Hiya

[EscVelocity]

I'm a newbie to this forum. I'm in the process of cycling a 10 gallon fresh water tropical aquarium. Sadly I have been going about it with starter fish....
After reading about the fish less cycle, i want to go about it that way. I just need to find a new home for my poor stressed starter fish.

 

[Aquarium1]

Welcome to AA! Thts a very sad story. I wish I could help but I have no where to put them. Maybe you could take them back to the pet store if you can. The only things I have empty are a 2.5g which I'm going to use as a planted tank and my 55 which I'm using as a cichlid tank. I hope you can find them a good home and I'm glad you found out about fishless cycling.

 

[partypalooza5]

When I first started out I quickly learned to check the facts. The guy at the pet store said the only way to get it going is to use a live fish, I asked about fish food producing ammonia and he said it won't work. (no I feel stupid for believing that lol)

It may seem cruel but if there are no other options (such as bringing them back to the store or giving them to a friend,) you'll just have to let them endure it. When I set up my first 10g i started with three mollies and 2 platys, and they lived for a long time till the mollies got some disease and died.. (not sure what it was, but only the mollies died)

Mistakes happen but they are the best way to learn IMO.

 

[match55]

welcome to AA~~
either give the fish back to the store, or do your best to keep it alive through the cycling!! fishless or w/fish cycling, they both work.
so if u don't wanna waste gas and drive to the fs, then just keep the fish and let it do its work.

I didn't know much about aquarium when I first start, I didn't even know what the **** is cycling. I just put water, sand, decor and my fishes in, and my freshwater tank is running for couple years now.
my guppies died/give birth, so my tank is full with guppies now~~ rolf.

if u have any questions or don't know if thats the right way to do it, let us know, there r a lot of ppl in here willing to help.
ask before u action, always safe u money n time XP

 

[melosu58]

Welcome to AA.

 

[mgamer20o0]

Welcome to AA. good luck with the tank. you can still cycle the tank wiht the fish. just should do water changes ever day or so.

 

[EscVelocity]

Thanks for the welcome! I do indeed have questions, but i will post those in the appropriate forum.
The pet shop i had gotten the fish from wont take them back. One of them had the cotton looking fungus on it. I ended up treating the whole tank with potassium permanganate. I started with 2 mickey mouse platies, and one marble/dalmatian platy. I lost both mickey mouse platies. The marble platy looks good, and i have been doing major water changes daily, atleast 40%. I probably killed some good bacteria with the potassium permanganate, so it more than likey set me back in cycling. Hopefully with the stresszyme, and daily water changes...all will be good with my surviving fish.

 

[neilanh]

Welcome to AA!

 

[partypalooza5]

Thanks for the welcome! I do indeed have questions, but i will post those in the appropriate forum.
The pet shop i had gotten the fish from wont take them back. One of them had the cotton looking fungus on it. I ended up treating the whole tank with potassium permanganate. I started with 2 mickey mouse platies, and one marble/dalmatian platy. I lost both mickey mouse platies. The marble platy looks good, and i have been doing major water changes daily, atleast 40%. I probably killed some good bacteria with the potassium permanganate, so it more than likey set me back in cycling. Hopefully with the stresszyme, and daily water changes...all will be good with my surviving fish.

IMO the best way is to let nature do what it does, when you add chems to the water and mess with it, it makes it take longer or causes it to not finish correctly. My first tank I went ahead and bought all sorts of bio additives, but when i set up my second tank (seeded from the first one) it went perfectly with no additional chems.

Just thought it would be relevant to throw that in. xD

 

[EscVelocity]

I plan to set up my quarantine tank with everything from my cycled 10g..like a part of the filter, water, and some substrate. I'll keep a Betta in there to keep the bacteria fed, and move the Betta in a hanging specimen container while fish are being treated/observed.

 

[JPKeenan]

I'm a newbie to this forum. I'm in the process of cycling a 10 gallon fresh water tropical aquarium. Sadly I have been going about it with starter fish....
After reading about the fish less cycle, i want to go about it that way. I just need to find a new home for my poor stressed starter fish.

Welcome.

I didn't know about cycling when I set up my first tank. I have 1 survivor from that attempt.

Just gotta say I love the name

I love my plateys I have 5 or 6 in my 30g. They follow me when I walk past the tank. I am thinking of giving her some of the males I have and getting some more female plateys when I go out to give her the tank next month.

 

[An t-iasg]

I'll keep a Betta in there to keep the bacteria fed, and move the Betta in a hanging specimen container while fish are being treated/observed.

Bettas are very sensitive to temperature fluctuations. To ensure good health, bettas are best kept in a 5 gallon tank with a 25-watt heater and a small filter.They may be able to live in a small container where other fish can't but that doesn't mean they will thrive. Moving a betta back and forth will stress him greatly, leading to disease. Finrot is the most common indicator in bettas of poor water quality/fluctuating temperatures.

 

[EscVelocity]

I did plan on a 5g QT. I suppose i will just keep the bacteria fed with flake food.

 

[JPKeenan]

It was hard for me to find... Dollar Store, Wal-Mart, a few hardware stores.... went (more than I already am) crazy looking for real ammonia without anything else in it.

A drop or two a week might keep that bacteria fed in such a small tank.

I haven't been keeping fish for more than a year but it does seem that any of the fish I have gotten that have just went belly up have died within a week or two of them moving. Between the physical damage of being netted and placed in a bag (and then dumped out).... the environmental changes in water chemistry and new environment.