Omg Im Doomed!

[MollyFresh]

Okay my mom went to get filter media or gravel from the pet store and she only got gravel and its gonna take her like 30 minutes or longer to come home, will the bacteria die?? And there is only like 1% bacteria in the gravel so is the gravel pointless to help my tank cycle?? I am so pissed because I told her I needed filter media and all she got was gravel! I really need filter media and I dont know anyone who can give it to me.. I live in new jersey... can anyone ship me some filter media??

 

[orange shark]

there will be no point shipping you the media the bacteria will all die, you might as well just keep at it...it will come good eventually

 

[Colin_T]

Your mom probably got a bag of gravel from the shelf. It is pointless buying gravel out of a shop tank because it doesn't have much in the way of filter bacteria in it. And often it has all sorts of harmful pathogens from all the diseased fishes that have been in the shop tanks over the years.

Don't worry about getting filter bacteria. Just keep the feeding down to a small amount once each day and do a partial water change every couple of days. The filters will develop by themselves over the next month and then you can increase the feeding and decrease the water changes.
If you get a high ammonia or nitrite reading then do a bigger water change and stop feeding for a few days. The fish won’t starve during that time. Fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water. This means the food they eat is used for swimming and growing. Mammals on the other hand need food to keep warm, as well as for movement and growth. It simply means fish can go for weeks or even months without feeding and they won’t die of starvation during that time. A couple of days without food is not going to be a problems to them.