Novice Wondering About Cycling

[Brads1]

Hiya, im a novice in tropical fish keeping, decided to set a tank up after persuation from friends!
I set the tank up over the last bank holiday weekend (about 10 days ago) it was an old tank that had been stored for many years but gave it a good clean! I purchased a new filter/pump! Set the tank up holiday monday, set heater going tuesday and took a sample of tank water and tap water to a local fish shop last wednesday, he tested it and both waters were ok so let me have some fish, i got 3 mollys (2 dalmation - 1 silver). I asked at the fish shop on sunday wether i could add real plants, they sed yes, so i added 4 real plants and a piece of wood (which i soaked well). my silver fish died on monday (i wasnt confident on it from day 1, was very small and didnt seem to eat) the other 2 mollys are doing well! I have noticed the water has gone cloudy today, i have a nitrite tester, and the nitrite is starting to slowly increase, which from a novices point of view seems to be the start of my cycle.

Basically after the end of that mider, just wondering, should i do a partial 10% water change or will it be better to leave it as it is to help my cycle go faster?? because i want more fish

Hope this explains my situation, help gratefully achieved!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Welcome to the forum.

You are currently in a fish-in cycle. Have a read through the fish-in cycle thread.


You need to do MASSIVE water changes. The ammonia level (you have a test kit for this as well, right?) needs to stay UNDER 0.25ppm, as well as the nitrite staying under 0.25ppm.

DO NOT LET THE WATER SIT in the tank at toxic levels for the fish. The reason that the fish died is ammonia poisoning.


You need to do sufficient water changes ANY TIME that you see the levels of either ammonia or nitrite get to (or above) 0.25ppm. They should be zero at all times.

 

[maisy12345]

Hi ,what size is your tank [how many l]

 

[Brads1]

Hi, thanks, my tank is 80 litres about!
Ok, i got told never do more than a 10-15% water change at once thou!
so shud i change some water? then what?? will the cycle still continue and then settle down again??

 

[colleen0309]

As Eaglesaquarium said, you are doing a fish in cycle. Read. Read. Read. And when you are done, read some more. Be patient, you will get there.

 

[maisy12345]

Hi ,found myself in fish in cycle [through wrong advice] and had to do 60 percent water changes for up to three months ,sometimes twice daily to keep my ammonia down to 0,was advised to clean gravel everytime i did a water change as well.Also only feed fish minimum amount of food every other day to help keep ammonia down,which it does help to,good luck!
Also add stress coat plus ,which helps relax fish[has got aloe vera in] ,when doing water changes ,and gets rid of ammonia in tap water,hope this helps,and don`t worry about asking questions,the forum has helped me a lot.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You need to do as LARGE a water change as is necessary to drop your ammonia and nitrite levels to as close to zero as possible. If your nitrite reading is 1, then you need to do at least an 80% water change.


I would take the advice of the LFS (local fish store) with a grain of salt. Their goal is to sell you things, the goal of the folks here is for you to have as successful an experience as a fish keeper as possible.

The advice from maisy above is very good. Gravel vac any waste that you can see (and even what you can't) every time you do a water change. A water change can be as large as the fish can take. That means that there is just enough space for the fish to swim at the level of the substrate. It sounds cruel at first, but if you consider that most of the fish are from rivers, they are used to rises and drops in water level. The key is to keep the ammonia and nitrite within safe levels (as close to zero as possible). Secondly, make sure that you turn off the filter and heater when completing the water change. Dechlorinate your water and try to temp match the water as best you can when refilling. This is more important when you are doing a large water change than a small one.