Uregently need help!

[Fawke]

hi there, we too found out too late about cycling

just wanted to say DONT PANIC!!!!!!!!! as it has already been said water changes are a must. we were doing 40% every day, even twice a day sometimes. we figured the amonia and nitrite were more deadly than the stress of the water changes, our fish seemed to get quite used to it

it is very hard work and seems that no sooner have you finished changing water than it is time to go again, but it is worth it. just remember there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that your fish will be thanking you for it.

you have my moral support on this one

good luck

 

[SailfinGirl]

Thanks Fawke!

My fish are still alive and looking quite happy. I tested my tap water yesterday, and its all fine so its not the tap water making things worse. I haven't fed my fish yet, and I have also decided to reduce the amount of times I feed the other fish in my little tank to once a day. I have taken gravel from both mine and my sister's established tanks and added it to my new one. I did another water test earlier before my water change and as follows

ammonia: 2.0
nitrite: 0.25
ph: 8.2! It was 7.8!

Thanks for the advice, I have changed about 50% of water since yesterday when I posted.

 

[Phantom Thief]

What about the water parameters after the water change?

P.T.

 

[SailfinGirl]

I don't know I wanted to give the gravel some time to settle down, I'm just about to go and do one.

 

[SailfinGirl]

My nitrites are still 0.25 and my ammonia is either 1.0 or 2.0 I can't tell. What sort of light should I be doing the test in because its early evening where I am (6.30), and I can stand by my window and get 1.0 or stand in my room and get 2.0. I'm confused.

 

[tstenback]

if you just did a water change then wait for about an hour before you take the reading. Best to do it under light as this will give you a more true color. HTH

 

[SailfinGirl]

I did about 20% water change this morning at about 11.30. I've only just about 10 minutes ago tested the water, I'm gonna go read the thing under really good light in my kitchen

 

[SailfinGirl]

Oh, got that wrong. ammonia appears to have dropped to 1.0, but nitrites are now 0.50!

 

[Fawke]

glad to hear things are going well,

its great that you could use gravel to get things moving along, you have got a head start already I know what you mean about the test kits and it being hard to tell which colour it is. we just kept testing and when the shade was lighter gave ourselves a pat on the back after all, even after a water change the result was always 'too high', but better than it was before. suppose what I am trying to say is not much point stressing over weither its 1ppm or 2pmm as neither is good.

you are doing everything right imo. Im sure with the gravel you have used and the reduced feeding it will not be long before you see an improvement.

stick with it and keep us posted

fawke

 

[Fawke]

thats great that your nitrites are up, you are on the way!!!
just remember that the nitrite part of the cycle is the longest

 

[SailfinGirl]

Oh no! so what, I keep going with the daily water changes as well?

 

[Earthgirl]

I found out when cycling a tank you should start with a tetra. I started with some lemon tetra and xray tetras. They are hardy and can do the job. Reduce the feeding to every two days (they are cold blooded so they can handle it). Move the gourami and the brisltenose (especially him because they are sensitive to nitrite levels) good luck!

 

[Fawke]

sorry to say, but we did yes

the nitrites are also harmful to the fish, so need to controlled with water changes until the bacteria has grown to do this for you. it is of course up to you, the number and amount of water you change does have some dependence on how hardy your fish are. the water changes will slow down your cycle, but it is about keeping the fish alive. as I said before you will have speeded things up nicely by adding the gravel.

I do remember the horror of constant water changes ( although not too often as it tends to give me nightmares ) but that is the price I paid, and you now unfortunatly are too, for not doing the research. If I am sure of one thing, it is an experience I will only go through once!

another option you have is to return some of you fish to the lfs, as lighter stocking will mean less waste so less harmfull amonia and nitrite diluted in you water while you cycle. you would then need to stock a fish or two at a time

 

[Fawke]

just read your sig

from what I was told at the time the plec will be causing extra trouble, as they apparently produce lots of waste into the water. gouramis are also not a good fish to cycle with as they are not hardy enough. we got ours through but they got ill soon after, probably bought on by a weakend ammune system. sorry dont know about mollys. apart from that you dont look heavily stocked anyway ( for a cycle I mean) Im still new to this so please correct me anyone if I am talking nonsense

 

[SailfinGirl]

The only reason why I thought i was cycling properly was because I did things exactly the same way when I was setting up my 4.4 gallon and I didn't have any fish die or any problems with the tank.

It turns out from my sis asking poeple on here, that my pleco is actually a sailfin pleco not a bristlenose.

Water changes are hard work, I have stupidly put my very deep tank upstairs in my room so every time I have to carry 2 bucketfuls of water down the stairs, tip them away, refill 2 more bucketfuls and put them in. So i think its like 8 trips up and down the stairs. Oh well, I'm sure it will be worth it!