My First Ever Fishless Cycle

[PDB-89]

If it was me i would take them out, or like WD said take them to a LFS or someones pond

i see what you are saying mate but if she asked me how my fish are and i told her i took them back and got store credit for them it would break her heart!! and i can't do that to an old frail woman!

 

[waterdrop]

If it was me i would take them out, or like WD said take them to a LFS or someones pond

i see what you are saying mate but if she asked me how my fish are and i told her i took them back and got store credit for them it would break her heart!! and i can't do that to an old frail woman!

Can certainly see your position PDB! Definately a difficult social situation and your heart is in the right place I think. Surely with our big membership someone can dream up a better approach to this problem, sure would be nice to help this guy out!

 

[sjolliff]

What about buying a cheap goldfish bowl and changing the water couple times a week,
when i was a kid i had 2 goldfish in one of those round plastic bowls for goldfish, my dad changed the water once a week for me and they lived for ages

are they the bigger pond goldfish or the little ones?

 

[PDB-89]

If it was me i would take them out, or like WD said take them to a LFS or someones pond

i see what you are saying mate but if she asked me how my fish are and i told her i took them back and got store credit for them it would break her heart!! and i can't do that to an old frail woman!

Can certainly see your position PDB! Definately a difficult social situation and your heart is in the right place I think. Surely with our big membership someone can dream up a better approach to this problem, sure would be nice to help this guy out!

thanks for taking the time to see it from my point of view mate!

What about buying a cheap goldfish bowl and changing the water couple times a week,
when i was a kid i had 2 goldfish in one of those round plastic bowls for goldfish, my dad changed the water once a week for me and they lived for ages

are they the bigger pond goldfish or the little ones?

dont want another tank and they are far too small to go in my pond they are only little one's!

 

[sjolliff]

Ok, looks like your goin to have do turn the temp down, and adjust temp and ph for the fish
it should still cycle, but i would of thought it might take abit longer with the temp been a bit lower

 

[PDB-89]

grrrrr all this just to keep my nan happy!! i will probably keep them in for a wile until they get a little bigger then put them in the pond and then hopefully the tank will be ok for me to start stocking probably! with my BN's and corydoras then my cichlids iv set my heater to the lowest setting 21c i hop that not to hot for them and not to cold for my bacteria to grow!

 

[sjolliff]

You might need to do a water change to get the temp down as it will take awhile for it to drop down to that,
the bacteria should still grow i think 29c is just the best temp overall,
goodluck

 

[PDB-89]

thanks for the good luck mate! ill keep this posted!

 

[PDB-89]

26 / 7 / 09 ( 12 hours after water change )
pH ( n/a )
Hight rang pH ( 8.0 )
Ammonia Nh3 / Nh4+ ( 0.25 )
Nitrate No3 ( 20 )
Nitrite No2 ( 0ppm )

 

[waterdrop]

So, of course, that set of readings means its time to water change again because the ammonia has reached its max level, after which it crosses over to doing too much gill damage to the goldfish. You'll want to do a large water change, getting it down to the smallest traces, so that hopefully it won't get back up and cross over the 0.25ppm again before your next 12 hour test comes up. This is what fish-in cycling is all about.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[PDB-89]

todays test ( 12 hours after water change )

27 / 7 / 09
pH ( n/a )
Hight rang pH ( 8.0 )
Ammonia Nh3 / Nh4+ ( 0ppm )
Nitrate No3 ( 20 )
Nitrite No2 ( 0ppm )

On another note my water is crystal clear now no foggyness at all!

 

[jmkgreen]

A most unfortunate situation. If I were you I'd say the Goldfish died or were re-homed as the tank simply was not ready. Gives you an opportunity to promote your knowledge of water chemistry to your parents and grandparents.

Definitely thank them for their gift however. Just bad timing.

 

[PDB-89]

they do seem happy in the tank and it is nice to see them swimming around i just don't no what to do for the best! plus I'm going away in 3 weeks for 1 week and i don't no what to do about testing and water changes and stuff will it be ok for a week?

 

[waterdrop]

Well, your cycle may be coming along better 3 weeks from now and you might be able to convince whoever you get to feed them to also use a large plastic cup to scoop out a few cupfulls and then replace them halfway through the week.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[PDB-89]

tell me more?

'' use a large plastic cup to scoop out a few cupfulls and then replace them halfway through the week''