Cycling Question Emergency

[neverlonelyalone]

Fish Tank Cycling Question?
I got a brand new 10 gallon tank and put 2 neon tetras, a betta, and a pleco in it. I've never had a tank with a filter on it before so I didn't know anything about cycling. I've got three plants and gravel. The water smells REALLY bad. My question is..what should I do from here? Do i do water changes? I know I made a huge mistake and put the fish in danger. Its been cycling for two days. I have no where to put the fish, I can't return them. I'm worried, please help.

 

[guppylover86]

I am a newbie too I think the first things you need to do are to get a water testing kit and start water changes asap. The ammonia is building up which will kill your fish. you can get testing kits at your lfs the liquid ones are better than the test strips. This forum has a awesome section for beginners which explains how to do a fish in cycle its in the section "your new freshwater tank" I hope this helps and your fish make it!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Get yourself a liquid testing kit for ammonia and nitrite as sson as possible, along with a bottle of Seachem Prime dechlorinator (very concentrated and works out very good value for maoney, plus it can soak up ammonia and nitrite temporarily for upto 24 hours).

In the meantime, change ~95% of the tank water with fresh (basically removing all but enough water to coverthe fish on the tank floor), similar temp dechlorinated water... Just remember to turn off the heater at least 10 mins before you start to remove water, plus turn the filter off too!

At some point you need to find out what the "pleco" is, many are far too big and produce far too much waste for a 10 gallon tank (eg. Common; Sailfin; Bristlenose).