Added Fish 5 Weeks Into Fishless Cycle

[nut4clife]

Ok so at the insistence of reps at pet smart and my kids tiring of looking at an empty tank I bought 5 Tiger Barbs and a Plec.  I'm attaching a chart I designed to keep track of everything I do with the aquarium (i.e. test results, water changes etc.).  For the last 2 weeks the Ammonia has been at 2ppm and a week ago I had Nitrite .25 ppm.  On 9/4 the Nitrite increased to 2ppm but the ammonia stayed at 2ppm.  Today the Nitrite was 5 ppm, the Ammonia 1 ppm, and Nitrate 5ppm (a sleeper!).   I did a 3% water change with gravel cleaning, and a filter change.  I added the appropriate amount of API Fish Stresscoat.  What more should I be doing or not doing?  Also please see the attached chart.  Thanks.[View attachment 71216

 

[attibones]

If you have fish in this tank, you need to be doing more than 3% water changes, plus tiger barbs really should be in larger groups as they can be pretty mean to each other. They also need more space in my opinion. What sort of pleco did you get?

 

[ech0o]

The good news, you are about half way cyced.  The bad news, at 5ppm nitrite your kids are going to get to see a bunch of dead fish fairly soon.  If there was still no fish in it, the suggestion would be to continue to dose ammonia into it until it can process 2-3ppm of ammonia over night, with no ammonia or nitrite readings by the next day.   Now that you have added fish into your fishless cycle, you will have to keep the levels at a reasonable amount that your fish will survive, and it will in fact take longer and be a more careful cycling process.   My first suggestion would be to do enough of a water change to bring that level down under 1ppm, probably around 80% water change.  Then you are going to want to do daily water changes to keep the levels of nitrite and ammonia very very low, over time the bacteria will colonize.  
 
 

If you have fish in this tank, you need to be doing more than 3% water changes, plus tiger barbs really should be in larger groups as they can be pretty mean to each other. They also need more space in my opinion. What sort of pleco did you get?

29 gallon should be alright for 5 barbs, and although it is not a massive group, it is certainly enough for them to not be too rough on eachother.
 
 
My main worry would be keeping these fish alive, it is going to be quite a chore with the readings you are showing, and will require very large, daily water changes.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

~95% ASAP, that nitrite level will kill those fish quickly. You need to get that down to <0.25mg/l.
 
5 Tiger Barbs is a low number to have of these nippy fish, ONCE CYCLED you should think about adding at least 5 more of them, ideally 7-10 more to spread aggression further.
 
What plec species? I hope you have not been duped into buying a "common" or "sailfin" that grow to 45-60cm and need a 6-foot tank.
 
After getting more Tiger Barbs, which you need to do, this tank is fully stocked.

 

[ky*weremiej]

You should be do a 50% water change then do 20% every 2 days until the levels are getting better, you should use tetra safe start to get a tank going its the best by far I used it on all 4 of my tanks and its been proven to work also clean the gravel every time you change the water, once your tank is cycled you can calm down the cleaning a little, as for more fish I would say you could fit a shoal of 6 tetra in there to add more colour. At the end of the day its your tank just do your research on fish to see how much they grow and what there characteristics are I have pretty much turned into a master over stocker but my tanks evolve with the fish hence my 5th tank coming soon, what type of plec did you get  and what are you feeding your him ? 
 
Ps welcome to the hobby !!!

 

[the_lock_man]

It's a shame that you let frustration get the better of you. It's easier for you to become unfrustrated than it is for a fish to become undead.
 
You have received an awful lot of replies, with conflicting advice as to how to deal with it.
 
As far as I can see, N0body of the Goat's advice is spot-on. Massive water changes are necessary straight away to reduce the ammonia and nitrite to less than 0.25ppm. You have 5ppm nitrite, to do a 50% change would only reduce that to 2.5ppm, which is still 10 times the recommended "safe" level, and is still highly toxic.
 
On an ongoing basis, you need to keep those levels down. Plecs are quite messy fish, so your levels will increase quite quickly. You need to change as much water as necessary to get your level down under 0.25ppm when you have tested. If you have 0.5ppm of either ammonia or nitrite, then a 75% change will do the trick. Higher than that, then you need to change more.

 

[Mamashack]

I'm more concerned about the filter change you mentioned as that's where all the beneficial bacteria are and you may have just wiped them all out by changing it. Have I misunderstood what you meant?

 

[ech0o]

I'm more concerned about the filter change you mentioned as that's where all the beneficial bacteria are and you may have just wiped them all out by changing it. Have I misunderstood what you meant?

I didn't even see that on the first read through, the filter is where the bacteria are housed and if you are changing any sort of padding out, or rinsing the pads in any way, you are slowing down your cycling process immensely.  

 

[ky*weremiej]

 

I'm more concerned about the filter change you mentioned as that's where all the beneficial bacteria are and you may have just wiped them all out by changing it. Have I misunderstood what you meant?

I didn't even see that on the first read through, the filter is where the bacteria are housed and if you are changing any sort of padding out, or rinsing the pads in any way, you are slowing down your cycling process immensely.  
 

I didn't see that omg

 

[the_lock_man]

 

I'm more concerned about the filter change you mentioned as that's where all the beneficial bacteria are and you may have just wiped them all out by changing it. Have I misunderstood what you meant?

I didn't even see that on the first read through, the filter is where the bacteria are housed and if you are changing any sort of padding out, or rinsing the pads in any way, you are slowing down your cycling process immensely.  
 

 
Yes, I also didn't spot this. Well done, Mama.
 
Nut, don't change any filter media until it is literally falling apart. It is even more important that you carry out these regular tests and water changes, for the sake of your fish.

 

[nut4clife]

Ok tyvm for all your responses!  Yes I'm very new at this and have made some boneheaded mistakes, especially adding the fish before the cycling was complete AND removing/changing the filter which is where the bacteria is residing.  My goodness this is going to be an awefully long process.  I'll do readings in couple of hours when I get home from work and post what they are here.  If the Nitrite and Ammonia levels are still at or above 1ppm I'll commence with a minimum 60/70% water change.  The plec appears to be a sailfin variety...any info on the species?  I'm feeding him the same food as what the Barbs are eating (Another PetSmart Ok).  Should I be feeding the plec something different?  Also I changed my tank pic to a pic of the plec (couldn't figure out how to upload another pic)

 

[attibones]

I suggest you rehome that pleco immediately. I had one that came with a 55 gallon tank and he was already fifteen inches. These fish can get massive and your 29 gallon is no place for him.

 

[fluttermoth]

Agreed; if it's a gibbiceps (have a Google and see if it looks like yours) they need very big tanks indeed; I have a rescued one in a 5'x2'x2' and that's really the bare minimum size for them

 

[nut4clife]

The plec appears to be of the gibbiceps family
View attachment 71229

 

[ky*weremiej]

You need to feed him cucumber and Algae Wafers, just slice a piece of cucumber of and weight it down twice a week and give him 1 algae wafer per day your lfs should sell the things you need. Don't panic about being new to the hobby and things going wrong, I was a disaster when I got going but now its easy it just takes time and patience oh yeah and money

  just don't let the bad start put you off