Hey all, brand new here and fairly new to the fish keeping hobby. We always had fish growing up, and I had betta's in university, but it hasn't been until the last few months that I've really been diving into the hobby and learning as much as I can.
About 2 months ago we got a brand new 38gal bowfront aquarium and stand and got it set up. We let it run for a few weeks to get the cycle started but ended up not liking how we did the tank and drained about 80% of the water, rearranged and filled back up. We let it set for another couple of weeks and the ammonia went down to pretty much nothing, we were getting nitrites and getting nitrates. We knew we were in the process of cycling and let it set another week but noticed we were still getting high nitrites and nitrates. We went to our lfs hoping to find some natural ways to speed up the cycle if possible and get a few plants to help out as well. Long story short, the guy at the fish store talked us into getting fish, saying that the tank sounded like it was cycled enough, we'd been waiting for weeks and it was time to put in some fish.
We weren't sure we agreed but he kind of pushed us saying it was the next step, and said he'd help us pick out some hardy fish. Welcome mistake number 2. We got 5 Blue Moscow guppies and two Bristlenose Plecos, but the kicker was that he sold us on YoYo Loaches being 'very hardy fish'. I'd done some research on loaches but didn't know how strict they were on water parameters so we took his word for it and got 6 gorgeous YoYo's.
Fast forward to today, our nitrites are still pretty high, around 10 ppm, and nitrates are also getting pretty high, between 10 and 20 within 24 hours of a water change Ammonia is staying between 0 and .25 ppm but much closer to 0. We've been doing testing 1-2 times a day, water changes 1-2 times a day as the nitrites and nitrates get high, adding in Seachem Prime, Stability and Stress Guard with every water change, but we've now lost two loaches. I'm worried that we got them so soon that none are going to survive the cycling process.
tl;dr: We bought fish too early and I'm worried that our YoYo's aren't going to survive the rest of the cycling process. Has anyone else been through this with their loaches and do I have any chance of keeping them alive?
About 2 months ago we got a brand new 38gal bowfront aquarium and stand and got it set up. We let it run for a few weeks to get the cycle started but ended up not liking how we did the tank and drained about 80% of the water, rearranged and filled back up. We let it set for another couple of weeks and the ammonia went down to pretty much nothing, we were getting nitrites and getting nitrates. We knew we were in the process of cycling and let it set another week but noticed we were still getting high nitrites and nitrates. We went to our lfs hoping to find some natural ways to speed up the cycle if possible and get a few plants to help out as well. Long story short, the guy at the fish store talked us into getting fish, saying that the tank sounded like it was cycled enough, we'd been waiting for weeks and it was time to put in some fish.
We weren't sure we agreed but he kind of pushed us saying it was the next step, and said he'd help us pick out some hardy fish. Welcome mistake number 2. We got 5 Blue Moscow guppies and two Bristlenose Plecos, but the kicker was that he sold us on YoYo Loaches being 'very hardy fish'. I'd done some research on loaches but didn't know how strict they were on water parameters so we took his word for it and got 6 gorgeous YoYo's.
Fast forward to today, our nitrites are still pretty high, around 10 ppm, and nitrates are also getting pretty high, between 10 and 20 within 24 hours of a water change Ammonia is staying between 0 and .25 ppm but much closer to 0. We've been doing testing 1-2 times a day, water changes 1-2 times a day as the nitrites and nitrates get high, adding in Seachem Prime, Stability and Stress Guard with every water change, but we've now lost two loaches. I'm worried that we got them so soon that none are going to survive the cycling process.
tl;dr: We bought fish too early and I'm worried that our YoYo's aren't going to survive the rest of the cycling process. Has anyone else been through this with their loaches and do I have any chance of keeping them alive?