Use the loo and grab a drink, as this might wind up being a long read.
After being out of the fish game for a bit, I was able to convince the girlfriend to let me set up a tank in our new house, however, she capped me at 20 gallons. A little lame, but I figured after awhile she'd give into the idea of having a larger tank and then I can slowly take over the house.
So, once I had her semi-blessing, two weeks ago we headed to both PetSmart and Petco and pieced together a setup. Petco was having their dollar per gallon sale, so we grabbed the tank there. Wasn't super sure what I wanted to do for a filter, so I grabbed an AquaClear 30 with plans to possibly change it later down the road. Grabbed a hood and light from PetSmart along with some Prime, Flourish and Stability from Seachem.
I got the tank set up that night and headed back to Petco the next morning to pick up a few small plants just to get things started.
Now here's where mistakes began to be made.
The girlfriend is a little impatient and wanted fish swimming in the tank right away. I figured this wasn't my first rodeo and I could handle a fish-in cycle, so we went and picked up a few platys -- and incidentally, a molly -- from PetSmart on Monday. That was my first mistake.
While I hadn't picked up a test kit yet, it was on my list and I thought I had at least a couple of days before I needed to worry about it. That was my second mistake.
Friday night after work, I ran to store the store, grabbed the API FW test kit and a few other things. I had waited a little longer than I wanted to and I had already planned on doing a water change that night, but when I tested the water, I was in for a little bit of a shock.
I had been dosing the tank with Stability every day, so I was hoping that would help speed up the initial stages of cycling the tank, but I didn't plan for how fast it would actually move things along. While the ammonia levels were almost 0, the nitrites were through the freaking roof. I immediately did a large water change and dosed with extra prime. The battle was on.
I did another water change Saturday and Sunday, each time also dosing with extra Prime just to help. Then starting Monday, I started testing in the morning before I left for work, on lunch and then when I got home before I would then do another water change.
The fish seemed fine for the most part, however, there were a couple that occasionally had clamped fins and would hide away, but mostly they always came back around, especially when it was feeding time (I was feeding every other day and just enough for them to eat instantly).
So, all week I kept testing the water and also doing water changes. I was getting seeing nitrates during testing so I know the nitrites were being converted, but they would still climb by the end of each day to about 1ppm or a little higher. Water changes were working well to get the levels back down and I was hoping the Prime would help during the day while the levels climbed before another water change.
This morning before work, I turned on the tank light a few minutes early to feed the fish and do a head count (I was always expecting the worst). All the fish were accounted for, but, unfortunately, I noticed one of them was showing signs of ich -- and then another. I guess when it rain, it pours.
I immediately turned the heater up a little bit and slowly increased the temperature up to 84 through the course of the day. Tonight I tested the water and did another water change. I finally went with sand for a substrate, so it's a little hard to vacuum, but I made sure to at least move the siphon around the tank. Nitrites had managed to build back up again, but I do believe they were a little lower than in the past, so hopefully things are moving somewhat in the right direction.
One of the little guys isn't doing so hot, but I'm not giving up hope yet. Regardless of the tank cycle, I'll have to keep up the water change regiment for a couple of weeks to hopefully eliminate the ich.
Wish me luck and we'll see how it goes!
tl;dr Bought a new tank, thought I could hand a fish-in cycle, but now I'm battling high nitrites and a case of ich.
After being out of the fish game for a bit, I was able to convince the girlfriend to let me set up a tank in our new house, however, she capped me at 20 gallons. A little lame, but I figured after awhile she'd give into the idea of having a larger tank and then I can slowly take over the house.
So, once I had her semi-blessing, two weeks ago we headed to both PetSmart and Petco and pieced together a setup. Petco was having their dollar per gallon sale, so we grabbed the tank there. Wasn't super sure what I wanted to do for a filter, so I grabbed an AquaClear 30 with plans to possibly change it later down the road. Grabbed a hood and light from PetSmart along with some Prime, Flourish and Stability from Seachem.
I got the tank set up that night and headed back to Petco the next morning to pick up a few small plants just to get things started.
Now here's where mistakes began to be made.
The girlfriend is a little impatient and wanted fish swimming in the tank right away. I figured this wasn't my first rodeo and I could handle a fish-in cycle, so we went and picked up a few platys -- and incidentally, a molly -- from PetSmart on Monday. That was my first mistake.
While I hadn't picked up a test kit yet, it was on my list and I thought I had at least a couple of days before I needed to worry about it. That was my second mistake.
Friday night after work, I ran to store the store, grabbed the API FW test kit and a few other things. I had waited a little longer than I wanted to and I had already planned on doing a water change that night, but when I tested the water, I was in for a little bit of a shock.
I had been dosing the tank with Stability every day, so I was hoping that would help speed up the initial stages of cycling the tank, but I didn't plan for how fast it would actually move things along. While the ammonia levels were almost 0, the nitrites were through the freaking roof. I immediately did a large water change and dosed with extra prime. The battle was on.
I did another water change Saturday and Sunday, each time also dosing with extra Prime just to help. Then starting Monday, I started testing in the morning before I left for work, on lunch and then when I got home before I would then do another water change.
The fish seemed fine for the most part, however, there were a couple that occasionally had clamped fins and would hide away, but mostly they always came back around, especially when it was feeding time (I was feeding every other day and just enough for them to eat instantly).
So, all week I kept testing the water and also doing water changes. I was getting seeing nitrates during testing so I know the nitrites were being converted, but they would still climb by the end of each day to about 1ppm or a little higher. Water changes were working well to get the levels back down and I was hoping the Prime would help during the day while the levels climbed before another water change.
This morning before work, I turned on the tank light a few minutes early to feed the fish and do a head count (I was always expecting the worst). All the fish were accounted for, but, unfortunately, I noticed one of them was showing signs of ich -- and then another. I guess when it rain, it pours.
I immediately turned the heater up a little bit and slowly increased the temperature up to 84 through the course of the day. Tonight I tested the water and did another water change. I finally went with sand for a substrate, so it's a little hard to vacuum, but I made sure to at least move the siphon around the tank. Nitrites had managed to build back up again, but I do believe they were a little lower than in the past, so hopefully things are moving somewhat in the right direction.
One of the little guys isn't doing so hot, but I'm not giving up hope yet. Regardless of the tank cycle, I'll have to keep up the water change regiment for a couple of weeks to hopefully eliminate the ich.
Wish me luck and we'll see how it goes!
tl;dr Bought a new tank, thought I could hand a fish-in cycle, but now I'm battling high nitrites and a case of ich.
