My Short Story

[Koliis]

So here's my story, and let me start off by saying, I know I was wrong...now. As a child my mother bred Mollies and Guppies, so I guess that makes me a genius when it comes to tanking? Wrong.
I have royally screwed myself, and like I always do-I have become attached and petrified of loosing ANY of my fish. So too give you the short version of my VERY long series of events that have lead me to my current situation. I bought a 15G tank, that LFS told me that I should let it cycle. Now, I am not the sharpest sword on the rack-but I thought what he meant by "cycling" was let the filter run a bit before dropping any fish in. I guess this is a 50/50 mistake because he didn't explain what he meant, any customer coming in saying...."I wanna buy this, here tank, so whatta do I do?"..they should start off by saying "Okay, tank that tank home and some this Biozyme, and maybe one fish, and let it run for a week, doing daily water changes, then bring a sample of water in and we will tell you if you are ready for more fish." NOT "Okay, let me ring that up for you...how many fish would you like?" Because that's what got me were I am.

So, I have 12 fish, and my tank is not done cycling. I am almost a week in, my ammonia levels are high daily (expected), and I am adding Biozyme to speed up the process because I have WAY to many fish. I do 35% water changes daily, I am only feeding once a day, and I constantly watch my babies for any signs of stress from the water levels. My ph is 7, my nitrites, and nitrates are 0, which is expected because I am in the early stages of cycling. As you can see I have done my research a little too late. So my question is, is there anything that I am doing wrong at this point? And do you have any pointers to help me, NOT kill my fish...

Thank you!!! <3

P.S you can call me a dork...I've earned it...

 

[phantomlink]

You could try asking the LFS if you could borrow/have/buy some of their used filter media to boot your cycle faster

 

[Axyadbad]

I think just larger water changes may be necessary, especially when the nitrates begin to rise all of a sudden. Read the beginner resource centre on my signature and that will give you more info...just read it and read it again.

It's part your fault and part the LFS, you only learn from mistakes!

 

[Gvilleguy]

Don't beat yourself up - at least you are trying to do right by your new fish. I would do larger water changes until you can get ammonia down. What level is ammonia registering? It might be necessary to do twice daily water changes, if possible, or simply one larger one.

 

[Koliis]

My ammonia is just over "being high" it's not high enough to cause alarm. Everything else is zero, except for my PH which is 7. I have been doing 35-50% water changes. So far my fish are thriving and I have been adding the Biozyme to speed things up. So far I guess I am doing everything right. Just wanted some extra input. But I have done SO much research, I am on information overload. And was hoping to have someone tell me, I am not a total failure and that my tank is not doomed?

 

[Gvilleguy]

Like I said, don't beat yourself up. You're doing the right stuff now - good job!

 

[Koliis]

Like I said, don't beat yourself up. You're doing the right stuff now - good job!

Thank you, I'm trying to make my mistake right, I don't want my fish suffering from my lack of know-how.