as bad as not doing anything. Mine did not get higher than 2.0 and finally, went to 0. Also, if you added live plants, this will also help.