Cycling help

[Nave]

I made a post earlier abouot my mollies and setting up my 55 gallon. Well One of the black mollies ended up dying so I took it back to the petstore I got it from with a water sample. I took the other black one back alive and got my money back on both of them. Anyways, They tested my water and said my amonia was to high. They said I had 2 options, let them die out or put them in another tank, Which basiclly forced me to fill my 55 gallon up and pu them in there.

So I got hom, filled the tank up, put some Tap water conditioner in it and set the filters to run for a while with the heater in and I took off to work. when I got back I check to see if the temp of the water was fine and it was, so I moved my fish to the big aquarium to get them out of the posionous water. That is 4 mollies, 2 swords and 2 dwarf frogs. That was yesterday.

This evening a friend shows up here with 2 fish for me, not knowing anything about having to cycle the tanks. So now I have 2 cory with my mollies. I emptied my 10 gallon, cleaned the gravel and refilled it with water using the water conditioner. so right now it is just sitting full of water with no fish with the filter going and the heater on.

With all of that being said I need to know what I can do to keep my fish less streesed and hopefully keep them alive. I expecally want to keep my gift corys alive, they turned out to be fun fish. The 55 gallon has be running since about 4pm EST, mollies added about 10pm. Then the corys were added today around 2pm.

What can I do besides give the fish back to the fish store to keep them alive and well off?? Any help would be appreated. I have extra 10 gallon tanks I could setup but not the filters/heaters to go with them. If it is totally a MUST I can set up maybe one more 10 gallon and maybe a 5 gallon, I just want my fish to live.

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

Are any of these tanks cycled?

Are you familiar with what the cycling process is and how it works?

Do you have access to Bio-Spira, if the tanks aren't cycled?

 

[joannde]

If you cycle a tank with fish in it you must monitor your ammonia and nitrites closely and keep both below 0.5ppm (get the Freshwater Master Test Kit - you'll need it).

If ammonia or nitrites rise to 0.5ppm you'll need to do a large (50% ish) water change to get the levels down; ammonia and nitrites are toxic to fish.

here is an article on the nitrogen cycle for you to read:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21


and here is on on Fishless cycling that you may be interested in (see if you can return the fish if you want to go this route) - alot less water changes involved with a fishless cycle
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

As Voodoo Chilli mentions, there is a product called "Bio Spira" that can be used to cycle a tank in a matter of days. It MUST stay refridgerated. Its not easy to find but if you go to www.marineland.com you can find a list of retailers in your area and call them to see if they have any in stock (don't assume they do - many don't)

best of luck with the tank

 

[Nave]

still having problems, Yesterday morning my Amonia was at 2.0, I did a 25% water change, checked a few hours later nd it was at 1.5, I did a 50% water change agian last night. I got to check my amonia today and it is between 15. and 3.0 on the color chart, probably 2.0 agian......... I cant seem to get it down, I check my nitrites too and they are at <0.3 on the chart, so thats probably none..... do I just keep doing water changes to keep my exsisting fish alive? I cant get ahold of that Bio-Spira, noone in my area carries it, anything else thats similar that would work??

My female swordtail was found dead a few mins ago, after the water change I did last night she came out of hiding and was swimming around... Im alil bummed....

 

[rich311k]

At this point all you can do is water changes. I would do two 50% plus ones today if you possibly can. Do you have a friend with an established tank?

 

[Nave]

no, dont know anyone with a tank. I will just keep on with the water changes then. anything else I should do with the water changes??

 

[rich311k]

Just be sure to dechlor and keep temperature close.

 

[JRagg]

Large water changes are your friend. Cut down on the feedings as well to minimize ammonia production. Remember a 75% water change has the same effect as two 50% changes.

If you see your ammonia at 2ppm, a 75% change should be in order to get down to 0.5ppm. The 25% change did exactly what you would have expected it to do.

Good luck on this, it's a long process, but if you keep a close eye on parameters then you'll come out of it without losing fish.

 

[Nave]

ok I just got back from petsmart, bought something called Stability, think this product will help things out?? also I have things I bought in the past. Ammo-Lock, TLC, and the Tap Conditioner I use everytime I do a water change.

 

[MSU Fan]

besides the tap conditioner (which one, btw?), the rest aren't especially useful, with maybe the exception of TLC (I don't know what that is). the ammo-lock will give you false readings on your ammonia test, so I highly recommend against using it (I have a large bottle also from my newb days )

Stability and products like it haven't been shown to help establish bio-filters in the least bit. Unless you have bio-spira or another refridgerated product that claims to help cycle, you should probably take it back.

I know it sucks, but water changes, bio-spira, or getting some media from an established tank is pretty much the only way to get through this. I had a tank that took over 3 months to cycle . Just kept doing water changes. My next tank I used established media and bio-spira - cycled in 2 days.

 

[Nave]

I use API Tap Water Conditioner

do I do a 50% change everyday until safe or a different ammount?? Its easier for me to do 50% at a time with the kind of gravel vac/siphon hose I have. Just did one, will do another tonite, and after that do I keep do 50% or lower?

Also just check ammonia agian and it looked to be between 0.25 and 1.5 on the chart, but I have trouble comparing the color when it isnt exact to one, cant tell which it is between.

 

[jsoong]

The amount of water change is based on how much NH3 your fish is producing. Basically you do as much as needed to keep it under 0.5. If you are doing 50% pwc's, you'll need to do one whenever NH3 hits 1.0. This might mean doing it twice a day in the beginning, but you can decrease the frequency (and eventually the amount of water changed) as the cycle progresses. After your NH3 spike, then you watch the NO2 and base the water change schedule to keep it under 0.25.

If you are having problem with colour chart, you might try serial dilution. Say your colour is somewhere in the 0.25-1.5 range: Add an equal amount of (clean, ammonia free) water to the test tube. If you are on the low end (0.25), diluting the water by 1/2 would make the colour undetectable. If you can still see colour after a 50% dilution, you are on the high end of that range.

In theory, you could keep diluting the water till you have no colour (some plant nuts would have 6 or 8 dilutions to get some level EXACTLY right) ... The number of dilution tells you the exact amount you have. However, a single dilution would give you a pretty good ball park estimate in practice, that all you should need.