Is My Tank Still Cycling Or Is There Something Wrong?

[AnthonyMarchese]

Ok so I set my tank up a little less than a month ago and it is supposed to be a turtle tank. I had the tank running for about two weeks and a week with live plants.than i put the fish in and had them in for a few days before i put the turtle in. After that they hid in the corner by the filter and will not leave and they just swim put the outtake all day. Its been about 3 weeks and they have not stopped yet. They seem fine during feeding they eat well and seem calm but then they go right back to it. After 3 weeks i had a problem with my turtle eating gravel so had to do an 80 percent waterchange, take all the gravel out and switch to sand. Does my tank have to recycle and do you think somethings wrong with the water? And how long will it take to cycle, is this normal during cycling? Im not very good when it comes to telling the colors on test strips but i no for sure my ph is very low at like 6.4 and alkalinity is at 80, hardiness at 120. i just feel bad for the fish i need to know if this will ever stop and what to do. Should i not touch the tank for a month to let it cycle? i have not touched my filter yet, its a u4. some additional stuff, my tanks a 29,i have 4 cherry barbs who look healthy, aclown-pleco and a turtle. Btw, they are not scared of the turtle, at least i think, he never goes after them and they go right in front of him during feeding so i doubt thats the problem

 

[betta fish]

What kind of turtle do you have and how big is he? personally I would not keep fish with turtles as sooner or later they would most likely get eaten, they really need their own tank, do you have a photo of the whole tank so that we can see the set up, do you have a heater in there? what temp is it set at?

 

[the_lock_man]

Hi Anthony,
 
Without knowing ammonia and nitrite levels, it's impossible to say what the position is in your tank. You say you have test strips, not all of these have an ammonia test, and they are notoriously unreliable, so I strongly recommend getting a liquid-drop test kit (API make the most popular one).
 
Fish hiding in a corner is a classic defence posture, and you said yourself that it started right after introducing the turtle. I really think you need to decide whether you want to keep fish or turtle, and rehome the other.

 

[nic1]

Hi,
I would also not advise on keeping the fish with turtles,
I had mississippi map turtles in a tank before they went into the pond and I never kept any fish with them, but I did do a lot of reading before I made that decision as I wanted them to have fishy friends.... The main thing that I found out is that fish are only kept with turtles when you want the turtles to have fresh live food and a bit of exercise

They are probably by the filter as they can quickly hide when the turtle comes close, like Lock man said, I would think about which one I would like to keep, or you can get another tank and rehome the turtles into there?