cycling question and other questions

[adiliegro]

I had to do it...I went and bought 3 fish for my tank today figuring I would do a fish cycle in it. I have placed two yellow labs and one brichardi in there. The temps were right and I checked the PH before putting them in and it was 8.0...Also added to the water before I put the fish in (while they were floating) was 1tbspn of Malawi Victoria Buffer and 2 tblspns cichlid lake salt. this was recommended to me by the guy at the fish store. Now that they have been in there for a few hours I wanted to check the ammonia and it seems that there is already some showing up. I am in the 20 minute waiting period right now but the water is already a step above the 0 line (just a little darker now at the end of the 20 minutes than the 0.25, but not quite as dark as the 1.5 (Im using tetratest Laborette tests). Now the guy at the store said it would go up, but will settle back down once the bacteria grows and matures. Is there something I should do at this point to keep the ammonia at safe levels? What do I need to keep and eye on with this? What to test for daily?

Someone in another forum also said that these fish werent good for cycling. I have read that they were as well as the people at the LFS said that they were. Any opinions on that?

Also, the water is looking ever so cloudy (hardly noticeable at all)...could this be from the salt and buffer that I added? If not, what could it be from?

 

[fisch]

First off, read the article on cycling in the article section if you have not done so already. You should be testing your ammonia as well as nitrite levels at least once a day. It would not hurt to test nitrate if you have that test kit as well. The best way to keep ammonia down is to not overfeed and through water changes. If your ammonia is over .25 you should do a 50% water change to get it back to safe levels. If you can get some media (gravel, rocks, or other decoration) from a mature tank to help speed up the process.
As far as your fish being good for cycling I dont know. My opinion is that no fish are good for cycling. I much prefer fishless cycling.

 

[TankGirl]

Adiliegro, you know what I'll have to say

Your cloudiness is almost definitely due to ammonia and cycling issues. Yellow labs and brichardi should tolerate a cycle okay, but it is definitely stressful on them to go through it.

Keep the ammonia down as low as possible with water changes, as fisch indicated - there is no other way to go, as there needs to be ammonia in the tank to complete the cycle. Your LFS was right about it going up and settling back down, but it will take weeks for the cycle to complete. You should have a relatively short period with elevated ammonia, and the nitrite will show up soon, and the denitrifying portion of the cycle will be the longest and hardest to patiently wait through.

Good luck and keep us posted - and keep testing your water!

 

[Endgame319]

LFS are generally very unreliable for informations. They sent you home with cichlids from different rift lakes? Your looking at big problems with aggression. See if you can take back either the brichardi or the labs. And what size is your tank. That will determine if your fish will be able to take the cycle.