Stupidly Tried To Cycle With Fish Now Problems

[Assaye]

I hate P@H. "How long has your tank been set up for?" . . . "about three days" . . . "have some fish then!"

Yes, I should have done more research. However, I'm here now and this is my situation.

14L tank, 3 neon tetras. Filtered, pH 7.4, water temp 26 C. One live plant of unknown ID. Tank has been set up with fish for 1.5 weeks.

My ammonia is stabilising, but still not staying at 0. Usually about 0.1 ppm in the morning after a night with no water changes. No longer rising rapidly. Nitrites rising rapidly and I can't seem to get them below 0.15 ppm (ish). Having to do 2-3 water changes a day, usually 50% at a time, just to keep the nitrites that low. Fish seem OK. Usually quite active, like to play tag around the tank and looking nice and colourful in the light.

Searching like mad for bigger tank for the tetras, as I know 3 gallons is FAR too small. However, before I get one (it will take a few days, with the best will in the world), I need to try to keep the toxins as low as possible in here. What kind of bottled bacteria are safe to add when there are fish in the tank and how can I get hold of mature media to seed my tank? I don't know anyone personally with fish, although I could possibly ask my lfs/local restaurants with fish displays if they have anything mature I could pinch, even if it is a handful of gravel.

I'm limited to public transport so getting hold of supplies that I can't get from P@H, the internet or another lfs is going to be nearly impossible.

Halp!

 

[Tolak]

Best bet is some mature media, we have a list of donors here; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=150631

If you have no luck making contact, try posting a topic with your general location, stating that you are looking for media. If you can get some media from a shop or other source that wopuld work, but it will only shorten the cycling period, not eliminate it, unless you got a pretty good amount.

In the mean time, what you are doing is about the best you can do, water changes & monitor water conditions.

BTW, welcome to TFF!

 

[Assaye]

Best bet is some mature media, we have a list of donors here; [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=150631"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=150631[/URL]

If you have no luck making contact, try posting a topic with your general location, stating that you are looking for media. If you can get some media from a shop or other source that wopuld work, but it will only shorten the cycling period, not eliminate it, unless you got a pretty good amount.

In the mean time, what you are doing is about the best you can do, water changes & monitor water conditions.

BTW, welcome to TFF!

Thanks for the reply. I'll check out the list of donors.

Hopefully getting a 23 gallon tank today or tomorrow. A kind person in my town is donating it to my tetra saving cause. Off to get a new filter and bigger heater - any suggestions? I'm on a budget!

 

[craig855s]

get a fluval 2+ or U2 from ebay..new or used it dont matter (should be able to get one under 20 quid delivered) and as for the heater get a 100W superfish one from ebay again, cheap as chips

 

[Assaye]

After a few days of frantic water changes and panic, I've managed to get nitrites down to trace levels. Not the bright blue on the card but still a very definite blue with no purple. I got some Filter Start which claims to contain some lovely, tank cycling bacteria and I've added that. I've also added some donated established tank water. Ammonia is 0, nitrates are 10.

Should get my new tank tomorrow so once I've fixed the leak and set it up (hopefully by tomorrow evening, does anyone know how long tank sealant takes to set?) I'll move them over into their new home. Yay!

 

[m00se]

I'd leave it a good few days before you use the new tank if the sealant is still drying from plugging a leak. You really don't want water all over the floor!

Your key here will be frequent large volume water changes. The Filter Start may help you but the general consensus is that it makes no difference because there probably won't be any live bacteria left in the culture by the time you buy it. That said, it certainly won't do any harm and whether it's placebo or not, it has seemed to help my two cycles. The tank water doesn't really contain many bacteria so probably won't help too much. Donated established gravel is good; mature filter sponges (or sponges squeezed out into some water and then that filter-sponge-juice added to the tank) are better.

Keep checking your water stats regularly with a good liquid test kit, and keep up with the water changes religiously, and it should settle down in time. Good luck

Edit:
On a related note, P@H stores vary massively. Since they're a franchise, the quality of the stock, the maintenance, the fish and the staff vary totally from one store to the next. P@H in Hull point blank refuse to sell anyone fish unless their tank has been up and running for 2 weeks or more, even then you have to take in a sample of your water in for them to test it to be sure it's within decent ranges, and you can forget about buying any fish - even the smallest, cheapest ones - if you don't have a filter. They also ask you to list your current tank size, filter make and model, and current inhabitants before they'll sell any fish, and I've been in-store on more than one occasion when they've told someone their tank was overstocked and refused a sale. I realise this is rare for P@H, but it's reassuring to me that my local branch, at least, is so stringent

 

[Assaye]

I didn't know P@H was a franchise! That's worth knowing.

The staff at the York branch don't seem all thet switched on, tbh.

I've got the new tank, cleaned it and re-sealed it. It says on the tube of sealant to wait 48 hours before using, so that's what I am doing. Will go back to my lfs and P@H on Monday to see if they have any mature media. I didn't think to ask them to squeeze a sponge into some water!

Question - sometimes my filter has a fit and refuses to work. I solve it by removing the sponge and giving it a squeeze, getting all the clogged up gunk out of it. I squeeze it into my tank to keep any bacteria in there and then remove the larger chunks of gunk with a net. Is this OK? Fish don't seem too fussed by it.

 

[m00se]

That's fine. You've probably just got a load of big chunks in it. When you clean a filter out, be gentle with it in a bucket of *aquarium* water (i.e. not tap water), don't mash it about too vigourously, just enough to knock out any big chunks, leaf remnants etc., and then put it back in. Your filter will normally only stop working when there's a blockage in the filter media, so just remove the gunk and fit it back together. It's worth rinsing just a little in aquarium water anyway, just to get the big bits out, rather than squeezing those back into your tank, but yes, you're doing the right thing essentially

Edit:
You said about the staff in the York one not seeming all that switched on - this will be the case for most of the staff you talk to - but if the aquariums are well-maintained (i.e. nice clean tanks, not insanely overstocked, not too many dead fish, good policy like the one I've described), then hunt through the staff. Eventually, you'll find the 'fish guy/gal' who normally hangs out the back spending most of their time looking after the fish. They generally know what they're talking about. The staff in the big Hull one mostly seem like muppets, but there's one guy who knows his stuff. You rarely see him out on the shop floor, though (because he spends most of his life looking after the tanks behind the scenes ).

Another good sign in P@H stores is if you go in on a Monday afternoon (when they take delivery of their fish - at least I believe this is chain-wide, as it's been the case in at least three I've been into), and there are signs on some of the tanks saying 'these fish not for sale - acclimatising' or something similar, then you're probably onto a winner.

 

[Assaye]

Tetras are still in their little tank but I seem to have managed to get the ammonia and nitrites to 0! I added some mature 'filter juice' from an established tank and within a few hours nitrites had lowered to 0 without a water change. Ammonia took a little longer but after a water change last night, they are now 0 without another water change.

Fingers crossed that the tank has cycled!