New tank update!

[mr.trooper]

Hey everyone!

Well, my new tank has been up and running, fishless, for a while now. No detectable Ammonia or Nitrites, and the watter is clear. I seeded the water with a small amount of ammonia at setup, when i added my bactiria cultures, so for now im assuming that i am fairly far along in my cycles.

With this in mind, my aquarist buddy helped me pick out some fish today. there is a hobby store on the outskirts of town that sells nothing but live stock and aquatic plants and corals. Small time buisness with a verry knowledgeable owner; definately more knowledgeble than your average LFS. This was evident by the vibrance and obvious health of his stock; the comparison simply blows places like Pet Supplies Plus and Petco right out of the water.

So, i decided to purchase my new pets from him; 3 Silver Tip Tetras. I intentionaly chose this fish due to the wide range of water tollerences listed in its online profiles.

I aclimated them very carefully and so far they apear to be doing fine. They are swimming normaly, do not apear to be overly active or sluggish, nor are they apearing to have any difficulty. It has been around 12 hours since acclimation, and they have settled in quite well. The tank they are in has several large and small plants, bolth real and artificial, and a piece of driftwood for cover. The filtration is also quite high; i am using a Penguin bio-wheel 150 on this 10 gallon.

OK, Sounds great...so you ask yourself what the heck i want? While I have read just about everything i could find on this forum, and been as carefull as possible, im still a complete novice. As such, iv still got myself all in a tizzy about the dreaded "new tank syndrome". SO, is there anything that i should be aware of, or be looking for? Are there any obvious signs, or is this one of those "all your fish are dead when you wake up in the mourning" kind of things?

Also, could anyone say how long it may bee before i can be sure the tank is truely safe for habitation?

Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[Guest]

Wow, congrats on doing your research!

Things that tip off new tanks syndrom: Red gills, bizaar behavior (jetting back and forth, odd swimming), gasping at the top of the tank.

Usually however, if you see these symptoms, aside from doing water changes, there isn't much else you can do.

Sounds to me like you have it under control however, so sit back and enjoy your tank =).

 

[joannde]

Hi and welcome.
Just test your parameters (ammonia and nitrites) every day to make sure they don't rise. If they get to 0.5ppm do a 50% water change.

The red gills, etc that FishyPeanut mentioned are symptoms of ammonia and / or nitrite poisoning. But if you test every day you should be able to catch it before you see any of these.

 

[Jchillin]

It's also important to allow your beneficial bacteria time to adjust to the bioload that you provided. It will take a lot of patience but do not increase the bioload until at least a week after the tank has cycled.

 

[mr.trooper]

Thanks everyone! We are coming up on 24hours and still no problems.

I will be leaving shortly to go to the pet store and purchase a better testing kit.

 

[rkilling1]

i use a mardel live NH3 monitor on new tanks. worked great for my fishless cycle. that why i can just look at the tank and see if i have NH3 or not in the water. (piece of mind for me)

 

[mr.trooper]

Well, i just got back from the Pet store and tested my watter with my new kit. Ammonia levels have spiked, probably from the addition of the fish and from wasted food. I did a 25% water change, and will do another 25% change when I do the gravel vac in a few minutes.

The fish are still not showing any of the above mentioned symptoms.

 

[SCFatz]

Be carefull with the feeding right now...If in were your situation I'd cut it back to every other day until the spikes pass....only what can be eaten in two minutes.

The wasted food and the waste consumed food generates will drive the spikes higher.....cutting back will help the bacteria catch up quicker (you will need less of it in a sense).

Keep up with the testing and change water as needed to keep the tank healthy until it passes.

 

[mr.trooper]

Thanks for the advice on feeding. I was wondering about that.

Did another gravel vac to help cut down on some of the ditritus.

im wondering if the current in my tank is too strong; when they feed, they dont seem like they have enough time to eat as much of it as they would like before it gets sucked up or buried in the substrate.

 

[SCFatz]

Some people turn off filter(s) when feeding for that very reason. Personally I don't,but I have bottom feeders and scavengers ect...and my fish are conditioned to work at feeding time by now,so I haven't made a change regarding.

Feel free to turn it off,give it a few,and then turn it back on.....its the forgeting it that will become a problem.If you choose to turn it off,stay until the feeding (eating) is done so you don't forget.I would also suggest making both turning it off and waiting a habit....that way your fish can too.