Bad Start?

[Geist]

Hello!

Ok, a bit of background:

I never had to care for any pets before. I don't know much about fishes and aquariums, except for that I love the peacefulness they bring to a room.

My sister-in-law got rid of her 10gal tank, which had been in storage for about 1 year, and I am now its proud owner. It's equiped with an Aquaclear 20 and a 50w heater.

I cleaned it with a sponge and water, rinsed the filter with tap water and replaced the filter inserts with new ones. All of three of them.

I lined it with sand (thoroughly washed for about 2 hours) bought at the store and planted 3 plants looking like tight bunches of tall apple green grass blades 1 looking like a bunch of dandelion leaves and one looking like a binch of sage leaves with some red in the stems.

I filled it with tap water treated with a dechlorinator. Today it has been running for 2 days.

Yesterday I added 25ml. of a "biological aquarium supplement". I misread the directions and thought it needed to be used before adding fishes.

Today, I called the store and they said I was ready to buy my first fishes. I got one wagtail platy and one mickey mouse platy, both females. He told me to come back in a week with a water sample and a report of any wierd problems with my pets. I added 15ml more of the bio supplement. Then I acclimated the fishes to the temperature of my tank, then added bits after bits of my water to the bag over about 1.5 hour. Then I added the fishes to my tank... and only then did I think of browsing the web to check on what the store guy had told me. I guess I got over excited.

I now understand that ideally I would have waited for my tank to establish its own biological balance of bacterias before adding any pets to it.

Now that it's too late, what are my options?

From what I gather after browsing the wonderful goldmine of information that is this forum, I should: do a partial change of water everyday, quantity of water changed based on my test readings (ammonia and nitrites), water treated wiith the dechloring product and not too cold. Do I forget anything?

Also, I need help with populating my tank once its stabilized and fully cycled. That will be for another post

Thank you!

Geist

 

[dkpate]

No worries, most of us have been there! I would recommend a liquid test kit, so you can check for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. You will probably be doing pwc's every day, or every other day for around a month to keep your fish alive.
Also, make sure you keep a close eye on those girls for the first few weeks, in case they develop ich or some sort of fungus, which can happen from the stress of the move.
Make sure the new water you put in is as close to the same temp as the tank as you can.
And lastly, Welcome to AA! Glad you joined!

 

[Geist]

Thanks for the reassuring (and welcoming) reply

I have bought both the ammonia and nitrite liquid test on Saturday. I will test the water daily and change the water accordingly.

What does ich and fungus look like on a fish?

I'm commited to make this work, thanks for your help!

 

[dkpate]

Ich will look like they have been sprinkled with salt or sugar, and fungus usually looks kind of cottony, but I have had it look like someone took a lighter to their fins and melted them together.
If you ammonia or nitrite gets to .5, change some of the water. I am really glad to see you being a responsible pet owner, instead of just giving up.

 

[ampa one]

welcome to AA

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Don't worry. You are now doing what's sometimes called a 'with fish cycle'. That's how I got my tank established, everything else you did seems spot on.

As has been said, you *must* get yourself a test kit. At this point you need to be testing at least twice a week and doing water changes at least that often too.

If your fish die, and during the cycle it's quite possible, don't be disheartened or think you've done something wrong, just keep at it!

Congrats on your platies! I just got two last weekend.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I would highly suggest you try and return the fish and do a fishless cycle. I would also suggest you find another lfs since they told you you could put fish in after only a couple of days. If you cant return them, you're going to have to be religious about water changes. Expect to do 50% pwc's at least once a day to keep the ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 as possible. Putting fish through a cycle is very hard on them. Most of us have made that mistake though. In my signature, there are several links, read up on the one for cycling with fish if you must keep the fish. BTW, Welcome to AA

 

[Geist]

I would highly suggest you try and return the fish and do a fishless cycle. I would also suggest you find another lfs since they told you you could put fish in after only a couple of days. If you cant return them, you're going to have to be religious about water changes. Expect to do 50% pwc's at least once a day to keep the ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 as possible. Putting fish through a cycle is very hard on them. Most of us have made that mistake though. In my signature, there are several links, read up on the one for cycling with fish if you must keep the fish. BTW, Welcome to AA

I agree with you now that I am better informed. However, I'm choosing to keep them rather than putting them through the stress of moving back to the store where there is a 90% chance that the next person who picks them up will do worst to them.

The links will help me tremendously, I'll read them and take notes.

I have been testing the water twice a day (morning and before bed). Both ammonia and nitrites tested at 0 using a liquid test kit.

Should that worry me? Could that be caused by the Nutrafin Cycle product I added? Should I do PWC anyways just for the heck of it or does that cause unwarranted stress and I should wait till I get a reading on the tests?

My common sense tells me to wait until I get some kind of ammonia reading, but I don't want to take any chances, which is why I'm asking.

Thanks for taking the time to help me!

Geist

 

[Geist]

If your fish die, and during the cycle it's quite possible, don't be disheartened or think you've done something wrong, just keep at it!

Congrats on your platies! I just got two last weekend.

Thanks! If they die I'll make amend by starting fresh and try to cycle without any fish.

BUT I won't allow them to die on my watch

Geist

 

[dkpate]

You can change the water pretty much whenever you want to, fresh is always better!

 

[Geist]

Thanks all, 5th day and so far things are going great. I've done 25% water changes daily, and I test twice a day for ammonia and nitrite. I was suprised yesterday evening, because for the first time the nitrate test showed some color. It was paler than the weakest color on the chart, but I don't understand how even that is possible considering that my ammonia tests have all showed 0ppm.

The girls look like they are doing great, they swim around rather calmly but actively, pecking at the plant leaves, exploring the hiding spot but never remaining hidden.

Stay tuned!

Geist

 

[dkpate]

Sounds good!

 

[chickenkev]

I'm far from expert, but I would think if the supplement you added was a bacterial culture product, designed to speed up cycling, then that may provide enough biological filter to convert your ammonia load from two small fish to nitrite and on to nitrate; thereby causing a nitrate spike without any detectable ammonia or nitrite spike preceding.

Someone more experienced may know better.

 

[corrado33]

I'm far from expert, but I would think if the supplement you added was a bacterial culture product...

I agree. I have read that those products don't do much, but it seems to be working very well in this case.

 

[dkpate]

I have used Bio-Zyme with good results.

 

[supradupafast]

Seems to be Hit or Miss with those Bio-Bottles. Maybe I missed along the threads, but did you say you had Live plants?
As for your NitrAtes, have you tested your Tap water? It is possible that the NitrAtes are coming from your Tap.
If your tap tests for 0 NitrAtes, then Pop open a beer, and enjoy it... You're on the right path
Welcome to AA