Fish-in cycling - am I on the right track? *read post*

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OliveFish05

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Hey yā€™all. I want to start by saying that I DO NOT approve of fish in cycling and this is not my tank. I am maintaining it for a family member who doesnā€™t have the experience that I do.

Long story short, they put 10 medium to large fancy goldfish in a 75 gallon tank. In about a week, maybe two, half of them are going to a second 75 gallon tank. For now though, Iā€™m trying to save these goldfish. Itā€™s been about 2 or so weeks. Iā€™m doing 80% water changes every 2 to 5 days. Itā€™s been 5 days since the last water change. Iā€™ve tried not to let it get past 3 days, but this weekā€™s been crazy. I just did a water change, and tested the water before. The readings are .25 ppm ammonia, less than .10 ppm nitrites, and probably 30 ppm nitrates. Now I know those readings arenā€™t great, but I would take this to mean I am well on my way to having a cycled tank?

Is there anything else I should be doing? We added some pothos to the tank to help with nitrates.
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One of the goldfish is messed up. Weā€™ve had him several months at this point, he lived in a 29 gallon temporary tank before. When we got him home, we realized he had a damaged, cupped fin. Because of this we didnā€™t feel comfortable putting him in the pond, so kept him in the 29 until the person got the 75 gallon tank. Heā€™s developed a swim bladder issue now though, so in addition to his random upside down and sideways spinning swimming, he floats up to the surface. Iā€™ve been trying to keep the water quality in check, but I donā€™t quite know what to do for himā€¦
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When doing a fish in cycle i never let ammonia or nitrites get above 1 and if under 1 add seachem prime to the whole tank. When doing your water changes add seachem prime to the whole tank and not just the changed water. I don't recommend doing fish in cycles either as i know they can be stressful to both owner and fish. I think your doing great and you appear to have a good grasp of what the water parameters should be. You might find it helpful to dose the tank with aquarium salt at no more than half the recommended dose for the salt that you purchase as it can help protect and treat the fish from/with nitrite poisoning
 
Daily large water changes w/Prime; you have quite the task ahead of you...but thank you on behalf of the fish for intervening

The one fish may need to be euthanized, but I have zero experience with goldies, so others may chime in on that
 
Your issue is not ammonia it is the nitrite. There is a good set of articles on this site in dealing with your exact situation. Please read the two articles on a Fish in Cycle gone wild. The second one is the most important for your situation.

Do not overdose Prime here. Nitrite robs the fish of the ability to carry oxygen in its blood. Chloride ( the main component in salt) blocks the nitrite from going where it does to block the ability of blood to hold oxygen.

When you get the chloride into the water you will not need to do lots of water changes or to keep dosing Prime. These things are actually slowing down the cycle and should only be done when they are actually needed. Ammonia cannot be blocked, so it must either be detoxified or reduced. Nitrite can be blocked.

Despite what SeaChem (and others claim) the bacteria cannot use the detoxified ammonia as efficiently as the toxic form. So, using ammonia detoxifiers does slow, butdoes not stop, a cycle from becoming fully established. It means the cycle takes longer.

Finally, you can add live bacteria to the tank. If this is something you are willing to spend on, it will accelerate a cycle. If you want to go this route the two choices are Dr. Tim's One and Only or Tetra SafeStart+. If you go this route, be sure to follow their specific instructions ratrher than whatever else you may read or be told on this subject. Other roducts claiming to speed up or cycle fast do ot contain the proper nitrite oxidizing bacteria. These products, at best, act as a bridge to make things less toxic while the actaul bactreria which will be in a tank long term do establish. Unless one has a mess because of fish in cycling gone off track, they may help. However, I would never use any of them for doing a rapid fishless cycle. I want the same strains of bacteria being added as there will be in he tank for years to come.
 
When doing a fish in cycle i never let ammonia or nitrites get above 1 and if under 1 add seachem prime to the whole tank. When doing your water changes add seachem prime to the whole tank and not just the changed water. I don't recommend doing fish in cycles either as i know they can be stressful to both owner and fish. I think your doing great and you appear to have a good grasp of what the water parameters should be. You might find it helpful to dose the tank with aquarium salt at no more than half the recommended dose for the salt that you purchase as it can help protect and treat the fish from/with nitrite poisoning
Thank you. We are very fortunate, we are on well water with no chlorine. We still dose prime, but wouldnā€™t necessarily have to, for the dechlorination purposes. I just realized I said 10 ppm nitrites, I meant .10 ppm. Itā€™s somewhere between the 0 and the .25. So the ammonia and nitrates are far from 1 ppm, thankfully. I like to think I know what Iā€™m doing, but seeing as this is my first time with a fish in cycle, it canā€™t hurt to make sure!

Daily large water changes w/Prime; you have quite the task ahead of you...but thank you on behalf of the fish for intervening
Judging by the test results, would you say I am nearly there? Before, the nitrites and ammonia were higher each time I checked, and the nitrates were lower. And that was changing the water every 2 or 3 days. Iā€™ve always done silent cycles on my tanks, loads of plants, and sometimes even cycled media from a different tank. In other words, Iā€™ve never had to go through the process of tracking the parameters as the cycle progresses.
 
Thank you. We are very fortunate, we are on well water with no chlorine. We still dose prime, but wouldnā€™t necessarily have to, for the dechlorination purposes. I just realized I said 10 ppm nitrites, I meant .10 ppm. Itā€™s somewhere between the 0 and the .25. So the ammonia and nitrates are far from 1 ppm, thankfully. I like to think I know what Iā€™m doing, but seeing as this is my first time with a fish in cycle, it canā€™t hurt to make sure!


Judging by the test results, would you say I am nearly there? Before, the nitrites and ammonia were higher each time I checked, and the nitrates were lower. And that was changing the water every 2 or 3 days. Iā€™ve always done silent cycles on my tanks, loads of plants, and sometimes even cycled media from a different tank. In other words, Iā€™ve never had to go through the process of tracking the parameters as the cycle progresses.
Well, there's quite a significant difference in .10 and 10 PPM nitrItes, for starters ;)
You are on the right track...test daily, and perform WC's as necessary
 
The family member whoā€™s tank this is has actually been trying verrry hard to understand the tanks cycle, how the parameters affect the fish, how we manage the parameters, how poor water quality leads to stress and other diseases, and other things regarding the fishā€™s needs. I think they got in just a little bit over their head here. I am proud of them though, theyā€™ve come a long way even if they donā€™t fully understand that the bacteria takes time to grow.
 
Well, there's quite a significant difference in .10 and 10 PPM nitrItes, for starters ;)
You are on the right track...test daily, and perform WC's as necessary
Whoopsā€¦ yeah itā€™s .10 ppm. I will own that mistake with no excuses. Will do! When would I want to do water changes? Like how will I knows itā€™s necessary?
 
Whoopsā€¦ yeah itā€™s .10 ppm. I will own that mistake with no excuses. Will do! When would I want to do water changes? Like how will I knows itā€™s necessary?
Ammonia or trItes more than .25 PPM, trAtes more than 30 PPM

What temp is the tank(s)?....what about ph?
 
Using your data, the tank's free ammonia level is 0.0036 ppm.

This is from TwoTankAmin's "fish-in cycling part 2" thread
Remember, NH4 can still cause ammonia burns. This writerā€™s normal cutoff for total ammonia for more than a few days or so is 2 ppm. As a rule of thumb, you can run at 2 ppm of total ammonia with the NH3 being well under .05 for some short amount time. The lower it is under .05, the better. At under .02 ppm of NH3 many fish can be in up to 2 ppm for a number of days and still be OK. The best sign of how long is how the fish behave. If they act distressed, then that is high and/or long enough. Some fish can manage in higher levels, others canā€™t. This is why you must also watch the fish as well as the test levels.
The level of free ammonia in this tank is well below 0.05 ppm so unless the ammonia reading increases, you don't need to worry about this amount.
 
I would think you need a minimum 2 large water changes a week for goldfish tanks, regardless of the stage of the cycle.
 

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