I Hate Fishless Cycling!

[new2fishes]

I know, I know, its much better for the fish, it goes quicker than fish-in cycling, etc, etc.

I just want it to be over. Everyday, I check the water and hope it will be closer to over. I put in some mature media and that hasn't seemed to help signifigantly.

I have a 2.5 gallon betta tank that was uncycled and so I took him out and put him in a large ice tea pitcher (think "goldfish bowl") with a bubbler. Yes I know he doesn't need the bubbler but he likes to come get a "drink" out of it (its a reverse water fountain). So now I am cycling his tank and thought, "why change out the water, I'll just use the old." So then I see these nasty little white worms a few days later which I am guessing is planaria . So scrub out the tank, throw away the sand substrate, I did not mess with the filter because I didn't want to restart the cycle. This is about 2 am and so as I am adding the ammonia. . . I realized I over dosed it so I changed out 50% of the water. Well I could have adequately dosed a 15 gallon not the 2.5 and so my 50% water change still had it sky high, but I didn't realize that till the next day. So I got the tank down to 4 ppm of ammonia and there it has sat for 3 days, leading me to beleive that I killed off all the good bacteria.

I could take some of the media from the 50 gallon I am also cycling but I hate to slow that one down since my overcrowded 10 gallon won't cycle (doing daily water changes).

Ok, done whining for now.
Christi

 

[backtotropical]

Patience is the key i'm afraid.

If you don't have any cycled filters there is no point swapping media.

Just wait and add, wait and add............................................

 

[Meds081603]

I'm sure if you asked nicely you may be able to get your LFS to give you (or if their cheap, sell you) some mature filter media to help you get going.

 

[new2fishes]

I have some mature media in the big (50 gall) tank that I got from a friend. I realized today that I was depriving the tank of oxygen while trying to add insulation ( a blanket) to keep the tank warm to speed up the cycle Fortunatly some remote region of my brain thought about getting air into the filter (bio wheel 350) so I didn't starve all the bacteria of oxygen, just slowed down the cycle.

The ammonia this am was 1 ppm (add and wait method) so maybe not too much longer.

I did ask for some mature media from the petstore (petsmart) and all I got was blank looks and "I have never heard of that."

As for the 2.5 gallon, the ammonia has dropped to 2 ppm so I guess maybe I didn't kill all the bacteria

 

[Leitch]

Sounds good!

 

[Amunet]

I'd be VERY hesitant to get any media from a fish store. Even if the place is very clean and well run. Doesn't mean that they couldn't have gotten in a bad batch of fish with disease... ya know. That's just my paranoia talking though hehe

Anyways... it's only been 3 days. Just have to be patient and let the tank do what it's gotta do so your betta can have a happy healthy tank to live in

And with the planaria... they'll die on their own. Not all of them, but most of them will once the tank starts cycling. Just scrub them off the sides. Cleaning everything out and throwing away stuff isn't going to get rid of them.... trust me... so don't be surprised or freaked out when they come back. They're harmless... gross... but harmless.