Fish In Cycle - Week 1

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IcedAngelKiss

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Oct 17, 2011
Messages
64
Location
Ohio, USA
After realizing that the Pet Store was completely wrong about how to set up a tank (leave it fishless for a week with the filter running...then its safe to add fish) I am now doing a fish in cycle with the fish that were able to last through my spiked ammonia.
I have an angel fish, silver dollar, and a peacock eel still surviving in a 26 gallon tank.
I started over doing a 100% water change (conditioned the water) and cleaned the gravel, fake plants, decor, etc last Saturday.
I've done tests on my water twice a day for the past week (using the API Master test kit) and all week my levels have read:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
After doing today's morning test my Ammonia is now at .25-.50 the rest are still at 0
Here's my question: When should I do water changes? At the first sign of Ammonia, or when it has reached a certain level? I've never cycled a tank before so I want to make sure I am doing this correct (even if I do have fish in the tank).
Thank You!
 
As soon as ammonia or nitrite is above .25 then change water until it is lowered. Also go steady with the cleaning, make sure only to clean decorations In tank water, there will be a lot of beneficial bacteria on ornaments an substrate as well as the filter.
 
IcedAngelKiss said:
water changes once a day? or water changes over and over til it's lowered?
Click to expand...

As often as needed to reduce ammonia and nitrite to a safe level ( below .25). May even be several times per day depending on tank size, number of fish, type of fish etc.
 
Your doing a great job so far with testing 2x a day and doing water changes! This is going to be vital to keep your fish healthy while your tank is cycling. Anytime you have detectable ammonia or nitrites, do water changes (even mutiple wcs) to get those levels down (below .25). If your in doubt about whether or not to change the water, its always to better to do a pwc! Good luck & keep us posted!
 
When I did this water change I took out about 5 gallons of water with a gravel sweep and I was able to pull out some uneaten food over the past week, Here's a pic of my tank...you can't see my eel, he's under the gravel...
320074_2646215433487_1198698906_3224899_635482995_n.jpg
 
I always waited about 10-15min to give everything a chance to run through the filter & circulate around the tank before testing.
 
Nice tank :)

However...
Your tank is too small for a peacock eel and a silver dollar. Unfortunately, your pet store has not been doing a good job at keeping you informed, as both those fish will outgrow your tank. Silver dollars get six to eight inches and need a proper school, which can't really fit in your tank, and peacock eels get around a foot long, which isn't enough room for them to stretch.
 
IcedAngelKiss said:
After realizing that the Pet Store was completely wrong about how to set up a tank (leave it fishless for a week with the filter running...then its safe to add fish) I am now doing a fish in cycle with the fish that were able to last through my spiked ammonia.
I have an angel fish, silver dollar, and a peacock eel still surviving in a 26 gallon tank.
I started over doing a 100% water change (conditioned the water) and cleaned the gravel, fake plants, decor, etc last Saturday.
I've done tests on my water twice a day for the past week (using the API Master test kit) and all week my levels have read:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
After doing today's morning test my Ammonia is now at .25-.50 the rest are still at 0
Here's my question: When should I do water changes? At the first sign of Ammonia, or when it has reached a certain level? I've never cycled a tank before so I want to make sure I am doing this correct (even if I do have fish in the tank).
Thank You!
Click to expand...

Hi! I'd do water changes any time ammonia and/or nitrite reach .25. Depending on how high the levels are is going to dictate how much water to change. For example, if it's at .25, do a 50% water change. If it's at .5, a 50% water change would get the level down to .25 which is still borderline toxic so I'd do another 50% water change (or a larger 70% water change inititally). You'll be battling ammonia for about 2-3 weeks. Then ammonia should start staying at 0 but then the nitrite phase starts and those are going to spike fast, so daily water changes are going to be important and that phase usually lasts another 2-3 weeks.

Given that most of your fish aren't really suitable for your tank I'd highly suggest returning all of them, doing a fishless cycle and in the meantime research proper stocking for your size tank. Fish-in cycles are do-able though if you test the water daily and are committed to daily (sometimes more than one per day) water changes for 4-6 weeks on average. In the long-term though you'll need to rehome the Eel and silverdollar. Keeping the Angelfish would also limit other fish you could add with them down the road once the tank cycles.

Good luck. :)
 
I see you tank and you say you have cycling problems and I don't see any live rocks in your tank. You can't cycle unless you have live rocks to get the needing bacteria into the water. Unless I don't think so. I have never seen a tank without love rocks for cycling
 
Jason M said:
I see you tank and you say you have cycling problems and I don't see any live rocks in your tank. You can't cycle unless you have live rocks to get the needing bacteria into the water. Unless I don't think so. I have never seen a tank without love rocks for cycling
Click to expand...

Live rock? That's for saltwater, this is a freshwater tank. :)
 
I didn't know that you have to cycle a freshwater tank. I guess I never had to because I had a tank at my parents house when I was younger and it was just always there. I never measured levels in a freshwater tank, also I never had any fish die because of ammonia or nitrate levels I don't think. Maybe they did but I guess you learn something new everyday
 
Jason M said:
I didn't know that you have to cycle a freshwater tank. I guess I never had to because I had a tank at my parents house when I was younger and it was just always there. I never measured levels in a freshwater tank, also I never had any fish die because of ammonia or nitrate levels I don't think. Maybe they did but I guess you learn something new everyday
Click to expand...

I didn't know about cycling either until I found this forum. I had a tank growing up too but my cousin helped us with it so I guess he did the actual cycling without ever telling us about it lol. Some fish can live through the cycling process but the toxins in the water can hurt/burn them so if it can be avoided (or done correctly with daily water changes) it's best to cycle the tank first. I know SW tanks need to be cycled as well but it's a different process than FW and one I don't pretend to understand lol.
 
I can't return my fish, and as for finding them a new home I have tried. So with that I am going to do my best to keep the ones I have a live until the cycling process is over.
 
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