Hi all-
Newbie here, so I'm not entirely certain where this thread belongs. If there's a better subforum (getting started? Unhealthy fish?) Let me know and I'll move it.
I had a 10 gallon established tank with plants and fish (my first tank), but it just broke yesterday while I was moving. Never let other people near your fish!
Fortunately I had my fish in ziplocks, so they survived along with my filter material, and I had a gallon of tank water in a carton to help fill the tank at my new house. But the gravel was toast due to the glass shards, so I lost a lot of my bacteria
So I'm trying to cycle a new tank/gravel and keep my old fish alive (2 1.5" catfish and a 3" goldfish) along with the sole surviving plant. I've never done fish-in cycling before--how do I keep the bad bacteria from killing off my fish?
The tank:
My ammonia levels were at 1ppm, my nitrites were at 0.5ppm, and my nitrates were at 10 - 20 ppm when I just tested it, so I did a 50% water change. I've added API stress coat and the Tetra EasyBalance stabilizer for pH/nitrate/phosphate. I have no idea if that's helpful, but it didn't seem like it would hurt.
I have a non programmable heater that's keeping the tank at 79 degrees F
Other than daily water changes to keep the ammonia/nitrite down, is there anything I can do to help my fish survive the cycling process?
Thanks for any help!
Newbie here, so I'm not entirely certain where this thread belongs. If there's a better subforum (getting started? Unhealthy fish?) Let me know and I'll move it.
I had a 10 gallon established tank with plants and fish (my first tank), but it just broke yesterday while I was moving. Never let other people near your fish!
Fortunately I had my fish in ziplocks, so they survived along with my filter material, and I had a gallon of tank water in a carton to help fill the tank at my new house. But the gravel was toast due to the glass shards, so I lost a lot of my bacteria
So I'm trying to cycle a new tank/gravel and keep my old fish alive (2 1.5" catfish and a 3" goldfish) along with the sole surviving plant. I've never done fish-in cycling before--how do I keep the bad bacteria from killing off my fish?
The tank:
My ammonia levels were at 1ppm, my nitrites were at 0.5ppm, and my nitrates were at 10 - 20 ppm when I just tested it, so I did a 50% water change. I've added API stress coat and the Tetra EasyBalance stabilizer for pH/nitrate/phosphate. I have no idea if that's helpful, but it didn't seem like it would hurt.
I have a non programmable heater that's keeping the tank at 79 degrees F
Other than daily water changes to keep the ammonia/nitrite down, is there anything I can do to help my fish survive the cycling process?
Thanks for any help!