This Is Harder Than It Looks

[Berkfishin]

Ok I got a new 10 gallon tank for my son. On Thursday we filled the tank and treated the water with tetra Aquasafe. On sat we added tetra safestart and 5 fish. Two glofish, one albino catfish, one platy and one Molly. I did a test strip today and is says 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, ph of 8.5 and the hardness was as high as it could read. It doesn't have an ammonia test. The cat fish is not moving very much. Is there any thing I should do, or do things sound ok? Thanks for the help.

 

[Gazanimal]

I'd have a read here..

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

I'd say at the moment your fish are in a bit of distress as your tank hasn't matured & doesn't have the required bacteria to process the ammonia that the fish make in their waste. For a tank to mature takes weeks, not a few days unfortunately.

I'd suggest at least a water change of 50% as you can't read the ammonia levels & they are probably high, but I'm just learning myself so I'd hope one of the more established fish keepers will chime in on this ASAP.

Also test strips aren't very accurate so I'd recommend buying an API Freshwater Master Test Kit too so you can test your water correctly (about £20 off Ebay)

 

[luke4868]

Hi

Your nitrogen cycle has not yet developed which would normally explain why he isn't very active. You need the nitrogen cycle to complete first, which would now be a deal harder now there is a fish in the tank.

Take a look at the 'Fish-in cycle' topic in the beginners forum which explains the process of what you will need to do now, hopefully he will keep with you.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, you haven't been given any information on the need for a "biofilter" to be established prior to introducing fish. You are in what we call a "Fish-In Cycling Situation" and before we get off on explaining that I suggest that you may urgently need to perform a large water change with good technique: If you have what we call a gravel-cleaning siphon then you use it to siphon out at least 50% of the water into a catch bucket (don't throw out the last of the water.) The gravel needs to get "cleaned" (even if you can't see any sediment) during this process. The return tap water needs to be again treated with the same conditioner you used before (however I'd dose it at 1.5x whatever they tell you) and the return water needs to be roughly temperature matched (your hand is good enough for that.)

Once that is done, your homework is to read 3 of the Beginners Resource Center articles: The Nitrogen Cycle, The Fish-In Cycle and The Fishless Cycle. This will help you ask questions here in your thread. You will need to pick up a good liquid-reagent based test kit (the paper strips are worse than useless, they lead to wrong decisions sometimes.) Most of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Many of us are Dads and Moms who got into this the same way as you, so you'll not be alone and it can be rather fun talking with the members, they're great! We get dozens of cases like yours each month.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Berkfishin]

Should I be worried about the water hardness or the ph? I read the articles, but I understood that the tetra safestart along with the tetra aquasafe would help with this so that I didn't have to worry about the cycle?

 

[waterdrop]

No, hardness and pH are rather minor issues for beginners, much, much less important than ammonia and nitrite(NO2) and something that will be learned in the coming weeks. When you fishless cycle prior to getting fish you can optimize the hardness and pH to grow the proper bacteria but once you have fish you can not do that and all focus is turned to trying to keep the fish alive and healthy in the cycling situation.

The goal in a fish-in cycle is to be a bit of the detective and figure out what percentage and frequency of water changes will keep both ammonia and nitrite(NO2) at or below 0.25ppm (as measured by a good liquid test kit) until you can be home again to re-test. This can become quite a challange unless you have very few fish relative to the volume of water. You can't really get a feel for it until some days/weeks have passed. You need to test morning and night or basically about twice a day as your schedule permits. Once you get a good pattern going you may be able to drop that to once a day but it can sneak up on you.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[AdultMaleChicago]

Should I be worried about the water hardness or the ph? I read the articles, but I understood that the tetra safestart along with the tetra aquasafe would help with this so that I didn't have to worry about the cycle?

I think that at this time the primary concern is the fact that your tank has not developed any biological filters which are going to help eliminate the fish waste. I would go with the 50% water change advice for now as it is the only way to make sure your fish are going to live through the cycling process. You may need to do these water changes often for the fish-in cycle.

The aquasafe is important because it neutralizes the chlorine in your tap water. Make sure you use it when you do your water change. The safestart, however, is no substitute for the natural cycling process that you are now in. This is something that we cannot skip.

Read up on cycling using the resources which Gazanimal and waterdrop wrote about. If you are able to, get the API Master Test Kit ASAP. This kit tests for the most important things during the cycling process: Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. Please post your test results when you get it.

Good luck!

 

[mmccx]

Should I be worried about the water hardness or the ph? I read the articles, but I understood that the tetra safestart along with the tetra aquasafe would help with this so that I didn't have to worry about the cycle?

I think its a general consensus that the Safestart (cycling chemicals that apparently contain live bacteria) are completely useless

 

[Skins]

Should I be worried about the water hardness or the ph? I read the articles, but I understood that the tetra safestart along with the tetra aquasafe would help with this so that I didn't have to worry about the cycle?

Like WD said i would not rely on the tetra test strips, I have used this kit and my hardness levels were totally out compared to the results i got from the Api liquid test(gH/kH). Another thing to concider is whilst cycling you will be performing daily water checks over a period of 6-8 weeks, with a liquid based test kit you will get a lot more tests for your money + reliability.

Keith.